Joy Division, New Order, and the case against Greatest Hits.

"Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls!" - Bruce McCulloch, The Kids in the Hall

Like any great band, Joy Division and New Order have long legacies. Joy Division, of course, being the mope-rock forerunners who kept their sound fresh and barely classifiable until the fateful day when singer Ian Curtis committed suicide. Out of their ashes came New Order, who, while falling into the same JD tropes at the beginning, became the leaders of the new dance rock rebellion. Going from creating the goth subgenre to making disco cool again makes for a deep and mostly wonderful catalouge, filled to the brim with amazing songs.

That's where the "Greatest Hits" problem comes in. Most of the time, labels will cash in on artistic integrity to make a quick buck off a band's back catalouge, and these two bands have had the same treatment, time and time again. Between the two groups, they've had a total of 18 compilation albums, including iTunes-only playlists, live albums, and two large box sets. Obviously, there is some overlap here. In fact, the compilations seem to dip from the same 20 or so songs. Where does it stop?

On May 18th, 2011, Rhino UK announced yet another JD/NO Greatest Hits, entitled Total. with it's Peter Saville-designed artwork, it hearkens back to New Order's 1993 offering, Republic. This is a slightly different machine, though, as one of it's main selling points is a previously unreleased New Order track, "Hellbent". Up for streaming on Pitchfork, the song sounds well enough for late-period New Order, which is obviously where it's sourced from, but pales in comparison to their previous glories. The rest of the album is dedicated to the same collection of singles that can be found on previous compilations. This one is seemingly New Order heavy, with thirteen NO tracks compared to a paltry five Joy Division songs.

My main gripe is, why the redundancy? This new track could have been released as a downloadable single, or even kept stashed away in the vaults, never to be heard by the public at large. I'm sure we wouldn't miss a song deemed not good enough for a recent New Order album. JD/NO fans have no need for a new Greatest Hits, as we already own the discographies. Casual fans can choose from the nearly twenty other compilations available. This is a completely redundant release, and a blemish on the legacy of two wonderful bands that made beautiful music.