Back to Mine: New Order

by

Various Artists

Edit

Great compilation - it's not a DJ mix album per se (no beat matching or pitched up tunes), more like a mix tape you'd find in the cassette deck that the members of New Order left behind.

Petty music nerd note #1 - Primal Scream 'Higher Than the Sun' (track 2) is editted together from the original Screamadelica LP version and a Weatherall mix - it's not a jarring combination, i only noticed it because Screamadelica is one of the best LPs ever and i've worn out numerous copies.

Petty music nerd note #2 - Donna Summer 'I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley mix)' (track 11) is editted down, but the sweetest bits of that 15 minute mix are on the CD. Fabulous tune, if only someone out there would put the full version out on a legitimate release...

Again, a great mix of various styles by a seminal band (wake up America!).

But what do i know - attached is the "Tracklist + New Order Comments" from inside of cd booklet and from the record label's site .... NOTE - these comments are very smart, tongue placed firmly in cheek

01. Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band 'Big Eyed Beans From Venus'

A sci-fi blues freak out from the variable genius Van Vliet with spine tingling slide additions from Zoot Horn Rollo. Quite obviously the inspiration behind 'Confusion'

02. Primal Scream 'Higher Than the Sun'

A bit from the Orb's compressed pop mix and the stratospheric end bit from Weatherall's dub symphony with the metronomic Jah Wobble providing an unwavering backbone. Who could miss the similarities between this and Bizarre Love Triangle?

03. Missy Elliot 'The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)'

Timbaland's twitchy rhythms versus the cranky observations of the lady in the inflatable space suit. This was massive on the Joy Division tour bus.

04. The Velvet Underground 'Venus in Furs'

The sleazy cool reflected in the distance between Peter Hook's feet when he used to wear those leather trousers is perfectly encapsulated in Lou Reed's pervily sublime steal of a famous mucky book and the sound of John Cale sawing a cello in half. Which somehow perfectly leads us beneath a motorway bridge near NorthendenŠ.

05. Doves 'M62 Song'

You can hear the trucks and cars on this dark lullaby recorded in the dead of night. And the mic is passed to a feller in a sparkly jacket and greasy hairŠ.

06. Roxy Music 'In Every Dream Home a Heartache'

Simultaneously sinister and hilarious this love song for an inflatable lady friend was the kind of thing that the responsible young citizens that went on to make up New Order would twist their impressionable minds with.

07. Cat Stevens 'Was Dog a Doughnut?'

A peak time classic at Jellybean's Funhouse when New Order first alighted in electro land NY. Chick Corea is playing keyboards on this. On paper it might seem ridiculous, in reality it is perfect.

08. Mantronix 'Bassline'

Before narrow-mindedness set up a fence between house and hip-hop, this was the kind of record that filled the floor with ease at the Hacienda. Lyrically it's all but irrelevant, but its frantic edits and undeniable energy still make it special.

09. The Groundhogs 'Cherry Red'

A psychotic energy flash from a much misunderstood abstract blues band who, while their contemporaries sang of pixies and hobbits, traversed the same idiosyncratic route as Joy Division did almost ten years later. Peter Hook would probably tell you that Tony McPhee says more about his life than JG Ballard.

10. Joey Beltram 'Energy Flash'

Downright demonic, during the creation of this mix, shards of this devilish techno masterpiece appeared to replay in other rooms in the building for no good reason. Also features the word 'Ecstasy' which, though now ridiculous, at the time had a certain frisson.

11. Donna Summer 'I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley mix)'

Edited down from its original 15-minute glory in order to keep it burning here, this record still sounds incredible in any form. What could they have been thinking/drinking in Munich back then?

12. Can 'Mushroom'

Krautrock underpinned by the inspirational drumming of Jaki Liebezeit who appears to have studied under James Brown while the rest of the band kept busy sellotaping bits of dark Velvet to Stockhausen's arty pants. And Explosions as a bonus- what more could you need in any piece of music?

13. Rhythim is Rhythim 'The Dance'

Almost 15 years old and still peerless in all it's skeletal glory. Let's leave some intellectuals to draw a line between this and something off Power Corruption and Lies.

14. Giorgio Vs Talla 2XLC 'E=MC2'

Acknowledged on more than one occasion by Bernard Sumner as a transitional influence on the fledgling New Order, this celebration of machine music is the only place to end.

It is an ecclectic collection of songs CHOSEN BY the members of New Order...While the collection is very interesting (it includes music by Velvet Underground, Can, Capt. Beefheart, Roxy Music among others), I think the way ... has it on their site is very misleading... I bought it thinking it was New Order because the description of the item was not listed. I have listed a description from the Editorial Review of the import (which I found after I had already purchased it)"

Here is the Review from the import:

Unusual Set Assembled by the Band New Order features the CD Debut of the Patrick Cowley Mix of Donna Summer's Classic "i Feel Love" and a Remix Version of Giorgio Moroder's "e=mc2".