Critic's Review
William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
New Order's first compilation album, Substance (1987), finally broke the group through to commercial success in the U.S. Its second one, The Best of New Order, isn't exactly Substance II. The previous set was a singles collection, and Best Of does pick up that story, including a series of songs -- "True Faith" (in a new remix), "Touched by the Hand of God," "Blue Monday 88," "Fine Time," "Round & Round" (in a new remix), "Run," and "World in Motion" -- that were bigger hits in the U.K. than in the U.S. (Also included is the group's biggest U.S. hit, "Regret," which did not chart in the U.K., as well as its charting follow-up, "World [The Price of Love].") But in addition, the compilers have included one song each from the group's albums, with the exception of Brotherhood -- "Dreams Never End" from Movement, "Age of Consent" from Power, Corruption & Lies, "Love Vigilantes" from Low-Life, "Vanishing Point" from Technique, and "Ruined in a Day" from Republic. Add in some rarities, plus "Bizarre Love Triangle," repeated from Substance, and you have 17 tracks taking up 70 and a half minutes and providing a good survey of New Order, 1981-1993. Substance, with its concentration on the group's run of classic singles from the early '80s, is a more consistent effort, but The Best of New Order, even if it is misnamed, is an excellent sampler of one of the major British bands of the 1980s.
