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Technique (2 CD Collector's Edition)

New Order - Technique (2 CD Collector's Edition) Audio CD

A fair review of the New Order "Technique (2 CD Collector's Edition)" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all New Order reviews here, or go back to the New Order tabs.

Band: New Order
Title: Technique (2 CD Collector's Edition)
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-11-11
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Fine Time [Silk Mix] 2: All the Way 3: Love Less 4: Round & Round 5: Guilty Partner 6: Run 7: Mr. Disco 8: Vanishing Point 9: Dream Attack 10: Don't Do It [*] 11: Fine Line [*] 12: Round and Round [*] 13: Best & Marsh [*] 14: Run 2 [*] 15: Mto [*] 16: Fine Time [Silk Mix][*] 17: Vanishing Point [*][Instrumental] 18: World in Motion [Calbinieri Mix]

Caution DO NOT BUY THIS
DO NOT BUY the November 11, 2008 versions. These CD's have been in effect recalled for numerous sonic errors primarily on the second disks. Rhino has re-released them as of August 25, 2009. These are the corrected versions.

Wrong Technique?
I had the chance to buy the November 2008 Collector's Edition of Technique and did so without having read the reviews here firsthand. First, a big, huge thanks to Paul for the heads up on the mastering. I played both discs on my home theater system, in my car (I listen to music very loud while I'm on the road) and on my home computer. The first disc is flawless. Not a bum note or remastering issue to be found. The booklet (mine anyway) is flawless too. Apart from the "cabinieri" vs. "carabinieri" misword, no typos to be found in the liner notes. The bonus disc, for me, was fine though not without problems. That said, I tried to listen to find all of Paul's "pops" and "clicks" at the times listed and found a few, though not everything he listed. I believe Paul when he says it's not what he expected. I don't doubt his impatience at finding all these audible potholes. However, in all honesty, this didn't seem half the problem he made it out to be. It in no way distracted me from enjoying the bonus material. And, frankly, that's probably why a fair amound of these mixes and demos are left unreleased. Yes, hardcore devotees may wish to wait for Warner/Rhino to "fix" the problem. But to these ears (and I've had Technique on CD since it first came out), I found nothing massively wrong here. yep, the bonus discs could have been clearer. But, really, given the nature of 12" recordings and "work" tapes, is anyone really surprised by the sound on the bonus material?.

Bad Technique
First of all, it's one of my favorite New Order albums. I bought this particular release of Technique due to two reasons. I had this on constant rotation on my Walkman during my senior year in high school. I evolved from cassette, to CD, and now to this so-called "remastered" edition. Second of all, it contains for the first time ever, the extended remix of "Run 2" on a CD. As any New Order fan may know, the original single is rare as John Denver sued NO because of a break in the song coincidentally sounds a lot like "Leaving on a Jet Airplane" and in an apparent effort to cut off royalty payments to Denver, they deleted the single (who got a co-writer credit as a penalty).
Sadly, as far as the "remastering" goes, Technique doesn't sound much better than the original CD. I compared it to the ripped MP3's from that release with the new CD and there is no obvious audio enhancement.
As far the new bonus tracks full of b-sides, it has been noted recently that the quality is pretty poor, sounding like a direct copy from vinyl. I can attest to that. There are pops and skips and it really does sound like they used a phonograph with a USB line-out to master the bonus CD. It really is a bad job.
I hear Rhino is going to remaster the bonus CD and redistribute it to early buyers of these reissues. It's a wonder they didn't pull the copies off the shelves already as this series has been out in the UK for several months already and they are still waiting for their new CD's too.
I would definitely hold off buying any of these releases until they get it right (if ever).

Loaded with errors
However, there were far too many egregious mistakes made in the creation of the discs themselves to give them a pass. The MUSIC on these New Order reissues get a 5/5, easily. Only the first discs were re-mastered though they still have some problems, it is the bonus discs that are an absolute mess.

Warner Music/Rhino know about these problems, but there is yet no word on any forthcoming fixes. So I'd hold off until these issues are addressed.

Noted below are the specific problems with the Technique reissue:

1, Fine Time
2, All the way
3, love less (click at 0:04 - unconfirmed)
4, Round and round
5, Guilty partner
6, Run
7, Mr disco
8, vanishing point
9, Dream attack
"Sleeve notes full of errors" "Did anyone proof read these?"
- bonus disc
1, Don't do it - Clicks and pops at 0:08, 0:18, 0:35, 0:40, 1:00, 2:25, 2:27, 3:01, 3:05, 3:07, 3:32, 4:12, 4:17, and 4:19. (a skip near the beginning of the track)
2, Fine line - A myriad of crackles and "jumps"
3, Round and round (dubious sound quality, clicks, pops and digital glitches. "4 pops/irregular static within the first 20 seconds". Problems at 0:05, 0:07, 0:10, 0:16, 0:28, 0:32, 0:36, 0:41, 0:48, 0:52, 0:54, 0:56, 0:59, 1:05, 1:30, 1:39, 2:28, 2:30, 2:32, 2:41, 2:43, 2:52, 3:03, 3:15, 4:19, 5:18, 5:34, 6:32, and 6:34.
4, Best and marsh (dubious sound quality)
5, Run 2 - Plays the extended version (not listed as such). Sound quality suggests it was "mastered" from vinyl. Clicks and pops at: 0:03, 0:10, 0:17, 0:24, 0:38, 0:41, 0:45, 0:50, 1:02, 1:13, 1:40, 2:02, 2:39, 3:10, 3:58, 4:05, 4:12, 4:15, 4:29, 4:42, 4:56, and 5:10.
6, MTO - Plays the "minus mix" (not listed as such)
7, Fine time (silk mix) (dubious sound quality)
8, Vanishing point (instrumental) (dubious sound quality)
9, world in motion (carabinieri mix)- Listed as "cabinieri". Sound quality suggests it was "mastered" from vinyl

Overall, "Be aware that the mastering here is horrible. There are audible pops and snaps on some of the bonus disc music indicating it was ripped directly from vinyl and NEVER cleaned up. You can get better bootleg MP3s than this mess. ".

New Order's Best Album - The mastering is awful
The mastering of the original disc is "ok" at best, but the bonus CD is terrible. Just a warning to those who are thinking about buying this. Half the songs are mastered from Vinyl and you can very easily hear pops and skips and dropouts, etc. . Even Peter Hook has responded to all the complaints that he will do his best to get these fixed. Warner's doesn't seem to care since they had a couple of months to fix this issue since the UK release. If all you want is Technique remastered, then buy it used. The package is terrible, the liner notes are terrible (there are misspellings, wrong dates, and the insert is completely white with only black text. )

BTW this doesnt just apply to Technique. ALL the remasters have the same issues.

You can see a complete list of all New Order discography, or go back to the New Order tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.