New Order > International

"The brand new greatest hits collection with all their hits from 1981-2002 including full length original versions of Blue Monday, True Faith and Crystal" - from the front cover sticker.

International; detail of sticker

Tracklisting

Ceremony
Blue Monday
Thieves Like Us
Confusion
The Perfect Kiss
Shellshock
Bizarre Love Triangle (extended dance mix)
True Faith
Touched By The Hand Of God (original 12")
Round and Round
Regret
Crystal
60 Miles An Hour
Here To Stay (radio edit)

International; detail of tracklisting

David Blot's sleevenotes

New Order should never have been called New Order.
Bernard Sumner should never have been a lead singer
Joy Division's survivors should never have made dance music.
New Order should never have composed the best selling 12 inch record of all times..
New Order should never have disguised themselves as hard rockers for the Touched by the Hand of God video.
US kids addicted to MTV should never have taken it for granted.
New Order should never have earnt a lot of money, only to be bankrupted because of the Hacienda, their club in Manchester.
The Hacienda should never have opened.
The Hacienda should never have closed.
New Order never properly signed with Tony Wilson from Factory Records but followed all the label's history, from the punk debuts to the Acid House ending.
New Order shuold never have signed in the US of A on Q West, Quincy Jones' soul music label, but Quincy thought that it was "the best Brit band! Much better than the Sex Pistols!".
Suppose New Order hadn't written Blue Monday, Neil Tennant would have never founded the Pet Shop Boys.
He would still be a journalist.
New Order don't use make up like The Cure, don't dress up like Depeche Mode and don't have haircuts like the Human League.
New Order are a serious band, but they weren't afraid to compose the official British anthen for the World Cup 1990.
England should never have lost this World Cup. Any World Cup.
New Order can be outrageously cold like hard dance. Never narrow minded.
New Order doesn't dance, but really likes it anyway.
They stood there, without saying a word to their audience. It was cool.
Nowadays they spend most of their time talking & doing encores every night. It's cool.
New Order is a weird band: Peter Hook has a strange way to hold his bass, Steven to use his drums, Barney to dance and Gillian to, uh, well Gillian you know.
If Ian Curtis hadn't committed suicide, New Order would never have existed.
If New Order hadn't played in New York, the would have never discovered Larry Levan's Paradise Garage and John Jellybean Benitez's Fun House.
They would never have worked with Shep Pettibone, Arthur Baker, John Robie or Steve Silk Hurley.
And the history of House music wouldn't have been the same.
If Peter Hook hadn't produced Made of Stone, there would never have been a Stone Roses' phenomena (sic).
If Bernard hadn't produced Freaky Dancin', there would never have been a Happy Mondays' phenomena (sic).
Without the Roses or the Mondays, no Madchester.
Without New Order, rockers would still listen to rock.
New Order refused to mime on tvs. Imposed their own conditions. And it wasn't for fun. New Order never showed their faces on record covers. Except for once..
And it was big.
Pre House incognito, effective anti star system.
No poses, only attitude.
The true punks do dance music.
The techno generation is still running 20 years after Blue Monday.
New Order were still running after Lou Reed... when they finally found out about Donna Summer.
Yeah, and one last thing, New Order should never have shot the Regret video with David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson.
On the beach.
During Spring Break.
With Californians all over.
Real ones.
No, not that.
New Order never do anything like anybody else.
A chronological "best of" is supposed to explain a logical route.
Not with them.
You will only find a natural gift for Anarchy.
Really, New Order shouls have been called New Order.
And definitely should never have been the best band on earth.

David Blot, September 02

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This compilation was aimed at the, er hem, international market and those who might not want to buy Retro, the box set. There have to be omissions in a one-disc set but Temptation is a curious one. Presumably Thieves Like Us, Shellshock and Confusion were bigger hits abroad than the commonly-acknowledged all-time classic New Order track.