The Beat Surrender

I know exactly what barbed comments certain sections of the press will level at this release, cash in before Christmas, or it’s yet another New Order compilation to keep the record company and the band in pocket money while fleecing the fans. They can say that all they want for me, but at the end of the day no album documents the fact that New Order are one of the best British singles bands of all time as well as this compilation does.

Singles features every track they’ve ever released as a single, spread over two value for money discs that show firstly how they shaped dance music in the eighties with the obvious Blue Monday (yes we all know it’s the biggest selling twelve inch single ever), the ever huge Bizarre Love Triangle and of course the mean and moody Procession. Then you have True Faith, not only was it one of the best videos ever made it’s also one of those rare songs that not only has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end when I hear that intro, but also puts a corking smile on my face at the same time…and how many songs do you know that do both?

They moved into the mid-nineties with the massive comeback single Regret which showed they’d lost none of the ability to deliver a hook (no pun intended honestly), the deep and dark Spooky that was sinister as hell but you still loved it and of course the more downbeat Ruined In A Day. This is a band that has always managed to make writing a classic single seem effortless so to have them contained on one album like this is something that is long overdue.

Nothing proved that more than World In Motion. The football song graveyard has been littered with hundreds of artists careers, until this point it had never been done well and never looked like being done well. To think that it even survives having Keith Allen involved as well as a John Barnes rap makes it all the more remarkable. Despite a brave attempt from the Lightning Seeds this is still the best football song ever official.

Recent albums from New Order have been met with a certain degree of disinterest, but whatever you think of both Get Ready and Waiting For The Sirens Call they yet again contained some magical pop singles. The frantic rush of Crystal came as a shock to me when I heard it and was followed by the superb 60 Miles an Hour. While the title track of the recent album is one of the best songs they’ve ever released and nobody is likely to forget Jetstream if only for the contribution of Ana Matronic.

I’m sure the purist Joy Division fans out there won’t agree with me, but I don’t think they would have been capable of producing this many classic and instantly accessible songs, they might have been producing more classic albums and on a more consistent basis, but as a country we’ve always had a love affair with the single, so from Joy Divisions unfortunate demise we have something to prove that every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.

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