Joy Division Day By Day - Part 2

In A Lonely Place

 

As a song, I do like Ceremony and this rehearsal version is ok. The songs a bit slow when compared to the live version on Still, and judging by the performance of this song on the rehearsal tape was likely recorded before the final gig at High Hall Birmingham University.... this is clearly a work in progress.

In a Lonely Place was also likely recorded at the same session, however there a couple more recordings of this song that have been unearthed since. This version is cut short just before the hangman verse..... deliberate? I dont think we'll know for sure.

In summary, 2 works in progress, badly recorded and in my mind included on H&S purely for curiosity value. In A Lonely Place in my mind is a better song here, and more complete (when you listen to the full length version which was released for RSD the other year) Ceremony is a great song when played live, it's never been one of my favorite songs either Joy Division or New Order....

 

I remember when this came out, going to Waterfront in Sydney as soon as the import came in, taking my crappy discman with me, opening the box set in the bag, putting in disc 3 and skipping to the second last track as soon as I found a bench in York St. to sit on.
I was well familiar with the 3 piece New Order recording of both songs and the idea of hearing Ian sing either/both properly was absolute nirvana for me at the time. Fast forward today and the three piece New Order recording is not just one of my favourite JD/NO records but one of my favourites full stop - and an excellent full stop on Joy Division. The fact that all their gear got nicked after they got back to the hotel on the last night of the sessions for these two drew a line that was set in concrete - their sound changed straight away and was never the same again.

Yes Ceremony was a bit disappointing, but In A Lonely Place was absolutely chilling, I still remember feeling like the only person on earth as I sat on a bench listening while the city heaved around me. I've only since this thread started heard the full In A Lonely Place as released on the RSD 12" and as much as I like the New Order recording I think it'll be my go-to for that song.

Who knows, with what's been discovered of late maybe there •is• a tape of Ian singing Ceremony clearly enough somewhere.

Absolutely worth the price of the box for me.

Edit: sorry there were a few swears in there.

 

JD's Ceremony is the curiosity for me. Certainly glad to have it but it does leave so much to be desired.

JD's In A Lonely Place on the other hand is an absolute treasure to me, and to have more than just one take is icing on the cake. Despite the less than ideal sound quality there's something about these takes that I find mesmerizing. Just as onlyacanvasky implied above this track has a unique trance like effect on me. When listening to all three takes in a row this effect is intensified and under the right conditions becomes almost a hallucinatory experience. I've listened to them many times in darkened candle lit rooms, on empty trains late at night and while walking the rain swept streets of Manhattan on moody October afternoons. These takes are a perfect soundtrack to such scenarios. My only wish would be for much better sound quality.

 

Heart & Soul

Overall, a nicely put together set and the booklet is a good reference point. First off though, I can’t for the life of me get why they chose such an awful picture for the cover, not to mention not including any original artwork from the 2 albums. Just about any photo of Ian or the band would have made a better sleeve. Perhaps one of the iconic Kevin Cummins’ snow photos or TJ Davidsons rehearsal rooms pics. Anything but what they chose really.

I can understand some people wanting the 2 albums on discs of their own, and not on discs crammed with other songs, but personally I really enjoy discs 1&2. At first I thought it was bizarre sandwiching Closer into the middle of a CD, but once in a while I enjoy the pre & post stuff around the album on that disc. The only anomaly on the UP disc being Walked in Line relegated to disc 3 for space reasons.

I find the inclusion of 3 Peel sessions tracks to be quite random. In some ways, none were needed as all 8 were already available. Or they could have just included all of them. 3 is neither here nor there really. It would have been nice to have had the Granada Reports Shadowplay & What’s On She’s Lost Control but I guess this was a licencing issue. Disc 3 is mostly in chronological order, but then tracks 14 & 15 go against this. They might as well have lumped all 4 Genetic / Eden demos together. That said, they’re not really that good anyway and sound very flat. I suppose there is a reason that previously unreleased material stays unreleased, after all! I’d much rather have had the Electric Circus At A Later Date included than a poor demo. This box set would be the perfect home for a random rare song like that.

