New Order – Music Complete

I haven’t found any statements from Peter Saville about the inspiration for the album cover design, but it seems closely influenced by Max Bill’s 1942 work "Horizontal-Vertikal-Diagonal-Rhythmus".

So weird to see New Order on Mute. At least 2 more.

My favorite New Order album since Technique. Pressing is quite nice too. My copy is silent - not a pop to be heard. Songs are punchy. A fun listen that still holds up well in 2022.

I've been meaning to pick up copy of this record on vinyl since it was released. Grabbed this particular pressing at a store yesterday and am now spinning on my Audio Technica 120. My copy is a tad warped so I put their disc stabilizer on it to be safe. LP 1 is done and there was not a skip, crackle or pop to be heard. Sounds great on my basic simple. Guess I got lucky.

The heavy, etched black vinyl... mine is mislabeled "33rpm", the weight is 195 grams, but can't be described as such on Discogs in the fields, as it's not part of a series, or identified as such in the release, aside from it saying "deluxe edition". The etched pattern curiously is printed to the inside of the cardboard cover for the New Order, "Complete Music" CD!
The coloured, clear and black vinyl, sound fantastically clear and crisp, no pops, silent surfaces. A brilliant fan must-have, with or without the signatures.

I find myself not listening to this 7 years later

The last New Order album that featured any decent PSA artwork was Technique in 1989. It's been downhill all the way ever since - the law of diminishing artistic returns I have to say. The obsession with white white white and lots of it (labels, covers, CD fronts and backs, booklets, and then centred Helvetica text at all costs) is now verging on not just the tedious but utterly self-parodic. That triple live album with Liam Gillick (with the stupid unpronounceable title) was taking the shiteness of whiteness to its ultimate limit. The booklet on this album is a classic example of a complete and utter waste of valuable paper and ink. At least have a few colour variations on the front design for crying out loud. Anything but yet more blasted boring acres of whiteness.
The music? Oh..... now you're asking. It's exactly what you'd expect from New Order. Nothing too remarkable. It's far better than the completely forgettable Lost Sirens and half better than the one before that. Suffice to say that their greatest days were already long behind them even before Hooky left. The fact that the critics were saying that this was the best NO album since Technique if anything damns it with faint praise. Technique had no fillers at all. This one has at least four.

Imagine complaining about a New Order record not being snazzy enough to look at hahahahaha

How many of these were pressed? Cheers much appreciated! 👍

So my previous version of this review mentioned skipping, and now that I have an Audio Technica player I can say it was the record player causing the skips. Be aware that this pressing is very finicky - the slightest bits of dust can and will cause skips, and an improperly balanced arm will skip a lot. When you've got it working, it sounds magnificent. Keep the disc well dusted and try to find a player with a lid so it can be protected while playing.