Substance
by New Order
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New Order bestography
Substance is ranked 2nd best out of 31 albums by New Order on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by New Order is Power, Corruption & Lies which is ranked number 253 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,286.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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Substance track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 87 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Substance rankings
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 8 hours ago).
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Substance ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 494 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 4 days ago | xhitmanx | 1,456 | 79/100 |
| ! | 07/12/2026 18:24 | liquidbottle | 775 | 82/100 |
| ! | 07/07/2026 21:47 | eburke | 2 | 98/100 |
| ! | 06/15/2026 06:04 | ASOARE | 2,325 | 76/100 |
| ! | 05/29/2026 19:12 |  serpico | 864 | 86/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 83.7/100, a mean average of 82.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.9/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.8.
Substance favourites
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Substance comments
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junodog4 06/10/2026 17:10 | #314875
It's a compilation, but doesn't feel like a compilation. Sounds very '80s', but I don't mean that as a slag - it still holds up today.
nextorgd 08/06/2025 21:55 | #310429
The best from the best!
First disc is incredibly good stuff, we start with Cremony released in 1981, so it seems more like a Joy Division track with new flavour and works incredibly well as starting point for the band, also In A Lonely Place a B-side to this single was one of tge better ones on the second disc, alongside with Procession also released in 1981. Everything's Gone Green is good track, but after it we have their greatest tracks - Temptation and Blue Monday that sound way ahead of its time (1983), Cries and Whispers is also great B-side. Thieves Like Us is synth-pop banger as well as The Perfect Kiss (with awesome B-sides - Lonesome Tonight, Kiss Of Death) and Sub-culture here sounds better than on Low-Life. Shellshock and State Of A Nation are quite good, but Bizzare Love Triangle blew my mind and True Faith ended first disc on high note. The tracks I did not already mention from second disc weren't very outstanding for me (not bad, but on album of this length they're excess), the only exception is 1963 which is amazing track released first time on this album, that sounds like Depeche Mode for me. Overall first disc is superior to second but great compilation, it could be called New Order Essentials.
imacgill 08/07/2022 18:42 | #288248
All of the classic 12 inch singles are here. The real treat is disc 2, a collection of B sides, remixes plus one new single, that could have been released as a stand alone album and still would have been one of the band's best.
VictorVale 04/15/2021 22:08 | #268591
Só acertos, poucas bandas podem dizer isso!
drstuey 04/10/2021 01:45 | #268405
One of only a few 'greatest hits' albums that is really important within the context of an artist's career, since it was released at their peak, collecting all those seminal 12" singles as they evolved their sound and pushed musically boundaries. Disc 2 that other comments refer to is all the B-sides from those singles. These are not on the original vinyl release which just has the A-sides, only on the CD release. For the cassette it was optional - you could either buy it with or without the B-sides!
First disc has banger after banger after banger
This was enormous during the 80’s. had on cassette and was overplayed in my Walkman
Great compilation. Like someone below said, this band was well ahead of the curve.
Boltzmann 09/03/2018 22:36 | #220536 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
“Blue Monday” was so ahead of its time, it’s not even fair.
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