New Order: Shell-Shock / Thieves Like Us (1986)

This has a very ugly cover. Side one contains the extended version of Shell-Shock, while side two has the dub version along with Thieves Like Us.

New Order: Sub-Culture

From Discogs:

New Order's tenth single. Released on 28 October 1985. The first of three collaborations with US remixer John Robie.

This was the first New Order single to be drastically remixed from the album version for single release. It is believed that Peter Saville disliked the remixes so much that he refused to do a proper sleeve for it. Therefore, it is packaged in a plain black sleeve with cut-outs for the labels. Saville did the typography on the labels though.

That's fascinating, and I have to agree. The original album version is much better. The flip side, on my Canadian pressing, is Subvulture, though some international pressings have Dub-Vulture on side two.

New Order: The Perfect Kiss (1985)

From Discogs:

New Order's 9th single. Released 13 May 1985 as 7" and 12".
It is the first New Order single to be included on a studio album at the same time.
The song has some famous musical elements, e.g. frogs croaking and, at the end of the track, some bleating of (synthesized) sheeps.

Lasting nearly 9 minutes, the 12" single version only appears on the vinyl and cassette editions of Substance, while the CD omit 44 seconds of the climatic finale. The full version was eventually released unedited on the 2-disc deluxe edition of Low-Life, marking its first appearance on CD.

The versions on the album Low-Life and all post-Substance compilations are 4:48 edit, omitting the third verse (the one that mentions the song's title) and fading out before the climax. Most 7"s have on their A-side another version, further edited to down 4:24 (without the percussion introduction).

So, on this 12", you will find: The Perfect Kiss, Kiss of Death, and Perfect Pit. The video - below - for the full length version, was directed by Jonathan Demme.

New Order: Low Life (1985)

Low Life is New Order's third LP, released in 1985. I remember when it came out very well. It was hugely popular with a bunch of friends. From Discogs:

The only sleeve with the band actually on the cover, designed again by Peter Saville. They were photographed individually by using a Polaroid film (the band never really believed those photos would end up on the cover). The sleeve itself was covered by an onion skin wrapper.

I still have the wrapper. The review on Allmusic suggests that New Order had reached their peak here. Sadly, that is possibly true. Elegia is the unsung hero of this record. It's an understated, but excellent track, that stands in some contrast to the more popular tunes. Although used in Pretty in Pink, it did not make it onto the soundtrack. You might also know this track from Stranger Things. If you have time, you should check out the full-length version of Elegia.

New Order: Murder (1984)

From Discogs:

New Order's eighth single and their second and last exclusive single for Factory Benelux. Released in May 1984.

Both tracks are instrumentals. Murder features samples of dialogue from the movies "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Caligula". It was originally recorded in Winter 1982 during the sessions for the band's second album Power, Corruption & Lies.

Peter Saville's cover art is a "night-time" version of the "Thieves Like Us" cover, and is also taken from Giorgio De Chirico.

Side A
Murder

Side B
Thieves Like Us (Instrumental)

Murder is a pretty cool track.

New Order: Thieves Like Us (1984)

From Discogs:

New Order's seventh single, released on Factory in April 1984 as 12" only (7"s as promos only). The title is taken from the Robert Altman movie "Thieves Like Us". An instrumental of Thieves Like Us is featured in the 1986 movie "Pretty in Pink".

Produced by New Order. Recorded and mixed at London's Britannia Row Studios.
The cover design by Peter Saville is based on a painting by Giorgio de Chirico.

This 12" has a version of Thieves Like Us b/w Lonesome Tonight. Thieves Like Us is in my top ten fav New Order tunes.

New Order: Confusion (1983)

Confusion is the sixth single from New Order and the follow-up to Blue Monday.

Three remixes served as B-sides on the initial 12" release: "Confused Beats", "Confusion Instrumental" and "Confusion Rough Mix". The two tracks on side A ("Confusion" & "Confused Beats") are mixed together, which when played in sequence, act as a thirteen and half minute long remix by Arthur Baker. The "Rough Mix" on side B is the original song mixed by New Order. [source]

Got that? 

New Order: Power Corruption & Lies (1983)

The second New Order record sounds quite different from Joy Division and from the first New Order record. It's more electronic and less gloomy. I can't adequately describe how much I instantly liked this record, right from the first few bars of Age of Consent. The Village and 5-8-6 are also standout tracks.

Discogs:

With its electronic-based sound it marks the definitive turning away from the rather gloomy predecessor and the Joy Division legacy. The album was included in the top 100 albums of the 1980s lists in the Rolling Stone magazine. 

Also, Discogs mentions this, which I did not know: 

The album cover was chosen by the Royal Mail for a set of "Classic Album Cover" postage stamps issued in January 2010. 

For me, the best track on this record is the sublime Your Silent Face. That is an epic piece of songwriting, and my absolute favourite New Order track.

New Order: Blue Monday (1983)

And I quote, from Wikipedia: "[Blue Monday] is the biggest-selling 12" single of all time."

