New Order - Substance

YOURZ

Predictably, I thought Mine would give me shit for not liking Substance but I'm pleased to say, in this case, she's wrong.  (Oh, you can't imagine the joy I get from writing this...) (Mine says: OK, stop gloating - but it's really nice you can still surprise me after all this time)

I happen to have a deep, abiding attachment to New Order going back to the early 80s when I was a pale, skinny goth boy who hung around in the only gay club in my town with two of the most beautiful blond girls I never slept with (no regrets there, nope, none at all).  The reason we hung out there is because it was the only place in town playing the sort of music we wanted to hear.

I would dress in black, they would dress in white and we would drink and dance until the sun came up.  I remember walking out into Sunday morning shoppers many times, blinking in the bright  sunlight and burping cocktails into their faces.  New Order, among others, was the soundtrack of these times.

'Hold on, it's never enough, it's never enough until your heart stops beating...'

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

While I'm sure YourZ will find this album yawnable, it's such a classic for me, I can't imagine my life without it.  Not that I play it much.  I wonder why that is?

When I first sat down to re-listen to Substance for this exercise, it reminded me of a couple of recent incidents, when I've stumbled across a friend from the past I'd lost touch with.  As you do, in this Facebook age.  After the inital surprise I was happy to catch up and was reminded how much I enjoyed their company.  But I'm not rushing to see them again -although I haven't deleted their numbers from my phone and at least one is still a friend on Facebook.

Substance is much like that.  I like to know it's there, and I might take it out and have a listen every few years - but it's not on high rotation.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/neworder