The only singles compilation I like listening to...

Still my favourite album after all these years. After being aware of Blue Monday, True Faith and buying the 7" of Touched, this was my proper introduction to the band when I bought it on tape as a 13 year old whilst on holiday in 1988 on the Isle of Wight. Tend to only play the whole thing whilst on holiday even now, as it always captures that mood. In fact, I put 'Ceremony' on the jukebox in a Penzance pub where I'm currently on holiday just last night!

I actually think that as an album it benefits from having the re-recorded Temptation and Confusion, as well as the shorter Shellshock, Sub-culture and Hurt, as the original 12" versions meandered along quite a bit. Agree they should have put the full Perfect Kiss on there though, as the section edited out is one of the finest parts of the track (didn't the unedited full length Perfect Kiss appear on the original Substance double vinyl though)? If it's ever remastered and re-released, the CD should mirror the vinyl tracklisting and include the unabridged Perfect Kiss, but retain the other edits/re-recordings.

Don't recall the Substance edit of Sub-culture being released at the time of the single. There was a Benelux edited remix on 7" at about the same length but it was a different cut - where do you reckon the Substance edit was released?

Edited by user 17 August 2017 07:06:25(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

My original Factory and Centredate cassettes of Substance also have the edited Perfect Kiss. Don't know of any cassette versions that have the full version.

i have it,

sub-culture (remix edit) 4:57 v
sub-culture (substance) 4:48 v, cd, dt


it's slightly different..

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as far as substance goes,
the cassette version was cooler, because it had a lot of the b-sides...

of course the DAT version was the coolest to collect, but it still had the same versions...

later
-1

Edited by user 17 August 2017 11:57:39(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I totally agree. I can't stand the original Ceremony as it's so tiny and the production is piss poor. Same for Original Temptation (plus Barney plays a bad chord throughout the chorus which ruins the listening).

The 87 versions of temptation and confusion are a million times better and more fitting with the quality of the other songs mixing and production values.

Shouldn't this say happy THIRTIETH birthday? Or does no one want to say that bit 'cause it makes them feel really old?



I think the CD had the B-sides too.




For some of us Substance was new material! When I was a very small boy I bought my first ever 12" single, it was BM. Not a bad choice eh? But I was oblivious to the singles prior to BM. I bought PCL, Low Life & Brotherhood, but as there was no internet back then and I lived in Ireland where record shops didn't stock much Factory product, I had never heard the first three tracks on Substance until...I bought Substance.

So for me, and I think for many others this was a real gateway to some fantastic tracks that we had simply never heard. Cause hey, they weren't on any studio album!
So Substance will always have a special place in my heart. It felt like a massive "completion" excercise re: the singles, and a joyous introduction to some incredible music. It's not a coincidence that Hooky called his JD book Unknown Pleasures and his NO book Substance (complete with the Substance font on the original hard cover). They are the albums best known to the broader public for each band. Even though one of them is a compilation.
But it's not just any old compliation, it's the best band compilation in the history of...ever!!

Well said that man! Was my first real intro to the band too!
A brilliant compilation.

'Substance' aimed to compile all their 12" singles, but the track allocation was quite random. In fact, if you compare how the songs were spread across UK / US vinyl / cassette / CD formats, you should get out more.

Having heard True Faith on the jukebox in the common room, I had to get more of this previously undiscovered band 'New Order' & substance hit the spot so very sweetly.

A perfect educational intro, it changed my life musically & was swiftly followed by every NO album as I could afford them and then all JD too.

My first copy was the double cassette from Play Inn in Eccles but some cnut quickly nicked the 'A' tape from my mate's car (along with his stereo) so it was CDs all the way after that.

For years I never played the The Perfect Kiss on the vinyl edition of Substance because I assumed it was the same shortened edit that is on the CD edition .Someone on here, maybe Debaser, brought to my attention not so long back, maybe last year that the version on the vinyl Substance is the original full 12" version which I was gobsmacked to learn.

Also have just remembered that I think I'd never heard the version of Ceremony that is on Substance til I bought the album on its release.That was another reason I wasn't a massive fan of Substance, I don't like the 2nd recording of Ceremony, the version on Substance.I think I'm the only person that prefers and had always preferred the first version ,and had only ever listened to that version (the first version of Ceremony ,the no Gillian version , gold sleeve 7", green sleeve 12") Everyone seems to prefer the second version but that's an argument as old as time.

Edited by user 20 August 2017 17:51:08(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Like the albino with diarrhea, fair do's. As per my last piste, the Factory compilations - Substance 87, Substance 88, even Still - were worthwhile in that they were making it easier to find stuff. When I first heard Substance, I only 'knew' BM (that shitty 88 7" compromise), TLU (a crappy radio edit that lost all the lush intro) and TF (its equally crappy 7" compromise). The endless spew of pointless, bollock-riddled, please-buy-the-same-songs-86256087608546753869-times-cos-there's-a-remix-that-has-Fairground-Attraction-to-do-with-the-original-except-one-token-line-AWESOME shite started with London and True Faith 94 (arguably Spooky, given the band weren't even speaking to each other). With a strong single, an award-winnning vid and its ensuing compilation LP, 1987 was far more of a breakthrough than the one-off BM and London's make-the-Spice-Girls-look-like-Salinger approach.

Well, maybe if Substance gets a reissue /deluxe super edition it might make me look at it in a more positive light and listen to it more.I always felt a bit that them releasing Substance in 1987 was a quick an easy way of gaining back some ground and success/sales/reputation as it seemed Brotherhood hadn't been an overwhelming critical or commercial success on its release just under a year before.Dunno.

Think New Order played in full the whole of Substance in track order (not the b sides though!) at one of the USA gigs in August or September 1987 if i recall.

Edited by user 25 August 2017 12:36:34(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified