RFI - Different versions of "Bizarre Love Triangle"

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I downloaded a version of New Order's Brotherhood album and the version of "Bizarre Love Triangle" has a flat sound to it, not nearly as full as the version on my copy of Substance. Are there different versions or should it sound the same on the actual album? I guess you never know with MP3s....

― James Morris (HorrayJames), Monday, 28 July 2003 02:25 (twenty-three years ago)

*phew* for a second there i thought you wanted to discuss the awful Frente version (or the slightly less awful but still unnecessary Even as We Speak version)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 28 July 2003 02:34 (twenty-three years ago)

the 12" version (aka the one on substance) is the version to go for

it is my favorite song ever, you know

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 July 2003 02:42 (twenty-three years ago)

As long as the album intro is SUPPOSE to not sound as full and sketched out as the one on Substance, I'm cool. I own Substance. I just wanted to know that I didn't get a bogus MP3 (The one I have has no long intro like the Substance version, btw)

― James Morris (HorrayJames), Monday, 28 July 2003 03:02 (twenty-three years ago)

there's a 3:40 single edit, a 6:39 12" version (which is on Substance), and a 4:20 version on the album. what the difference between the three actually *is*, i have no idea.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 28 July 2003 03:06 (twenty-three years ago)

headphones reveals all

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 July 2003 03:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Album version starts with the stuttering solo bass synth bit; 12" version starts with a whirring noise, a bunch of high-pitched synth stabs, then a 4/4 foot etc.

There's also the video mix, a variation on the album version whose most significant difference I will not spoil for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure.

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 28 July 2003 04:41 (twenty-three years ago)

y'know, you're a really UP person

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 28 July 2003 04:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Give me rockist beans. I think the album version is superior. There's more Hook in it. I won't doubt the club classic that is the 12" version, of course.

― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 28 July 2003 04:53 (twenty-three years ago)

the first time i heard this song i was illicitly watching the Playboy Channel late at night at my grandparents' house (my grandfather had a satellite descrambler, and one of those old classic satellite dishes that would get out of whack after a hard rain and someone would have to go outside and TURN the damn satellite dish and you'd yell out to them if the picture improved); anyway it was the soundtrack for one of the fantasias therein. even now it summons a dual memory-feeling of embarrassment and also being turned on

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 28 July 2003 05:00 (twenty-three years ago)

probably my 2nd favorite '80s single (after "That's the Joint")--k-frickin'-classic, and yes, in the 12-inch version. I haven't heard the video mix--will that be on your box set, Douglas?

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 28 July 2003 07:02 (twenty-three years ago)

the better, improved, remixed versions are produced by stephen hague.
the originals (+ brotherhood version)
were produced by neworder themselves.
the best version of the hague mix is the one on the
'married to the mob' soundtrack. he remixed/polished all
the tracks used for the film.

the version on 'substance' that many prefer but for me is a bit waffle-y and 80's style extended-for-the-sake-of-it is
shep pettibone's.

― piscesboy, Monday, 28 July 2003 10:36 (twenty-three years ago)

*phew* for a second there i thought you wanted to discuss the awful Frente version

Jim, my opinion of you has just gone down by 3 points. How can you hate anything Frente do? It's like hating hamsters.

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Monday, 28 July 2003 10:51 (twenty-three years ago)

obviously you didn't live in Melbourne during their ascendancy

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 28 July 2003 10:53 (twenty-three years ago)

accidently kelly st is like stabbing belle and sebastian shaped ice picks into my ears

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 28 July 2003 10:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Bud der so luvvly and fluffee and wubbly flubberly . . . .

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Monday, 28 July 2003 11:16 (twenty-three years ago)

As well as Frente's, there are two other guitar based indiepop versions of BLT - Devine & Statton's and Even As We Speak's (?? haven't checked this - my memory my be playing up).

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 28 July 2003 11:24 (twenty-three years ago)

But yeah, the Shep Pettibone remix on Substance is totally different to the mix on Brotherhood, so I find it hard to believe these are really the two versions you have, if the difference you hear is just in sound quality.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 28 July 2003 11:34 (twenty-three years ago)

electric sound of jim is OTM!

