Cassette of the decade

Welcome back to Route 1's Eighties Week!
Kerstin just asked why I looked unhappy in this photo. I'm not unhappy, just serious.
I seriously believe that New Order's "1981-FACTUS 8-1982" is my favorite cassette from the 1980s.
I listened to it almost constantly when I attended college. Side one features "Everything's Gone Green," "Procession" and "Mesh." Side two features "Temptation" and "Hurt."
Down the dorm-floor hall from me lived a lad who venerated New Order's "Power, Corruption and Lies," which featured music similar in style to the Manchester band's era-defining hit, "Blue Monday."
I was a huge Joy Division fan, listening to "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer" on a daily basis.
"1981-FACTUS 8-1982" bridges these two musical forms of an evolving band. The five-song cassette E.P. finds New Order emerging from Joy Division's considerable shadow, introducing a dance sensibility to the band's post-punk stylings.
You could dance to "Everything's Gone Green," but "Temptation" is the real jewel here. It reached 29 on the UK charts, a healthy return for an "alternative" band. As you can see, I still have "1981-FACTUS 8-1982." In a concession to the digital age, I collected its tracks from the "Substance" double-disc compilation and reordered them on the iPod to follow the sequence of "1981-FACTUS 8-1982."
See, like I told Kerstin -- I am serious about this cassette.