Retro | 
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| Artist: New Order
Label: London
Category: Music
List Price: £26.99
Buy New: £20.49
You Save: £6.50 (24%)
New (7) Used (4) Collectible (1) from £11.48
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 16041
Format: Box Set
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 5.4 x 0.8
UPC: 809274949929
EAN: 0809274949929
ASIN: B00007E8Z1
Release Date: December 9, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: NEW UNSEALED - 1# Items shipped from our shops in the North of England , Specialists in CD/Vinyl for over 20 Years.
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Fine Time | | • | Temptation | | • | True Faith | | • | The Perfect Kiss | | • | Ceremony | | • | Regret | | • | Crystal | | • | Bizarre Love Triangle | | • | Confusion | | • | Round and Round | | • | Blue Monday | | • | Brutal | | • | Slow Jam | | • | Everyone Everywhere |
Disc 2
| • | Elegia | | • | In A Lonely Place | | • | Procession | | • | Your Silent Face | | • | Sunrise | | • | Lets Go | | • | Broken Promise | | • | Dreams Never End | | • | Cries and Whispers | | • | All Day Long | | • | Sooner Than You Think | | • | Leave Me Alone | | • | Lonesome Tonight | | • | Every Little Counts | | • | Run Wild |
Disc 3
| • | Confusion (Koma & Bones Mix with Bernards New Vocal) | | • | Paradise (Robert Ricic Mix) | | • | Regret (Sabres Slow N Low Mix) | | • | Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep Pettibone Mix) | | • | Shell Shock (John Robie Mix) | | • | Fine Time (Steve Silk Hurley Mix) | | • | 1963 Arthur Baker Mix | | • | Touched by The Hand Of God (Original Verions) | | • | Everythings Gone Green (Original) | | • | Blue Monday (Jam & Spoon Manuela Mix) | | • | World In Motion (Subbuteo Mix) | | • | Here To Stay (Chemical Brothers Remix) | | • | Crystal (Lee Coombs Remix) |
Disc 4
| • | Ceremony (Studio 54, Barcelona on 7 July 1984) | | • | Procession (Sunderland 15 August 1984) | | • | Everythings Gone Green (Tolworth Rec. Centre, Kingston, London 6 Dec 1985) | | • | In a Lonely Place Glastonbury Festival 20/06/81 | | • | Age of Consent (Spectrum Arena, Warrington 1 March 1986) | | • | Elegia (Glastonbury Festival, 19th June 1987) | | • | The Perfect Kiss (Fulcrum Centre, Slough 7 Dec 1985) | | • | Fine Time (Hoffman Estates, Chicago 30 June 1989) | | • | World (Starplex Amphitheatre, Dallas 21 July 1983) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
There is a hardcore of humbugging New Order chroniclers who'll disdainfully view Retro--a four CD "Best Of" box set with bells on--as another missed opportunity to find a home for all the waif-and-stray rarities of the band's career. They have a point. Whither "Run 2", "MTO", "Video 586", the Western Works demos, the Hacienda Christmas flexi, various previously unreleased live BBC radio and TV sessions or--not for the first time and most heinously of all--the classic, definitive "blue ribbon cover" version of "Ceremony"? Nevertheless, journalists Miranda Sawyer (who harvests most of the familiar hits on the "Pop" disc) and John McCready (who--from the haunting grace of "Elegia" to the latterday lullaby of "Run Wild"--assembles key album cuts on the "Fan" disc) hardly put a foot wrong. Rejoice, for the original full-length vinyl versions of "Temptation" and "Confusion" (both ousted by remixes on the Substance compilation) are judiciously reinstated while such errant clangers as "State of the Nation" and the slapdash 12-inch of "Subculture" are consigned--forever, hopefully--to the dustbin of misadventure. Although "Ceremony" and the doomed imperialistic dirge of "In a Lonely Place" (both Joy Division compositions, of course--just how good could that third Joy Division album have been?) remain two of the best songs in the band's repertoire, the real New Order first stood up with the motorised whirring of 1981's transitional "Everything's Gone Green"--a tentative juxtaposition of the lyrically downbeat (solitude, disorientation and so on) and stimulating, electronic rhythms. It was a blueprint not only for their future but for popular music's future, for within 24 months--while road testing a new drum machine--New Order had conceived "Blue Monday", unarguably one of the five most important records made since the very genesis of rock & roll. Essentially, Retro tells you everything Joe Public needs to know about New Order's transformation from reticent, sour-faced introverts to matey, media-conducive hedonists with Mike Pickering's cherry-picked compendium of remixes (Disc Three) and Bobby Gillespie's bootlegger-ish live selection (Disc Four) upping the "must-have" ante for New Order completists aggrieved by the aforementioned omissions. --Kevin Maidment
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Retro in retrospect August 24, 2008
coca-ebola (United Kingdom)
This box set has been rather too harshly criticized - so here's my defence of it.