And yet, despite being "the biggest-selling 12" single of all time," this record is very expensive to buy second hand. I have seen it anywhere from $25 to $40, and more. I once saw an original UK pressing listed at more than $150 on discogs! There are countless copies in circulation (over one million copies sold in the UK alone), and yet, it's expensive. The answer could be that some record sellers are simply greedy.

This is not the best New Order song, by any stretch. It's OK, but I found myself wondering about the subtle connections between 80s music and disco, which I hated. In fact, one of my friends, way back in the day, argued vehemently that much 80s music was simply disco. I think that's taking it a bit too far, but who knows? She had interesting things to say about beats per minute, etc.

The flipside is, of course, The Beach.

New Order: 1981-1982 (1982)

This EP arrived in November of '82, It contains five tracks, including both sides of New Order's second single: Procession and Everything's Gone Green, now with an apostrophe. A I mentioned previously, the second single had only ever released as a 7". I have never really been interested in 7" singles, though I have a box of them from various artists. Let me just copy what the Discog's entry says, so I don't get it wrong:

"Released in November 1982, it compiles the two tracks from New Order's second 7" single ("Procession" and "Everything's Gone Green") from September 1981, as well as "Hurt" and a longer 12" version of "Temptation", taken from the third single, released in April 1982. "Mesh" was taken from the 1981 Benelux 12" Everythings Gone Green."

I hope that the above is correct. So, there are five tracks, and they certainly sound different from Movement, so it seems to suggest a direction picked up by the following LP, Power Corruption & Lies with no commas at all.

New Order: Temptation (1982)

Temptation was New Order's fourth single, and their first self-produced single. It was released on May 10th, 1982. I have he original UK 12" with Hurt on the flip side. Temptation was re-recorded in 1987, but that version is no where near as good as the original.

New Order: Movement (1981)

Some New Order fans refer to Movement as the third Joy Division record. The band was transitioning to a new sound, even before it disbanded, as evidenced by Ceremony. They hadn't worked out who the lead singer would be. Ceremony, after all, was a Joy Division song and it sounds much like what emerged on Movement. Oddly, I once heard an interview with Peter Hook, and he referred to a Joy Division trilogy (which included Still), but I think that is revisionism, because Still is a compilation. There were only two proper Joy Division LPs.

If all you know of New Order is Blue Monday era New Order, this record might sound like a disappointment. To me, however, this is the greatest thing that New Order ever did. It sounds a bit like the band is searching for a direction (which is not necessarily a bad thing), and there is a certain tension and darkness in the music that I really like. In any event, New Order went on to become one of the seminal bands of the 80s. You simply cannot have lived through that decade and not been aware of them. I suppose if you were a classic rock person, you might have missed it, but no one living on a university campus could have missed this band.

Most people are likely familiar with the blue record cover. The white jacket was used on US pressings. Here is something else you may not know. According to Discogs (which is sometimes wrong):

"The vinyl comes in different colour variations, only visible when held up against a strong light source: Translucent purple or translucent red or just translucent (and maybe also brown and green). These colors are the result of different vinyl formulations used accidentally by the pressing plant, with purple apparently being the very first pressing"

I happen to have the purple version, which is the first US pressing. If I were to sell this one, I'd take no less that $50, but I am not selling it.

New Order: Everythings Gone Green (1981)

Everythings Gone Green is the third single from New Order. The band's second single -- Procession b/w Everything's Gone Green -- was only ever released as a 7-inch single. This 12" single was released on Factory Benelux in Belgium and also in Japan. Why couldn't they have used an apostrophe, like this?: Everything's. Is that so hard?

The flipside of this 12" has Cries And Whispers and Mesh.

From Discogs: "Due to a mix-up on the sleeve, the two B-side tracks had their titles transposed: Cries And Whispers is mis-titled Mesh and Mesh is mis-titled Cries And Whispers. This was carried over to the Substance 1987 compilation, which was never corrected in the years that it was in print."

Everythings Gone Green is killer. Note that the youtube video uses an apostrophe.

New Order: Ceremony b/w In a Lonely Place (1981)

As most people know, New Order rose from the ashes of Joy Division, after the untimely and tragic suicide of lead singer, Ian Curtis, in 1980. I'm always left to wonder what would have become of the band had he not taken his own life. Could they have sustained such a brilliant output? It's a question with no answer.
 
New Order's first single was released in March 6, 1981 (a few months before Movement), with subsequent repressings following. Figuring out which version one has is a little challenging, as you can tell from this summary on Discogs:

"New Order's first single after renaming the band from Joy Division to New Order. Originally recorded and played by Joy Division, it was re-recorded at Eastern Artists Studios, New Jersey. Produced by Martin Hannett and with Bernard Sumner on lead vocals. All covers were designed by Peter Saville.

The 7" and first 12" were released on 6 March 1981. While the 7" record has a stamped gold-bronze sleeve, the 12" sleeve comes with gold typography on a forest green background.

After Gillian Gilbert joined the band, it was decided to re-record the song with her on guitar. It was then re-released in September 1981. This time the cover had a cream background with a light blue stripe and black type. This second version was included on all later compilations, e.g. Substance 1987.

There are two different editions of the record using the green sleeve:
1) Original version of "Ceremony" (without Gillian Gilbert). The runout-groove space is 3,6 cm (side A) and 3,4 cm (side B).

