Joy Division - Day by Day

Incredible highlight for me. Yeah, I do agree, the growth in this band was unbelievable.
Hard to trace the influence here, but Black Sabbath does spring to mind and Ian’s lyrics take an increasingly fatalistic bent. Love the feedback backing him in the chorus!

 

That feedback is a keyboard..... Likely an ARP Omni-2 which was their weapon of choice back then. I think this was also used on LWTUA amongst others

 

NME review at the time of release (I had kept it in the sleeve ).

 

Interesting read....

 

Just a reminder that the first poll finishes tomorrow, therefore from tomorrow the discussion continues in a new thread with the second half of the poll. Regarding the poll, the winner from the first poll will carry forward to the next one. That second poll will last 14 days the same as the first when a winner will be announced.

The discussion will likely continue beyond the poll finishing date.

 

Those last lines turned out to be prophetic.

 

Or possibly an ARP (Emenint) Solina String Ensemble which they were using at that time as well. Opinions differ. Doesn't really matter though. The song's desolately beautiful synth line takes things to an ethereal level which matches Ian's haunting vocals to perfection.

Day Of The Lords is the highlight of the album for me. It's stellar on all levels. I've never heard another song written in a major key that conveys such a sense of tension and foreboding. There's such a dynamic edge to this track, by turns powerful and subdued, somehow it even manages to be both at the same time.

When Ian literally screams the final "Where will it end?" we can truly feel the pain and rage in his voice. He demands, he screams for empathy and understanding. How can we refuse him? We will each endure our share of pain before the end. But some burdens are so heavy they cannot be carried for long.

 

The other one it could be, and which I think is more likely as it was used elsewhere on the album is the Transcendent 2000 synthesiser... a monophonic keyboard that was so cheap you built it from a kit. It was, apparently one of Hannetts favourites, and was used on I Remember Nothing

 

Day of the Lords - Brilliant song perfectly described already as ‘brooding’ and ‘ominous.’ A chilling song and one of the heaviest they recorded. Ian’s superb delivery aside, I love how the guitar work gets increasingly furious, and the last 40 seconds or so after Ian stops singing, sends shivers down my spine.

My first exposure to this was via the Permanent compilation. I was vaguely familiar with the opening 3 tracks from radio etc, but when Shadowplay and Day of the Lords followed, I knew this was a band I was going to really love

 

It’s like Joy Division’s version of Heavy Metal.
The way Bernard plays with that gritty tone, right before the vocals kick in, oozes cool.

Interesting responses about the ‘feedback’ sound.
I guess with JD sometimes it’s hard to tell what you’re actually hearing. Lots of effects and what sounds like ‘found’ noises on their songs, so this one tricked me.

 

People's perceptions of sound are fascinating to me. I've always heard it for what it is, a string synth. Then again I've played synths for many years so...

Whatever some may think of Martin Hannett the guy was a genius in the studio. He heard certain sounds in his head and then he made them into reality on tape. His influence and importance regarding JD can never be underestimated.

*btw I just noticed that I misspelled the synth name Eminent in a previous post. How'd that happen?? I didn't pour my first scotch and soda until noon today!

 

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Please visit Joy Division Day By Day - Part 2 for part 2, and the second part of the poll.

 

Thanks for posting that Colocally!

On the last page it says that the cover of the "Love Will Tear Us Apart" single was "gravestone artwork". It was in fact letters stamped into a metal plate. You could say it's a bit like a crypt plate.