NewOrder* – TrueFaith-94

As a working DJ these mixes all stand up to the test of time and on a good club system still rock a crowd. Can fully understand why some dislike the re-rub asa concept but for serious club play its job done. Quite like the TWA mixes time has gone by]

Much like when George Lucas 'cleaned up' Star Wars, this single demonstrates exactly why a producer should never be allowed to go back and 'fix' something that wasn't broken. The original mix of 'True Faith', while being New Order's most radio-friendly pop song to date, was a thick and somewhat sinister (beneath the surface) 5-and-half minute symphony for getting lost in. As released on Substance, it did sport some tape hiss, a few dropouts, one noticeable mastering glitch in the intro, and relatively flat, vinyl-targeted mastering as was common in the early days of CDs. However, years later, it still held up as an exquisitely dressed pop song, almost shoegaze-like with its churning, drum machine-underpinned wall of fuzzy, yet tonal sound. For the 1994 re-release of the single in advance of a 'Best Of' album, original co-producer Stephen Hague brought in Mike 'Spike' Drake to help re-engineer the song. The results were stunning. Not content merely remaster the track, the pair worked hard on all kinds of things: the stereo separation in the chorus effects was reduced, all the other reverb was cut by half or more, the vocals were mixed a little louder and much clearer, sibilants were no longer allowed to leave sustained echo trails, the drums were made slightly more dynamic, and all of the instruments are more distinct -- in other words, the unique dreamy, moody trappings of the original were stripped and tossed in the rubbish bin, leaving behind a naked, unremarkable pop song that would rise to #9 on the (evermore easily-climbed) UK pop chart, nearly eclipsing the original's #4 showing some seven years earlier.