Joy Division: Classic Or Dud?

Yeah I saw it in the record store last w-e. I'm a bit suspicious I have to say, but then again I've never been a JD completist.

Hmmm. It's weird. Elevator sounds, silences, synth bits, talking, and then a couple of different mixes of those songs - no drastically different versions. I've now heard the three versions of Decades (called "N4" here) and apart from someone shouting "1, 2, 3" before the bass starts in two of those mixes, I can't really tell what's so different between them all. There are differences, but they're too subtle, I guess.

Yeah, I think they're really scrapping the barrel to have some JD release on the shelves this year.

It would appear that there's no shortage of scrapings to be had from the bottom of that particular barrel, as the three original albums are all scheduled to re-released very shortly:
- on CD (each one containing a "bonus disc" featuring a previously unavailable legitimately live recording - so that's a "bonus disc" which in reality will probably the main reason that >90% of them will be sold);
- on vinyl (£18 each for Unknown Pleasures and Closer, and for Still either £33 if you're prepared to have it in a plain old cardboard sleeve or £45 if you want it in hardboard & hessian with ribbons etc. - and no bonus tracks);
- and in a quite phenomenally expensive vinyl-only boxset at £160 a pop, still with none of that bonus material (which according to my calculations means that you'd be forking out a frankly astonishing 79 quid for "a special Peter Saville designed hard cover box").

i picked up a real mint copy of unknown pleasures on vinyl (orig. pressing) this weekend...i have a fancy new record player and everything...honestly, having only heard this song on the crappy old CDs, it's like a completely different record. there's so much more going on in the mix and so much more low end...

The Killers Set For Joy Division Soundtrack

The Killers, New Order and David Bowie are among a host of acts who are set to appear on the soundtrack to movie 'Control' - a biopic about Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis.

Released on October 1st, the soundtrack will feature the Killers cover of Joy Division's, 'Shadowplay,' which they have been road testing at live shows throughout the summer.

The soundtrack for the movie will also feature three instrumental tracks from New Order. 'Get Out,' 'Exit' and 'Hypnosis' have all been recorded for the film.

Other songs on the soundtrack come courtesy of Iggy Pop, David Bowie and Roxy Music.

All the music features in 'Control,' which has just received critical acclaim at the Edinburgh International Film Festival where it won the Michael Powell award for best new British feature.

'Control' will go on general release across the UK on October 5th.

The full tracklisting for the soundtrack is as follows:

New Order - 'Exit'
The Velvet Underground - 'What Goes On'
The Killers - 'Shadowplay'
Buzzcocks - 'Boredom' (live version)
Joy Division - 'Dead Souls'
Supersister - 'She Was Naked'
Iggy Pop - 'Sister Midnight'
Joy Division - 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'
Sex Pistols - 'Problems' (live version)
New Order - 'Hypnosis'
David Bowie - 'Drive-In Saturday'
John Cooper Clarke - 'Evidently Chickentown'
Roxy Music - '2HB'
Joy Division - 'Transmission' (cast cover)
Kraftwerk - 'Autobahn'
Joy Division - 'Atmosphere'
David Bowie - 'Warszawa'
New Order - 'Get Out'

http://www.musicrooms.net/cm/live/templates/?a=5350&z=5

each one containing a "bonus disc" featuring a previously unavailable legitimately live recording

The Unknown Pleasures 'bonus' live recording is in fact the Russell Club gig from July 79 - all but two or three tracks are also on the 'Heart And Soul' box.

Closer comes with the ULU set (which is ace) and Still is with the High Wycombe gig, including soundcheck. They have not added '24 Hours' to the Birmingham gig on Still, so the only place to get that is on the original vinyl (where it is uncredited on the sleeve IIRC)

The Control soundtrack is pretty boring - don't get excited about the New Order tracks, they're instrumental interludes.

and....mornin' Stewart!

I wonder what happens at 2:06 in the Substance version of "No Love Lost."

Or the "An Ideal For Living" version, I guess.

And that version of Shadowplay by the Killers is horrid. It sounds... wrong. I mean, its not exactly a subtle song, but you need some attitude to pull it off. I guess you could approach that attitude in lots of way, self-disgust, arrogant bombast, quiet resignation - I could see somebody managing that, but the Killers have a 'I'm too cool to care much about anything and my smugness is well justified because if I was chocolate I would eat myself' doesn't really do anything with the song.

http://acuterecords.com/blog/?p=28

I like how you started that with "and."

I just realized Dead Souls sounds like Velvet Underground. This has never before occured to me, though I've known that song for 20 years. ???

Also no one ever raves about the brilliance of "Komakino" or "From Safety To Where?" enough just because they weren't proper album tracks! It's a tragedy I say! I'm going to write a book called "Beyond Closer & Unknown Pleasures". Cheers.

"No Love Lost" and "Novelty" are my favorites, but I love at least 15 others. Truly one of those bands that had plenty of room to grow, and I think would have reached even greater heights, if given the time.

Never got real deep into JD, though I own Substance, UP, and Closer. Upon first hearing them I thought I might get obsessed, but it just never took hold. I love it when it's on but I never seek it out. A shame, really.

Yeah, I finally got the "Heart and Soul" 4CD set, been playing CD3 mostly, havent got to CDs 2 and 4 yet.

bimble, in my blog post I posted above, I discuss the possibility of people of a certain age having a very different view of Joy Division because Substance was our introduction instead of the records, so we're biased towards the early punky stuff and the singles instead of the LPs.

Yeah, I am that young person!

(whistles and walks away)

The forthcoming documentary film by Grant Gee is a good one. Very frank interviews with the surviving members. The antidote to Control.