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 28 July 2003 11:34 (twenty-three years ago)

for the record, i love the frente version, as i love all of that album. the versions i can't stand are the 23048402938 versions performed by shitty pop-punk bands.

― Felcher (Felcher), Monday, 28 July 2003 17:05 (twenty-three years ago)

also can't forget that the production on brotherhood would make the track sound a bit murky. I think the best version of the 'rock' BLT is on the retro box set on the pop disc.

― bill stevens (bscrubbins), Monday, 28 July 2003 17:38 (twenty-three years ago)

eight months pass...

Hola quiero saber quien canta la version de bizarre love triangle ,,pero en version balada se que la canta una chica y es tocada con guitarra y bueno y creo que salio a finales del 2003 o inicios del 2004.aGRADECERE MUCHO SI ME AYUDAN A DESPEJAR MI DUDA.

― david moises, Monday, 19 April 2004 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

the '95 version on the Best Of is pretty underrated, but my favorite is still the Substance version.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), Monday, 19 April 2004 22:20 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

David, el grupo se llama Frente. Saludos!

― manuel (manuel), Thursday, 29 July 2004 00:10 (twenty-two years ago)

the polyphonic ringtone version on my nokia is just really catchy, somehow...

― Lukas (lukas), Thursday, 29 July 2004 02:35 (twenty-two years ago)

at my prom, the dj put this on, and almost all the black kids left the dance floor for the buffet. :(

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 29 July 2004 02:53 (twenty-two years ago)

also yeah new order 12"s are so much better (and so different!) than the album cuts in most cases. i discovered this to my great joy while working at my college radio station, which had most of 'em, including the PHENOMENAL "temptation" 12".

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 29 July 2004 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Slightly OT - There was a New Order thread a while back where there was lots of discussion about the relative merits of the 12-inch Substance version of Ceremony vs. the hard-to-find original 45rpm version, which lots of people thought superior and others said they wish they had heard. A good quality mp3 of the latter is available on this excellent blog:

http://spoiltvictorianchild.blogspot.com/

― jamesbion, Thursday, 29 July 2004 07:26 (twenty-two years ago)

twenty-two years pass...

Happy fortieth anniversary. Eternally a banger.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 3 November 2026 19:12 (one week ago)

22 years after previous revive!

and another half-dozen versions added to the tally

― uploading this content requires perseveration (sic), Tuesday, 3 November 2026 19:53 (one week ago)

Album version starts with the stuttering solo bass synth bit; 12" version starts with a whirring noise, a bunch of high-pitched synth stabs, then a 4/4 foot etc.

There's also the video mix, a ~~variation on the album version~~ whose most significant difference I will not spoil for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure.

flag any I've missed but apart from serial atrocious masterings I think it's

album version [prod. NO Sept 1986] (4:22)

12" [rmx Shep Pettibone Nov 1986] (6:41)
UK 7" [SP ] (3:44)
video [SP ] (3:51)
US 7" [SP ] (3:36)
US promo / Threesome edit of 7-inch [SP ] (3:23)
Extended Edit (US promo edit of 12") [SP ] (4:58)
YouTube video (3:51, has three bars of bass synth in the intro erroneously replaced, one of them twice)

Bizarre Dub Triangle [SP ] (7:04)
Bizarre Dub Triangle 7" [SP ] (3:23)

Married to the Mob version [Stephen Hague 1988] (3:56)
unreleased 12" [SH, included on 2024 Definitive edition] 5:48

BLT -94 [SH & M"S"D, removes "do do doo" vocal bit] (3:55)

Richard X remix [Rich x 2005] (6:55)
Richard X 7" (4:18)

blu-ray stereo remix [Stephen Wilson 2025] (4:22)
Atmos mix [SW 2024/25] (4:22)
5.1 mix [SW 2024/25] (4:22)

― uploading this content requires perseveration (sic), Thursday, 5 November 2026 12:15 (five days ago)

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