New Order - "neworderstory" Review

NEW ORDER: neworderstory (PolyGram)

THIS IS the history of the most elusive and sardonic band ever, coos a dreamy and oddly Americanised Jenny Seagrove over Paul Morley's multi-layered retrospective, but "who's to say it ever happened...?"

In its original South Bank Show format, neworderstory was all high-gloss highlights and snappy asides. This two-hours plus remix throws in extra footage plus a dozen dazzling promos: 'Touched By The Hand Of God', 'Bizarre Love Triangle', 'True Faith' and many more. By showcasing the foursome's abrasive and petulant side alongside their precision-pop finery, a far more faithful - and, perversely, more amiable - portrait emerges. The slick, pacy momentum is lost, but the soaring peaks and gloriously pig-headed mistakes of a truly seminal career fall into sharper relief.

For once hitting the perfect tone, Morley rightly reinforces the band's myth, wallowing in the glamour and absurdity of it all. But the nervous geeks giggling through 'Blue Monday' live on Top Of The Pops or hamming up 'Regret' for Baywatch tell a more interesting story. Even if you can't face Bono's jarring attempts at self-parody ("What was all that stuff with the Nazi imagery?") or Tony Wilson defending himself against a decade of stored-up bitterness yet again, neworderstory is still a damn near definitive New Order video collection. Magic.

Stephen Dalton