Didn't know about that film at all, or had forgotten news about it. Looking forward to that!

Anyone read this Morley book?

Closer is a fucking depressing album. I never got why so many people in the early 2000s wore Closer t-shirts

the Gee film will be released theatrically in the UK, but the Weinsteins plan straight-to-DVD in US (fall?).

I saw the Gee doco a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty good, very light-hearted, celebrating rather than eulogizing Curtis.

separated at birth: the bassline of 'novelty' and the bassline of the stones "let's spend the night together"

bimble, in my blog post I posted above, I discuss the possibility of people of a certain age having a very different view of Joy Division because Substance was our introduction instead of the records, so we're biased towards the early punky stuff and the singles instead of the LPs.

Nice blog post, Dan! It's nice to feel I'm not alone in having experienced Joy Division at such a young age - I first heard them when I was about 13 or 14 as well. I love that story about you taping the J-Card for New Order's Substance cassette to your locker! Classic! But I can't agree with you that Joy Division's Substance was actually my first exposure to the band (it appears I'm just a few years older than you fwiw..Substance wasn't yet available at the time). I believe Closer was probably the first thing I owned by them, or perhaps the LWTUA 7', but it wasn't long before I had the Komakino flexi, Transmission 7' etc. and heard the tracks that were later compiled on Substance. Sometimes I could only hear these things through trading bootleg tapes with people. Anyway, I think what I was really reacting to in my post upthread was a strange mental block I have in my OWN mind now to think Joy Division = primarily UP & Closer. It's hard to explain why I have that mental block, but it does explain why it is so terribly thrilling whenever I put on other things. I do think too much weight is given to the proper albums, but perhaps that's to be expected.

I wonder if there is any common thread in how teenagers today are exposed to the band?

The forthcoming documentary film by Grant Gee is a good one. Very frank interviews with the surviving members. The antidote to Control.

-- Dr Morbius, Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:23 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Link

I am excited for this.

I watched 20 minutes and thought it was very nice. I'll prob. finish sometime this weekend.

LOVE! LIFE! MAKES YOU FEEL! HIGHER!

Come on Dan! You know what I mean! I just don't know if there is really a better Joy Division song in the world than "Sound of Music". Sigh. But I'm trying to be objective about this. Really, I'm trying.

The Peel session version is really tops, what with the extra guitar part at the end.

what's that thudding noise? why, it's the ghost of ian curtis trying to hang himself all over again.

wonder what wilson would have made of this, too?

wombats lol

The forthcoming documentary film by Grant Gee is a good one. Very frank interviews with the surviving members. The antidote to Control.

I also think it is way much better than Control. Worth watching.

That Zune story boggles.

it is extremely weird to me that joy division are that popular now; it was weird enough that they even the subject of a film

If there's a U2 iPod, and a Joy Division Zune, I can't wait for my Neu! edition Creative Zen player.

Yeah, maybe they'll do a Grateful Dead one next.

Just saw the documentary - excellent, but should just be called Ian Curtis. I guess I'm the only one who wants a Barney doc.

no i'd like that too. i suppose i could always just read his book

I'd definitely want one. Is the book any good?

I'm going to take a wild guess that Saville had nothing to do with the DVD cover art:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51l--x-519L._SS500_.jpg

The design in the doc itself is excellent.

bahahaha re: Saville

The True Story of The Meteoric Rise And Fall Of One Of The Most Influential Bands Of Our Time

Why does this bother me seeing this at the top of this thing? Am I just too old to remember when such a line would never have been written anywhere? (at least not about Joy Division) Or is it just that I have a feeling Wilson wouldn't have approved either?

Ned: Grimly made some comments about the Barney book on one of these threads or other.

I'm going to design my own cover for the DVD. I'll upload a PDF.

Go Spencer! By the way, I'd like to see what Grimly would do for the cover!

"Am I just too old to remember when such a line would never have been written anywhere?"

see, but it just kind of reminds me of this:

Ideal for Living: History of "Joy Division" from Their Mythical Origins as "The Stiff Kittens" to Their Programmed Future as "New Order"

(er, kinda anyway. that's what i thought of when i saw that dvd cover. wish i still had my copy of that book. i used to have a great obsessive xeroxed fan book of press clippings and transcribed lyrics too. i'd like to see that again as well.)

It's just a matter of wording preference, I think. The Ideal for Living one sounds reasonable to me and even interesting (and it's worth noting that those words appeared on the BACK of the book, not the front). It also makes no claims as to how influential the band were. The DVD one just sounds like some fucking generic rock and roll doc you could buy at Wal-Mart about say...Zep or The Doors or whoever. It's not very imaginative, nor is the damn design! :)

But yeah Ideal For Living is the JD/early New Order BIBLE in my opinion. I treasure my copy and still find it useful from time to time. I also know what "xeroxed fan book" you are talking about ("A History In Cuttings"). I still have my copy of that as well, but there were actually two volumes. I only ever had one and I never saw the other one with my own eyes but I came across someone on the Factory mailing list once who had it. I don't pull that book out as much, but it's nice as a historical document of the press they had while they were actually still making music and just after Ian's death. There's even some DIY fanzine type stuff in there, not just NME/MM/Sounds.

I have the History in Cuttings, didn't know there were two. Pretty amazing to read reviews of live Warsaw shows or articles typed up on a manual typewriter.

That's also where I learned about the Futurama festivals.

By the way, I'd like to see what Grimly would do for the cover!

rip off saville (with only the vaguest idea of what he himself was ripping off in the first place)? it's served me well many other times :)

...made some comments about the Barney book on one of these threads or other

fucking hell, that took a long time to find. this one.

anyway: yes, shocking cover but i can't wait to see the film.