2) Re-recorded version of "Ceremony" (with Gillian Gilbert). Side A etching: "This Is Why Events Unnerve Me". This version of the record was also released in the new cream & blue sleeve, but there were green sleeves left over from the original pressing which were used rather than being discarded. Although the centre labels have the date 22/1/81 as part of the artwork, this release came out in March.

For the second cover, there were four different versions released:
The 1st version with track groove filling the entire side of the record. Side A groove etching: "This Is Why Events Unnerve Me". This version of the record was also released in leftover copies of the original green sleeve.

The 2nd version, being the original version of "Ceremony" (without Gillian Gilbert). The runout groove space is ~3,5 cm on each side. Side A groove etching: "Watching Love Grow - Forever". This is basically the same as the original version that was released in the green sleeve.

A 3rd version, with track groove filling the entire side of the record. Side A groove etching: "This Is Why Events Unnerve Me", with an A2 matrix rather than A1.

Then there is a 1984 repress with track groove filling only part of the record. Side A groove etching: "This Is Why Events Unnerve Me".

The B-side track "In A Lonely Place" is the same version on all the cream and blue releases. However, the track was altered as well: the digital thunderclap sound in the final bars of the track occur at different times to the first edition"

Let's forget about the recently re-released pressings.

I have the 2nd repress from 1983, obviously in the cream and blue sleeve. This is really a transitional record, because both tracks were written by Joy Division. Ceremony, of course, was performed live toward the end of the band's career. The most famous live version is probably the version that appeared on the second disc of Still. The recording was mangled, but the direction the band was taking is clear.

Somewhat bizarrely, New Order chose not to put Ceremony on Movement. It's a powerful song, perhaps the band's best, and I wonder why it was omitted.

This is why events unnerve me,
They find it all, a different story,
Notice whom for wheels are turning,
Turn again and turn towards this time,
All she asks the strength to hold me,
Then again the same old story,
World will travel, oh so quickly,
Travel first and lean towards this time.

Oh, I'll break them down, no mercy shown,
Heaven knows, it's got to be this time,
Watching her, these things she said,
The times she cried,
Too frail to wake this time.

Oh I'll break them down, no mercy shown
Heaven knows, it's got to be this time,
Avenues all lined with trees,
Picture me and then you start watching,
Watching forever, forever,
Watching love grow, forever,
Letting me know, forever.

Just try reading the above lyrics without thinking about Joy Division. I wager it can't be done. It reads like a Joy Division song because it is a Joy Division song.

Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)

Perhaps best likened to a marching band on an acid trip, Neutral Milk Hotel's second album is another quixotic sonic parade; lo-fi yet lush, impenetrable yet wholly accessible, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is either the work of a genius or an utter crackpot, with the truth probably falling somewhere in between. [source]

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is one of the greatest records ever made, and possible the best record of the 1990s.

Neu!: Neu! 2 (1973)

This is the sometimes-maligned second record from Neu! As Wikipedia notes:

Side 2 of the record caused consternation at the time. Neu! had quite simply run out of money to finish recording the album, so the second side consists entirely of their previously released single "Neuschnee/Super", manipulated at various playback speeds on a record player, or mangled in a cassette recorder. Critics at the time dismissed this as a cheap gimmick and a rip-off. While it was indeed an experiment born of desperation and necessity, it was entirely in keeping with Neu's pop art aesthetics, taking a "ready-made" sound object and re-presenting it with a series of stylized manipulations, and also quite in keeping with the way Neu's music deconstructed and pared down the form of rock music. Dinger subsequently pointed to side 2 as being a prototype of the now ubiquitous multiple remixes which typically accompany any pop single release. [source]

Of course, I like both sides very much. 

Neu!: Neu! (1972)

"While little known and relatively unheralded during its brief existence, the Krautrock duo Neu! cast a large shadow over later generations of musicians and served as a major influence on artists as diverse as David Bowie, Sonic Youth, Pere Ubu, Julian Cope, and Stereolab." [source]

Have you seen that Portlandia skit about Neu!? Yeah, that would be me, if I was a little less self-aware. So, I have a later repressing, which I got for a steal, as the original is hard to find. Neu! was formed when Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger left Kraftwerk. The music is absolutely sublime. I love it completely.

Nettwerk Sound Sampler: Food For Thought (1987)

Nettwork is a Vancouver-based record label that specialized in industrial music. Well, that was the case back in the 1980s. It has since expanded to cover more generic and far less interesting genres. This sampler offers an interesting overview of the bands they had signed. At the top of that list, for me, is Skinny Puppy. Here they are, live:

Nena: 99 Luftballoons (1983)

This silly song caught everyone's attention when it dropped.

The translation is odd. Luftballoon is simply balloon in English. I suppose the red was added to gain enough syllables. Nena is both the name of the band and the nickname of the singer, it seems. Anyway, this is, in no way, classic New Wave. It's more of a top 40 song from the 80s. I have a copy probably because it was very cheap or given to me.

Side A of this release has the English version, while side B is the original German version. Which is better? Who knows? Who cares?