Customers have been taking to the Internet to catalog their numerous complaints regarding Rhino's recent New Order reissues, so the company has apparently pulled the discs from sale until the issues can be resolved. Peter Hook, as seems to be his current habit,
blogged his ire when the reissues hit shelves in England last month, saying that the band didn't have a chance to hear the discs' final mixes. Still, the American release soldiered on Tuesday, only to have the same complaints surface here. Some of the bonus tracks sound to me like vinyl rips instead of master recordings, which is very strange unless Shaun Ryder stole the originals from some Factory vault back in the day and sold them for hash. (Hey, it's possible.) Somehow, I'd like to blame Edgar Bronfman, whose Warner Music is the parent company of re-issuer Rhino, which has made its name as a loving caretaker of music history. But regardless of who's to blame, this debacle is embarrassing to everyone involved and irritating to those who went out and purchased the discs to begin with. [
Billboard]
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