If it were narrowed down to three discs instead of four or five it would serve a purpose.
The Remix disc is the major flaw for me. Even though Everything's Gone Green and World In Motion have been shunted to the remix disc, it's expendable: only a few remixed songs have been given valid alternative treatments (Confusion and, oddly, Fine Time stand out), most have been destroyed and/or are unrecognizable.
Disc 5 will have been a disappointment to those who acquired it. It's comprised of remixes, a semi-live version of Perfect Kiss, the much touted 18-minute version of Elegia in which nothing happens four or five times (it sounds like each segment of the standard issue version has been artifically lengthened through tape-looping), and - the dubious highlight - a version of Transmission in which the tempo slows gradually, like a real-time imitation of a portable tape machine running out of juice.
The real value of this set lies in Discs 1 and 2: they add up to a greatest hits set for the connoisseur or well-read newcomer. `Pop' lives up to its name, gathering together all the most accessible/familiar NO material (`True Faith', `Bizzare Love Triangle', `Regret' et al), taking care to include the originals of Temptation and Confusion which wasn't available on CD (through legitimate channels!) at the time. `Fan' actually contains the material New Order's legendary status rests on: `Sunrise', `All Day Long', `Broken Promise', `Procession', `Dreams Never End', `Run Wild' and what we'll conveniently call `the "once out of reach" song' (to avoid confusion) - all of which are among the best, most inspired and inspiring, pop/rock of the past three decades (and yes, the r-word is applicable to much of this). To revive an old controversy, it's true that New Order often seemed to be following in the Cure's footsteps (not the other way around), but so what - the songs they came up with were quite different in tone to those of the Cure, and just as powerful and affecting (in their non-linear sort of way).
The much-criticized live disc is actually one of the plus points, for me at least. New Order are loose and spontaneous on stage - often shambolic, but that's part of the fun, there's plenty of `you can't do that on stage anymore' folkloric value in this live material. (And it's the only place you get to hear the third verse of Perfect Kiss on this box set).
Remixes included to appease the proponents of those who claim New Order as dance-music godfathers (not a title to be proud of). Disc 5 material included to satiate fan curiosity. Everything else: essential, or at least valuable, audio history. The compilers made a major mistake in failing to restore the missing '80s b-sides (from the cassette edition of Substance) to the catalogue. But, really. if that's the worst you can say of this box set, it can't be that bad.
 Retro-grade February 3, 2004
M. A. Mackenzie
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
Firstly, I'm not faulting the music. It's New Order, they're brilliant, but then you knew that.
The packaging, as ever, is by Peter Savile. Need I say more?
The reason this box-set fails is that they handed it over to others to compile. I can see the point in that, but the over-riding impression is one of laziness. If 4 people are going to compile a box-set, it might be an idea for them to speak to each other. That way we might not have had 3 versions each of Fine Time,Crystal,Regret,Perfect Kiss*,Elegia*,Temptation*(*if you have the 5CD version).
There are some excellent box-sets around, and NO need have looked no further than the excellent Heart and Soul for how to compile a box-set. I appreciate that JD's catalogue is smaller, but it's clear that more thought went into it. The Bunnymen's Crystal Days is another example of a box-set compiled with the hardcore fan in mind.
