Thieves Like Us: New Order Expands Substance 1987

Four-disc deluxe edition of classic singles collection amended with rare B-sides and live material

December 7, 2023December 7, 2023 Ron Hart 0 Comments Bernard Sumner, Bizarre Love Triangle, expanded edition, Gillian Gilbert, New Order, Peter Hook, Rhino, Stephen Morris, Substance, Substance 1987, The Perfect Kiss, True Faith, Warner Records

The remastered edition of Substance is available in a variety of formats (Image: Warner Records)

As fantastic as the New Order albums may be, it was the group’s singles that brought them worldwide acclaim since they rose from the ashes of Joy Division in 1980.

This is why their legendary compilation Substance 1987 remains such an essential pick 36 years after its initial release on the Factory Records label. It brought together all of the 12-inch versions of the band’s singles from the early-to-mid-80s, plus most of the accompanying B-sides if you got it on CD or tape at the time.

Packed with such club faves as “Blue Monday,” “Bizarre Love Triangle,” “Ceremony” and new versions of “Temptation” and “Confusion,” Substance 1987 remains New Order’s biggest selling album of their career, earning them platinum status here in the United States, with “True Faith” breaking into the Billboard Top 5.

VIDEO: New Order “True Faith”

This incredible expanded edition of Substance 1987 stretches out its predecessor’s concept. There’s the original two CDs in remastered form, of course. But now there’s a third disc that extends the impetus of the set, bringing in such hard-to-find flipsides as Shep Pettibone’s dub versions of “Bizarre Love Triangle” and “True Faith” as well as the Movement era B-side “Mesh” and the original version of “Confusion.”

What’s more is a fourth disc largely sourced from the group’s concert in Irvine Meadows, California on September 12, 1987, where they performed the entirety of Substance’s first disc by sequence. It’s a fascinating document, illustrating just how well the classic NO lineup walked such a fine line between programmed beats and Instrumental dexterity on the concert stage. The live versions of “Blue Monday” and “The Perfect Kiss” (complete with frog solo) in particular really open up the songs in an organic way that no studio remix could top.

Nothing in the New Order catalog captures their spirit like Substance 1987. And this expanded edition somehow manages to make it even more of a must-own. Splurge on the four-disc version.