Substance is a singles compilation album by English rock band Joy Division. It was released on July 11, 1988 by Factory Records. It is the companion to a similar singles compilation by their subsequent band New Order, also titled Substance. It peaked at number 7 on the UK Albums Chart and 146 on the Billboard 200, the band’s only chart appearance in the United States. It also reached number 15 in New Zealand and number 53 in Australia in August 1988. Substance compiles the four singles released by the band that did not appear on albums Transmission, Komakino, Love Will Tear Us Apart, and Atmosphere, as well as most of their B-sides. It also collects tracks released on various EPs, namely the band’s first release, An Ideal for Living, and two samplers issued by Factory Records, A Factory Sample and Earcom 2: Contradiction.
Two of the album’s tracks, Glass and Dead Souls, were previously included on the 1981 compilation Still. Additionally, the single Atmosphere had been originally issued in France as Licht und Blindheit with Dead Souls on the B-side; following Ian Curtis‘s suicide, it was reissued as a posthumous B-side of the She’s Lost Control 12-inch single. The vinyl version omits the single Komakino and does not include the complete titles from the EPs, due to the lower storage capacity of a vinyl record.
Later CD pressings issued by London Records contain a previously unreleased mix of She’s Lost Control that is slightly different from the original single release. More guitar is mixed within the song, the synthesizer melody is shortened and starts at a later point, and the ending of the song is extended by 15 seconds and does not fade out.
Substance was digitally remastered in 2015, containing not only the alternate mix of She’s Lost Control, but also two additional tracks: As You Said (the second B-side of Komakino) and the initial take of Love Will Tear Us Apart (originally released on the B-side of the original single), dubbed the Pennine Version after the studio it was recorded at.
The cover features the title of the album in green spelled with characters from Wim Crouwel‘s New Alphabet typeface below Joy Division‘s name and the years of recording in a smaller white font. The letters used in the title actually spell “Subst1mce”, rather than “Substance”. Brett Wickens, who worked on this cover whilst a partner at Saville Associates, claims this was for aesthetic reasons. The 1991 cover was different, featuring a large green “S” in the New Alphabet typeface with its lower half encircling Joy Division‘s name and the years of recording in the same white font used in the original cover.
Tracklist:
- Warsaw
- Leaders Of Men
- Digital
- Autosuggestion
- Transmission
- She’s Lost Control
- Incubation
- Dead Souls
- Atmosphere
- Love Will Tear Us Apart
- No Love Lost
- Failures
- Glass
- From Safety To Where
- Novelty
- Komakino
- These Days
Joy Division
Ian Curtis: lead vocals
Bernard Sumner: guitar, synthesizer
Peter Hook: bass
Stephen Morris: drums
