What is the best *OPENING* track in New Order's studio album discography?

"Age of Consent" in a landslide, but I'm going to be contrarian and vote "Dreams Never End"- one of my all-time favorite NO tracks.

"age of consent". but i had to think about it.

basically: age of consent >> regret > love vigilantes >> dreams never end > fine time (although not sure about the order of those two; might want to swap them later) >> paradise > crystal >>>>>>>>>> (~) >>> who's fucking joe.

Clearly "Fine Time" is the best one!

age of consent or regret

Age of Consent vs. Love Vigilantes FITE! This is going to be brutal.

ok this is far harder than the closing track poll. age of consent vs regret v fine time v dreams never end.

i like age of consent better, but the intro to regret is a great way to open the album, so i go regret.

I'm thinking "Fine Time". I'm tired of "Age of Consent". But will reconsider later.

"Dreams Never End"

btw "stephen" is not me!

I'm tired of "Age of Consent"

wau?

i still remember the first time i heard it. i still feel the same every time i put it on.

curt1s: you listen to them backwards?

hang on, fuck, no, my brain's in backwards. i thought you'd written "dream attack" there. fuck me, i should sleep. sorry.

One track, I put on the newly bought album, 1st track plays, I go "MY GOD! WHAT WAS THAT?" and repeat it three times before I play the rest of it.

"Love Vigilantes" was that track.

I got a cheapie cassette (orig Factory) for the car, but there are 4 versions of The Perfect Kiss, now it's a fine single but that's too much repetition...

Clearly "Fine Time" is the best one!

Yarp. Though Love Vigilantes rocks too.

Love Vigilantes - is it a ghost story, or is it a tale of a bureaucratic mix-up?

Strenuous toughie, but I'm going with "Age of Consent." No arguing with the Hooky bass there.

Love Vigilantes - is it a ghost story, or is it a tale of a bureaucratic mix-up?

Answer: It is the only New Order song that tedious vaguely folky bands like Poi Dog Pondering and the Oyster Band and some waif on some recent anti-war compilation ever end up covering because it's a 'real' song and not like any of that dance stuff that said tedious bands reject because they don't have the talent or the ear or even the slightest bit of imagination AT ALL to even think that said dance stuff might be just as valid and interesting.

I might perhaps be conflating issues.

and repeat it three times before I play the rest of it

... exactly what i did with "age of consent"!

Love Vigilantes - is it a ghost story, or is it a tale of a bureaucratic mix-up?

depends who you ask. me: i say the latter. the rest of the world: the former.

"Regret", less as the opening to the record, and more as probably my single favorite NO track (modulo "Temptation")

But Ned, the Poi Dog Pondering cover is really great. I ended up buying one of their records after hearing their cover. It was disappointing, but that cover still stands up.

3-way tie between Dreams Never End, Age of Consent & Love Vigilantes, so it could be either. As the sun is out, & it's the one I fancy hearing right now, it's Love Vigilantes.

crystal. age of consent a close second.

"Regret", but it took me a while to me a while to finally come to a decision. "Fine Time" and "Age of Consent" could easily have won.

"Regret" no contest for me.

And the Cure polls were mine. Not Curt1s.

"Regret," perhaps their greatest single if only for the first eleven seconds which I'm still trying to pay back karmically after fifteen years.

"Age of Consent", but only just. Lots of nearly equal contenders. With the two polls, I've realised that New Order were a kazillion times better at opening an album than closing one.

And the Cure polls were mine. Not Curt1s.

Aie, I'm sorry, stephen. I was thinking of names in Japanese form apparently.

OK - I want to go and listen to New Order now! Well done everyone.

What Ned said about Love Vig is very true, but the main point is: It was a shock because it's not something you expect from a New Order album. Whereas it is exactly what you'd expect if someone said "The Oyster band have covered a New Order song".

So, yeah conflating issues for true.

3-way tie between Dreams Never End, Age of Consent & Love Vigilantes,

this

also thank god I've never heard --- or even known about -- that poi dog pandering cover

Voxtrot
Laura Cantrell
Poi Dog Pondering
The Oyster Band
New Order
Love Seed Mama Jump
DFactor
Orbit
Radiogram
The Kramdems

All have done 'love vigilantes'

regret. easy

"Love Vigilantes" for me. But don't know the last two and can't remember "Paradise" at all.

