New Order - Retro at Music Hills.com

Music CD 1

Fine Time - New Order
Temptation - New Order
True Faith - New Order
The Perfect Kiss - New Order
Ceremony - New Order
Regret - New Order
Crystal - New Order
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
Confusion - New Order
Round And Round - New Order
Blue Monday - New Order
Brutal - New Order
Slow Jam - New Order
Everyone Everywhere - New Order
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
Confusion (Koma And Bones Vocal Mix)
Paradise (Robert Racic Mix)
Regret (Sabres Slow N Low Mix)
Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep Pettibone Extended Dance Mix)
Shellshock (John Robie Mix)
Fine Time (Steve Silk Hurley Mix)
1963 (95 Arthur Baker Remix)
Touched By The Hand Of God
Everythings Gone Green
Blue Monday (Jam And Spoon Manuela Mix)
World In Motion (Subbuteo Mix)
Here To Stay (Extended Instrumental)
Crystal (Lee Combs Remix)
Ceremony (Live)
Procession (Live)
Everythings Gone Green (Live)
In A Lonely Place (Live)
Age Of Consent (Live)
Elegia (Live)
The Perfect Kiss (Live)
Fine Time (Live)
World (Live)
Regret (Live)
As It Is It Was (Live)
Intermission By Alan Wise (Live)
Crystal (Live)
Turn My Way (Live)
Temptation (Live)

Music CD 2

Elegia - New Order
In A Lonely Place - New Order
Procession
All Day Long (From Brotherhood)
Your Silent Face (From Power, Corruption & Lies)
Sunrise (From Low-Life)
Let's Go
Broken Promise (From Brotherhood)
Dreams Never End (From Movement)
Cries And Whispers
Sooner Than You Think - New Order
Leave Me Alone - New Order
Lonesome Tonight - New Order
Every Little Counts - New Order
Run Wild - New Order

Music CD 3

Confusion - New Order
Paradise - New Order
Regret - New Order
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
Shellshock - New Order
Fine Time - New Order
1963 - New Order
Touched By The Hand Of God - New Order
Everything's Gone Green - New Order
Blue Monday - New Order
World In Motion - New Order
Here To Stay - New Order
Crystal - New Order

Music CD 4

Ceremony - New Order
Procession - New Order
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
The Perfect Kiss (Fulcrum Centre, Slough, 7 Dec 1985)
Fine Time (Hoffman Estates, Chicago, 30 June 1989)
World (Starplex Amphitheatre, Dallas, 21 July 1993)
Regret (Reading Festival, 31 August 1993)
As It Is When It Was (Reading Festival, 31 August 1993)
Alan Wise's Introduction (Olympia, Paris, 12 November 2001)
Crystal (Big Day Out, Gold Coast, 20 January 2002)
Turn My Way (Olympia, Liverpool, 18 July 2001)
Temptation (Academy, Brixton, 10 October 2001)

Music reviews of Retro

Music Review: A nifty concept, but lousy timing and spotty execution
Rating: 3 Stars

More disappointing to this lifelong fan is the song selection. A glance at the back cover of Retro suggests that the band has been pretty generous, with 57 tracks totaling nearly five hours of music. But then I began to scrutinize the titles, and saw that "Crystal," "Regret," and "Fine Time" appear in studio, remix, and live forms (especially bizarre in the case of the heavily-synthesized last track, which features live vocals, bass, a moment or two of guitar, and machines a-plenty - even knowing that I was at the 1989 show that it was recorded at fails to make me want to hear this "live" track again). A number of other songs, including "Ceremony," "Procession," "Blue Monday," "Confusion," "Temptation," "Everything's Gone Green," and "Bizarre Love Triangle" appear in two versions, leaving the actual song count somewhere around 40 - less than half the songs the band has released throughout their career.

The repetition is one thing, but the truly vexing aspect of this box is the dubiousness of the actual track selection. (If you're a big fan this is obvious at a glance; newbies, just be warned.)

There are some things this package gets right, especially the packaging - the booklet, though fairly short on text (oddly, the band comments on only 20 or so of Retro's songs), does showcase great photos of the band members and a few associates throughout the years, something you won't find on any of their albums save for Low-Life. And lest we forget this still is the music of New Order, nicely remastered, and in copious quantities.

New Order have a tremendous legacy, for their pioneering mixture of traditional rock instruments with electronics, for their alternating thematic continuation of and complete disavowal of their previous work as Joy Division, and the sheer volume of fabulous rock and dance songs that they've crafted. Unfortunately, Retro fails to adequately convey the band's greatness even as it lifts fifty bucks or more from the wallet.