I think they totally messed it up in the first pressing of the labels, so that they produced 33rpm for every label and then they just printed some correct ones, which they mixed randomly with the incorrect ones. When I look at the box, instead of printing the right rpm for all, I imagine they wanted to save money :-)

Altough I'm not satisfied with the box I am good with having the extended versions on vinyl. That makes sense for me, as New Order had alway a special relation, let alone "Blue Monday". So all in all I'm happy with the box.

I heard they will sell it on Amazon, maybe for less - so that could be an option for the ones hesitating to buy it?!

It's £75.99 on Amazon UK and available from 27/11.

I fell for the trick that it was going to be exclusive to the NO store and was told the run was limited by Mute so I parted with my cash over 4 months ago for fear of missing out. Once bitten...

Edited by user 13 November 2015 06:15:04(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Sheesh, perhaps I'm just a sad fanboy or something, but I think the box (as well as its contents) are great. Mind you, I carried on buying New Order 12-inch vinyl well into the 90s just to get the fabulous Savilloid artwork larger than it was on the CD singles, so perhaps I'm too willing to forgive them their other trangressions!

I have no problem with the thick cardboard box — in fact I think it looks great with the chunky industrial staples — and although I'm a fully paid-up iPod owner who listens to most music digitally these days, I like owning the coloured vinyl and the box as something of an objet d'art. And you get digital versions of the songs anyway, so it's the best of both worlds to me. One day I might needle-drop the vinyl — I have the technology — but with a little boy to look after, it's a question of finding the time. The FLACs are doing fine for me in the meantime. And I say that as someone who still has a large record and CD collection, and would usually rather have a physical product if it's available, CD or vinyl, than live with downloads alone.

In terms of the contents, I think the 'Boxtended' versions absolutely rock. I like that they're 'traditional' extended versions rather than very different-sounding remixes, and most of them complement the album mixes for me, just as New Order's 12-inch mixes did in the 80s and 90s. For example, I like both the Technique album mix of Round And Round *and* the Extended 12-inch mix, and the original mix and Shep P mixes of True Faith — they're slightly different beasts to me, but all great in different ways. I feel the same way about the Boxtended mixes. And the long mix of Academic is an absolute stand-out highlight for me that's almost worth the price of admission alone.

So no complaints from me (well, OK, the included booklet seems a bit of a thrown-together afterthought, but that's about the worst thing I can say about the whole package). And despite the fact that I kicked off the currently quite popular thread on here about the shambolic New Order on-line store with an almighty moan about how crap they were at gettting Restless to me and losing my order details in the process, they even managed to deliver the box to me on time (even though my store account didn't ever manage to register that I had ordered it!).

That doesn't take away the fact that the Warners run on-line NO store remains a cut-price, badly run piece of crap, and I think they would admit it if they could — but the monkeys there did manage to post my box to me without getting too much mashed banana on it... and my FLAC download went smoothly, so happy days ;)

Sound-wise — I probably have tin ears or something, but the over-heavy compression some are complaining about is not bothering my auditory centres, either on the album or the box — certainly not to the extent that I would attempt to 'remaster' any of it myself. But then I've always preferred to listen first and decide whether I like something rather than let the way the waveforms look colour my judgement. I appreciate that not everyone feels the same, though...

Edited by user 13 November 2015 07:11:37(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

The staples have to have been put in by a programmed machine though surely? They may be ugly (matter of opinion) but they are exactly evenly spaced and placed at exact measured spots.A human/humans couldn't get hundreds of the things over numerous box sets all exactly in the right spot and also without putting them in at a wonky angle on occasion.

Many thanks for the info, really interesting to get some insight into the thoughts , plans and manufacture of the box set.

Ah good point, yeah maybe there was pre- made marks for the staples.


All in all i'm fairly happy with the box set.Yeah maybe it could have been a little better but i'm ok with it.It's something different and not something New Order have done before for an album though there was the white linen Factory boxes i suppose but that was on a much smaller scale with just a cassette inside.I don't think the box itself is "days away from falling apart" as one scaremonger said.

I like to think that the designs on each of the 5 vinyl within the box set relate to 5 singles from the album. We've already had Restless as per sleeve 1, TF as per sleeve 2. Continuing the theme High Line, Academic and Superheated with the corresponding designs from each vinyl.

Hopefully with extended mix 2 of each of these - for me Academic extended is the best piece on the boxset but they are all class in their own right, will take another in-house take rather than half arsed remixes every time.

Sign me up!



Perhaps it was the universe responding to those brutal AU shipping fees.

Edited by user 15 November 2015 06:32:28(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

they're not in house mixes... all of them were done with outside mixers.

new order's own mixes are very basic, and simplistic.

later
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AGREED!

Hmm. Yes i know who mixed the extended versions. Outside mixers? Do you mean its not New Order - well theres a long list of those involved in the album who are not New Order. The continuity in the extended mixes as part of the overall Music Complete project, result is in keeping with the sound / feel of the original, thats obviously been the brief by the band and undertaken by those who were for the most part involved in the album. In-house.

Don't understand what you mean when you say NO own mixes are very basic and simplistic, care to explain?

The 7" and 12" versions of Temptation were recorded together in a single take, but then chopped into two segments. The 12" isn't just a longer version, it's actually the latter half of the recording. It's quite an odd approach to recording, but I guess they were on a budget. Hurt was done in one take as well, but just mixed differently into two different versions.

right, i remember that.

however, sometimes people think the 7 inch of hurt is a different mix.

discogs:
Hurt on the original UK 7" is not a simple edit of the longer UK 12" version, but is in fact a different mix.


anyways, now i wonder if the 'everythings gone green (edit)' on the procession 7 inch is different from the 12 inch in structure,

produced by : martin hannett

that would also have been an example.

later
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