Love Vigilantes for me, although it could have been any one of four.

It's either going to be Fine Time, Dreams Never End or Regret, but to be scientific I'll need to check iTunes play counts before voting.

"Age of Consent," easy.

Age of Consent for sure, because when I bought it after being disappointed with Movement and worrying about what they would do next (oh, I took my music so very seriously when I was 18) it restored my faith in them. They quickly dashed my hopes with track 2, but then re-restored them with the rest of the album.

Weird, cuz I listened to Brotherhood for the first time in a couple of years, so I'm going to be contrarian and vote for "Paradise," one of their more underrated songs. The '98 Reading show has a fantastic version.

Also: isn't it "Hey Joe"?

The '98 Reading show has a fantastic version.

Me Too!

I wasn't! To hell with all of you!

yeah, but then I was also at the Stone Roses reading 96 show...

I would have loved to have seen that, to laugh.

Some laughed, some cried. All ran away...

(You wouldn't believe.. The denoument at "I am the resurrection".. "I couldn't bear to hate you as I .... FLYYYYY!!!!! (while sounding like a shot moocow)

Tie between "Love Vigilantes" and "Fine Time" for me.

Dreams Never End vs. Crystal. I'm disappointed the latter doesn't get more love. What a single.

"Crystal" is fucking massive.

It's hard not to vote for "Age of Consent". It's one of the greatest New Order tracks ever. "Regret" and "Crystal" are also right up there.

"crystal" is great -- says the bloke who really has a fucking massive problem with the last two albums -- but it's struggling in this exalted company.

AoC is walking this, isn't it?

"Crystal" does the impossible -- it matches "Regret" in the holy-shit-what-a-comeback-singlge department.

shame about what comes immediately after it on that album, though :/

my, look at the length of this furrow i've ploughed.

"crystal" is great -- says the bloke who really has a fucking massive problem with the last two albums -- but it's struggling in this exalted company.

grimly OTM.

I'm voting for "Crystal" too. That song blew me away when it came out. My brother loved it so much he couldn't believe it wasn't a hit and he kept asking me "Why won't they play 'Crystal'?" whenever we were watching MTV.

tie. Age of Consent (Power, Corruption & Lies - 1983)
tie. Love Vigilantes (Low-Life - 1985)
tie. Regret (Republic - 1993)
4. Paradise (Brotherhood - 1986)
5. Fine Time (Technique - 1989)
6. Dreams Never End (Movement - 1981)
7. Crystal (Get Ready - 2001)
8. Who's Joe? (Waiting For The Sirens' Call - 2005)

even "Who's Joe?" is great.

Wow, this is tougher than I thought it would be. My heart says "Fine Time" because it's a huge departure from nearly everything else in their catalogue (including the rest of "Substance") and I spent 23% of my waking hours in 1989 blasting that shit around the house. But "Regret" is one of their top two or three singles, and "Dreams Never End" is of course magical.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Toss up between "Regret" and "Crystal"

and the Laura Cantrell cover of "Love Vigilantes" is OK. Never heard any of the others.

"Crystal" is fucking massive.

It really is. I should have given it more consideration.

I suddenly realise: New Order are GREAT at opening albums!

What I find interesting is that in both these opening/closing polls, I'm almost embarassed to say I picked the tracks from Power, Corruption & Lies. Which doesn't necessarily say anything about the album in question it's just that it happened to begin and end on the most astounding note ever for this band, given the parameters of the polls. Though at this point if someone were to point a gun to my head and ask me to choose between Joy Division & New Order as my fave band, I'd probably be shot before I could truthfully answer.

So anyway, thanks Mackro for making me see New Order in a new way with these polls.

As much as I'd like to pick the underrated "Regret" common sense compels me to tab the enduring "Love Vigilantes"

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Well then.

probably predictable; i was surprised for a second that "love vigilantes" wasn't higher but then, as ned articulates above, its perceived popularity is maybe unrepresentative of the gibbering NO fan.

so, so glad nobody voted for "who's joe".

Justice is done in both polls, then. Well done, mates!

Should have been closer.

closer was joy division boom boom.

*cymbal crash*

"Justice is done in both polls"

justice only have 1 album out so far though. OH YES

"Fine Time" and "Love Vigilantes" are both pretty mediocre.