Technique (Collector'S Edition) [CD]

I have waited for an eternity for this album to be released as a remaster. I am from the US and couldnt wait another month before I could order this Stateside so I paid much more and ordered the UK version.

I have many remasters - from the excellent Depeche, Cure, Thompson Twins, Pet Shop Boys, etc...and expected no less from the New Order remasters.

Be aware that the mastering here is horrible. There are audible pops and snaps on some of the bonus disc music indicating it was ripped directly from vinyl and NEVER cleaned up. You can get better bootleg MP3s than this mess. The Album songs sound so shiny and squashed that they are almost not even worth listening to.

I have listened to all the remasters and while Technique is one of the best, they are all definitely not worth purchasing. Stay with the original releases and look elsewhere for the widely available "bonus" material.

Terribly disappointed.

Technique", meanwhile, is possibly the finest single New Order album there is. It straddles, effortlessly, the gulf between euphoric/melancholic guitar-disco in a way that thrillingly combines the possibility of man and drum machine in perfect harmony, as well as moving towards some of the bands more traditional group work. It kicks off with the All Guns Blazing, definitive balaeric beat of "Fine Time", if nothing, a daft, silly, brilliant song about sex, complete with rampant drums, overloaded kitchen sink bleeps and bloops, random guitar swipes, and a general air of hands-in-the-air craziness. It makes perfect sense at 4am in 1989, and it makes sense now. The other thirty five minutes are equally exciting : a particularly English blend of joy and joy division, with material that offers consistently excellent song writing and immaculate production, as well as far outstripping almost every other act of the time in terms of imagination, innovation, and independence. Side two operates at a high point, with "Vanishing Point", "Mr Disco", and the glorious prog-rock snippet of "Run" that forms a cohesive, definitive New order album, ,demonstrating their work at the height of their abilities. If you own nothing else of theirs, start here.

The bonus disc, true to form with the rest of the set, fails to satisfy the knowledgable fans of the band. Despite canvassing fan opinion, the finished product appears to ignore completely any suggestions. Despite several live shows from their career being prepared for release and on the cusp of inclusion, "Technique" again features a selection of meandering instrumental bsides, stodgy remixes, and absolutely nothing of interest to anyone who bought the records when they came out. Even well known unreleased track "The Happy One"is omitted. In addition, the re-recorded, remixed, and extended "Round & Round" is presented not in the New Order 12" mix, but a generic house mix from Kevin Sanderson that is dated and a bit boring. This reissue features "World In Motion" (but not the alternate recording of "The B Side", which takes a parody of football to laughably brilliant levels), and yet another pointless remix that demonstrates the moment when New Order started farming out their material to `contemporary' remixers who produced generic one-size-fits-all club nonsense when they couldn't be bothered anymore. About the only truly great rarity on the disc is the "Making Out Mix" of "Vanishing Point" which takes the great song into the realms of a musical, instrumental journey with new parts, ideas, and variations that takes its cue from the large amount of out-takes from the "Technique" sessions the band reworked into television soundtrack material.

At one point the perfect combination of euphoric techno-pop, the other side of "Technique" is an effective melancholy : in many way, this vibrancy is matched with the knowledge of the hangover, the morning after, the inevitable fall of what has risen, which in many ways sums up the joyous disappointment that is human experience and these New Order reissues in a nutshell. Unlike the previous Joy Division reissues that added to the legacy by expanding the known universe with unheard recordings, these reissues fail to satisfy the dedicated or knowledgable fan of the band by presenting an ineffective, and seemingly randomly ordered collection of B-sides from the time, with no previously unheard gems. it's the sound of brilliant music and also an open goal, a missed opportunity, a wilful failure to take the care and attention music this important deserves. The music is brilliant, the extra tracks are random and appallingly sequenced without reason, consistency, or narrative, and with no real reason to buy them if you were there at the time. New Order deserved better than this.

What a moment the unleashing of this music was on the world of New Order fans! This is one of the most important releases and collections of music released by NO in a career littered with important dates, career jumps, exploration and advancement. Well, at least under Factory.

There is nothing that can take away from the music that is contained in Technique, except hindsight. We can listen to this album now knowing that it represents the end of the classic period of New Order and the end of their involvement with Factory. It represents a goodbye and closure which is made all the more poignant by the fact that at the time we had no realisation that the passing of an era was coming about. I mean ok, we get 'World in Motion' after this, but while it reached no. 1 - it was quintessentially not an integral part of the New Order plan and vision. It could also be seen as a major dilution and closing of the chapter of New Order as musicial adventurers!

Technique also has to be judged by what came after in terms of NO's catalogue at the hands of London and now Rhino and these reissues. Lets not beat about the bushes. There was something fabulous about the structure, look, detail and contents of NO's Factory releases. What can be said about London and now Rhino?

London began the prostitution of the NO back catalogues. Between 1994 and 2005 they inflicted on the market five compilations and two remix albums; most of these have no real logic or proper structure to them, with the possible exception of the last 'best of' Singles - which tries in look and its ethos to follow in the footsteps of Substance. Some of the releases have been close to criminal in their poor execution: the box set was one of the worst, unstructured releases by a major artist: NO seemingly content to farm out and 'outsource' the whole thing to music journos and celeb fans.

I have nothing but admiration for Rhino generally and their reputation speaks for itself. But who it needs to be asked was responsible for the unnecessary release of these five 1980s albums in these formats with all the flab, crap and tracks easily available added on? Rhino really need to own up, identify that person, and fire them, 'cus this detracts and diminishes from their excellent reputation. And the reputation of New Order.

These releases are a sad day and a sad postscript in the history of the once mighty New Order. I for one would like to hear what the band think.