New Order will release the four-disc box set Retro (Warner/Qwest) on December 17th. The collection features hits, previously unreleased material, as well as a disc of live tracks handpicked by Primal Scream's singer Bobby Gillespie. The band will also release International, a single-disc greatest hits collection, on January 28th.

Retro spans New Order's twenty-one-year career, with the first two discs focusing on hits like "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Blue Monday" and their B-sides, while the third disc will feature remixes, including the Chemical Brothers' re-jiggering of "Here to Stay."

Also included in the compilation are "Crystal," "Slow Jam" and "Run Wild" from the band's latest album, Get Ready (2001). "The excitement in Get Ready is worthy of being eighteen," bassist Peter Hook told Rolling Stone last year. "I listen to it, and I feel very energized."

COLIN DEVENISH
(October 31, 2002)