Joy Division

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lord Summerisle, Nov 23, 2016.

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  1. Aghast of Ithaca

    Aghast of Ithaca Forum Resident

    Location:
    Angleterre
    Crispy Ambulance?
     
  2. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    The big news for me on May 18, 1980 was the Mount St. Helens eruption spreading ash all around the PNW where I grew up.
     
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  3. Johan1880

    Johan1880 Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Joy Division; any great-sounding live album(s) »
     
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  4. SammyJoe

    SammyJoe Up The Irons!

    Location:
    Finland
    Ok, I just checked and my boxset is some later UK/EU reissue as it has this number London Records ‎– 3984 29040-2

    Here's a picture of my set:
    [​IMG]
    Discogs-page for the release:
    https://www.discogs.com/Joy-Division-Heart-And-Soul/release/515768

    And here is the pic of the 2008 Pozzoli box-edition I have here:
    [​IMG]
    Discogs-page for the release:
    https://www.discogs.com/Joy-Division-Heart-And-Soul/release/1585623
     
  5. royzak2000

    royzak2000 Senior Member

    Location:
    London,England
    A beautifully painted picture, no need for the, good stuff.
     
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  6. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    Great box, but that creepy sleeve always bugged me. Saville's art is usually as special as the music within.
     
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  7. SammyJoe

    SammyJoe Up The Irons!

    Location:
    Finland
    Indeed weird and a bit creepy cover-art, which does not do justice to the music inside.
     
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  8. Blank Frank

    Blank Frank King of Carrot Flowers

    Crawling Chaos...They really weren't very good...
     
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  9. Trevor_Bartram

    Trevor_Bartram Senior Member

    Location:
    Boylston, MA, USA
    As one who lived through the rise and fall of Joy Division, eagerly awaiting the release of new singles, LPs and John Peel sessions, I can't stress enough the impact of living in Thatcher's Britain had on all of our sensibilities. While Ian Curtis' epilepsy, homelife and lovelife were all contributors to the songs, I believe the overarching doom instilled by Thatcher's draconian measures were a big contributing factor, if not on Ian, then certainly on the audience. The music certainly suited the times.
    I read Deborah Curtis' "Touching From A Distance" when it came out and recently saw "Control" by Anton Corbijn and highly recommend both.
     
  10. Rodney Toady

    Rodney Toady Waste of cyberspace

    Location:
    Finland
    I got into Joy Division some time in 1979 or early 1980... Transmission 7" was my first JD purchase, if I remember correctly. I liked them (still do), but unlike many, I never really perceived them to be a cut above the rest; there were so many great bands around at the time and lots of interesting things happening musically, and - of course - JD's career was tragically cut short, which somehow makes it difficult to assess their legacy in the cool, calm and collected way. I must hand it to them, though, that their music has stood the test of time incredibly well.
     
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  11. PJayBe

    PJayBe Forum Resident

    I discovered Joy Division by accident whilst staying at a college friends. A mate of us came along with tickets for a gig that night, and sorted one out for me. I still remember having to ask if I could use the phone at Jon's house (daytime calls weren't cheap then) to ask my Mum if I could stay over another night. Didn't like the support (Section 25) and being more of a metal fan at the time was wondering what I'd let myself in for.

    From my "spot" I could only see the drummer and the singer, but was mesmerised by both of them. The sound was okay, the songs astonished me and when Ian started dancing my mind was well and truly blown. I recall that at the end of one song Bernard had to tap him gently on the arm to stop him as the music was done. After the gig I asked who I had just seen (??) and was told Joy Division, so I picked up Unknown Pleasures the following day.

    Many years later I got the chance to hear the gig again when the Preston show got its release as part of the Fractured Archive series. Amazing to hear how shambolic it was at times, but when the songs start the power still comes through. Not a gig I would have gone to by choice at the time, but really glad I did.

    A band whose music, along with Pink Floyd's The Final Cut, showed me that rock could make you stop and think about the darker things in life rather than just being entertainment.

    The story of me catching a bus to Bolton to get a copy of the first edition of the boxset, taking my baby daughter and her "decorating" the bus in second-hand Weetabix is probably for another time though........
     
  12. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    Great story, thanks for sharing.

    Good use of the word "shambolic" to describe that show. I have that album, and while I don't listen to it much, that is exactly the right adjective!
     
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  13. It's Felix

    It's Felix It's not really me

    I would get Still too. Affordable even for original Factory and the packaging is great.
     