And there's no need for a live CD. New Order are not at their best live, they never have been, and this is not enhanced by a CD of bootleg-quality recordings. Live albums are rubbish at the best of times (OK, tell me a good live album then), and the inclusion of this disc is, well, a waste of a disc.
In short it's a rip off. The first 2 discs are OK, if a little disjointed, the club disc is hit-and-miss, and the live disc is just awful. I don't know who Alan Wise is, but you obviously had to be there. Why is this included on a New Order box-set? Actually, it's entirely in keeping with the shodiness of the whole thing. The bonus disc is the most interesting, and was apparently included as a concession to the like of me, who thought they hadn't included enough rare material.
New Order's music is great, but they have done their catalogue no justice here.
Retro-grade February 2, 2004
M. A. Mackenzie
12 out of 18 found this review helpful
New Order are one of the best bands this country has ever had. Some might say they are THE best, or even 2 of the best bands. They are not served well by this box-set though. I can see the point in having someone else do it, but the end result is too much repetition. 3 versions each of Regret, Fine Time, Temptation, Crystal, Elegia and Perfect Kiss. Some communication between the compilers might have helped.
The Pop disc is fine, but is not as good as Substance or International. The fan disc is OK, but a little disjointed.
The club disc is hit and miss. 3 of the tracks (BLT, Shellshock, EGG) appeared in exactly the same form on Substance. There is only 1 good version of Blue Monday, and that is the original. The Jam & Spoon mix included here is an absolute atrocity. The mixes of Confusion, Paradise and Regret are excellent though, and the Silk Mix of Fine Time is ok, if a little dated. Christmas 1988. Acieeed.
The live disc is just awful and is a waste of a disc. New Order are many things, but they are not, and never have been a great live band, and a CD of bootleg quality recordings does nothing to change my opinion on that. Live albums are invariably rubbish anyway (alright tell me a good one then), and alas this is no exception to that rule. And who the hell is Alan Wise? Obviously you had to be there. Why is inane drivel like this included on a New Order box-set, when there are so many glaring omissions?
The bonus 5th disc was apparently included as a concession to the likes of me, but this would have been unnecessary if they'd put some thought into it in the first place.
All in all I felt cheated. Great band, but a disappointing box-set. For how to compile a box-set, see Heart and Soul, or the Bunnymens excellent Crystal Days.
 Money for old rope May 15, 2003
richard johns
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is a nicely packaged offering with a great booklet featuring interesting band member assessments of the songs contained. Unfortunately, there is way too much repetition (e.g. 3 similar sounding versions of the very average single Fine Time, 3 similar versions of Crystal and the o.k. single version and awful album version of Bizarre Love Triangle). Basically, you need the program button of your cd player, particularly on the Live and Club discs - there are some atrocities on these, in particular a diabolical remix of Blue Monday. There's too much overlap with Substance. This appears a release primarily for the dedicated fan. At least they didn't release a Substance pt 2 (the b sides definitely went downhill from the Technique era onwards).
Flawed Box Set But Worth It March 12, 2003
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
Probably everyone would be divided over a track listing for a New Order box set, and the choice of tracks initially put me off. But I give the band credit for placing the project in the hands of others who love the group, and it is interesting seeing what other people would choose for their favourites. I was also relieved to read that the band felt the need to intervene on the Live CD, initially assigned to Bobby "I never met a photo opportunity I didn't like" Gillespie of Primal Scream. It could have been ultra tiresome in the hands of that calculating blowhard - New Order really should have told him to shut up and go home. That said, after buying this (with the 5th disc included), I'd say it's worth it for one track it DOES include, at last on CD: the original Arthur Baker version of "Confusion". Just fantastic. Add to that the usual lavish Peter Seville packaging and booklet, and you really can't go wrong. You'd still need to purchase "Substance" to bring it closer to a complete greatest set, but then, you already have that one, don't you?
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