Retro
If there was a certain irony to the surviving members ofJoy Divisionrecasting the angst-ridden muse of band founder/suicide victim Ian Curtis as New Order's often catchy melodic synth-pop, there's ample evidence on this compelling four-disc retrospective to suggest that Curtis's troubled spirit and dark sense of humor continued to haunt his influential musical progeny long after his passing. Crucially, the band has foresworn strict historical autobiography here for a moreRashomon-like approach, allowing four outsiders to compile the anthology's component discs. The resulting four chapters focus on distinct, well-defined facets of the band's music: journalists Miranda Sawyer and John McReady serve up the hits-oriented "Pop" and moody, album-cut and B-side centered "Fan" discs, respectively, while Manchester DJ and Factory Records A&R; man Mike Pickering presents a baker's dozen of the band's pioneering club mixes (six previously unavailable in the U.S.) on the "Club" disc andPrimal Scream's Bobby Gillespie culls together the ultimate, career-spanning N.O. concert set from a trove of unreleased soundboard recordings on "Live." Band members weigh in throughout the set's artful, straightforward liner notes with often sardonic track-by-track commentary, but it's the outside-in viewpoint that makes this such a worthy companion to Joy Division's similarly scaledHeart and Soulanthology.--Jerry McCulley