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  14. oldturkey

    oldturkey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gone away.
    One day late to post this. My all time favourite Joy Division song, Dead Souls.

    Curtis was so immersed in the performance - it must have been unbelievable to have been there.
    TURN IT UP LOUD.



    Thanks to Dorian Cope.
    Dorian Cope on Twitter
     
  15. oldturkey

    oldturkey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gone away.
    Although I agree with you that the Thatcher-induced depression had a massive and real effect on British youth (and so on the music of the time) also inspiring a wealth of alternative political comedians, I think Joy Division's lack of joie de vivre was rooted in the bleakness of the 1970s. I grew up at that time (I was 14 when Thatcher seized power in 1979) and I remember the 70s in England as being pretty grey and bleak, especially in the North.

    Thatcher made it even worse, but that was in the final year of Curtis' life.
    Ironically he was a Tory voter and contributed to Thatch's grasp of power according to his wife.
     
  16. adm62

    adm62 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    I was going to say that (Tory voter) and he died too soon for him to have been unduly influenced by the government of the day.
     
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  17. johnnybrum

    johnnybrum Forum Resident

    To mark the 37th anniversary of Ian's passing, those wonderful guys at the A Means To An End blog have been busy with some uploads of the 2 main albums that, they reckon, mean 'you can throw out just about every other digital copy of this music you got! :)'

    A Means To An End
     
  18. It's Felix

    It's Felix It's not really me

    I have not heard much talk of politics from any of JD or NO in the countless interviews or songs we have read/heard. I would guess that NO are full on Tory boys now (maybe not Gillian, she seems the most sensible.... who knows). I think that the sound was a reaction to the glam rock, disco and prog rock that scoured the land in the early 70s.
     
  19. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    I'm surprised by your "No depressive feeling" comment, living in the North West I picked up on them very early and was immediately blown away. But it was dark and bleak with lyrics touching on the horror of society and anguish of the individual,perhaps it's just bleak up North.
     
  20. It's Felix

    It's Felix It's not really me

    I agree with Lord Summerisle. I don't find it depressing at all. Uplifting and powerful. Yes the inspiration for the lyrics is pretty bleak stuff about his life working at the DSS and the like but - the bleakness is beautiful.
     
  21. Front 242 Addict

    Front 242 Addict I Love Physical format for my listening pleasure

    Location:
    Tel Aviv ,Israel
    I become familiar with Joy Division as a teen, my first album was U.P and then I bought Closer , Substance , Still and warsaw. I was mesmerized by the music and the vocals immediately,
    Joy Division managed to create Atmosphere of Darkness and mesmerising Cold beauty , as exsample : She's lost control ( both versions on U.P and substance) Ian Curtis had such a unique and amazing way to express his feelings in the music, one of a kind/

    Songs like Atmosphere , The Eternal, Decades , Isolation , they filled with pain and sadness.
    Day of the Lord , New dawn fades , Twenty four hours , They have such an intensity of power and despair at the same time.

    I Remember Nothing is one of my favorite songs , A brilliant Experimental - ritual song which creates
    hypnotic feeling , these crispy sound effects in the last section of the song ,,, it's amazing, It's genius.

    This is just a very short list , I could mention so many more songs.

    A brilliant , talented ,revolutionary band . I love them!
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2017
  22. irid

    irid Member

    They are brilliant and I grew up with them. Somehow though, these days they don't find their way to my ears very often. There's (to me) a sort of layer of gloomy drama to them that just doesn't resonate as much as it did with my younger self. I still love and admire the hell out of them, though. Very beautiful stuff.

    Nowadays I am much more likely to listen to the early New Order albums. Power, Corruption and Lies, for me, is a timeless classic too.
     
  23. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    If it wasn't sad and bitter, I start ranting about the North/South divide.
     
  24. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    As I said earlier, I was a student in Maaaanchester as Warsaw grew into JD but I wasn't all that aware of the state of Britain as I was having such a ball. So I wasn't sensitive to the social influence on punk or post punk. I just heard great music and the lyrical content was of no importance to me. Even the Peter Hook said that the other members of the band hadn't a clue what Ian was rambling on about until they read his lyrics years after it was all over.:biglaugh:
     
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  25. oldturkey

    oldturkey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gone away.
    I do find Joy Division bleak but that doesn't mean depressing. In fact it makes me feel good because there is someone who knows, feels and lives with some sort of brain - a sort of anti-X Factor.
    The passion Curtis put into his performances was uplifting, but it is redolent of the Industrial North, dark concrete buildings, cold weather, mental illness and frustration.
     
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