On disc 4, I guess at the time of the box set’s release they hadn’t planned to release the full Factory gig, but now since it came out on the UP reissue bonus disc, the first half of the box set disc 4 is now redundant. Interestingly in the booklet, it says "Having listened to about thirty soundboard tapes recorded at Joy Divisionconcerts during 1979 and 1980 (almost none exist prior to that date), comparatively little is of releasable quality, and the resulting track selection represents the best material available." Whilst its regarded to be a mistake, them using the word ‘soundboard’, as many bootleg recordings are from audience tapes only, I find the statement "comparatively little is of releasable quality" odd, given that they could’ve put the likes of the highly bootlegged and fairly good quality Paradiso gig on there in full. Or others such as the full Lyceum gig and soundcheck, or Effenaar.

Would you have compiled disc 4 differently given the chance? Would you have left off many of the Demos, Peel tracks, radio sessions, etc in favour of another live set on disc 3?

Another thing of note is the final track of the box, In A Lonely Place. Its a shame JD never got to record this properly in the studio. I only found out recently that full length versions of this song exist. For a long time, I thought that the short ‘detail’ demo on the box was all that existed of the song. I vaguely recall reading (not sure where) that it was cut short on the box ‘due to reasons of taste’, no doubt in relation to the lyrical content of verse 2. Unfortunately the full length version (‘Take 2’ I think) was only released on vinyl for Record Store Day in 2011. I wish it would have had a CD release or was available to legally download. I wonder if the box is repressed again, if the full version will ever be added. This chilling song, recorded in rehearsals just days before Ian’s death, sadly brings a full stop to both Ian’s life and the band Joy Division. Despite this, for some reason I like this song a lot and find it mesmerising.

Though not a big New Order fan, I’m kind of glad that they finished this and Ceremony and released them. Only kind of in that IALP in particular never seemed right with Bernard singing. I would love for JD to have recorded those two songs in the studio. JD’s ending is so tragic, who knows what might have been with a third album and beyond, and how amazing and majestic a fully recorded IALP & Ceremony would have been.

 

Agree on all points. Well said!

 

I have many many thoughts about these 2 songs but to put it down where the dogs can get it, it is sublime to me.
Great honor to New Order for carrying on, the tragedy of
Ian's death, these final tracks....
I love both New Order versions ….and even more live versions....

These 2 songs for me exist on their own plane, a very serious personal goodbye and some gifted musicians left to grieve in its wake.
The Joy Division versions are the blueprint for where it should go and New Order took it there best they could.
If I start thinking about it too deeply it gets too emotional to talk about. ...even nearly 40 years later.

 

How can I accurately describe how these lo-fi tapes of In A Lonely Place make me feel? It's weird. When I listen to them (especially through headphones) it puts my mind into a kind of slow motion dream state. I get a similar feeling from a handful of tracks by other artists (Tangerine Dream's Phaedra comes to mind). But that's a swirling color dream and IALP is a stark grey dream. Not black and white. Grey like a deep fog enveloping everything. The world is out there all around me but the music drifts past and all around me like a fast moving mist. Very cool feeling but difficult to accurately describe. Like being on a sonic drug. I won't play these tracks in my car. I need to disconnect from such attention requiring experiences when I listen to certain songs. That's just me.

 

Late to the party here, but had a busy weekend. Will respond to the rehearsal tapes as well as the London Union gig (thanks!) at my lunch break!

 

Day 53

The End..........................


53 days ago we embarked on this journey, from Gutz to In a Lonely Place we have discussed pretty much everything released by Joy Division (save for a few live recordings and the Peel Sessions)... And it's been a hoot. Joy Division has since 1980 been the one band I go to to listen to music that has an intensity and intellectuality that's missing from so many modern contemporary artists. This year Unknown Pleasures is 39 years old, and next year we'll be marking the 40th anniversary of the passing of Ian Curtis and the release of Closer..... Next year is a big year for us Joy Division fans.

I so hope that the band and Warners do something to mark next year...... And I don't mean just a re release of the albums on CD, again. I would like to see them given the audiophile treatment like they deserve. i'd like to see them sharing the vinyl racks with the other classic artists on the MoFi shelf like Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. To see Joy Division sharing space with them would be an indication that they are a band to be listened to, to savour and to dive deep into. It would also show that 4 old punks from Manchester made music that was of such high quality it needed to be processed and mastered in such a way to allow the music to breathe, to open up the soundstage for all to see.... Not just hear.

With Joy Division you don't just hear them..... Your drawn into their world, you feel it and you see it...... if you close your eyes, and Ian is your guide.... "I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand.....". Joy Divisions world, is a world of love, pain, anguish, freaks, and death. It's not a ride that a lot of people can fully understand or indeed cope with, but with just 2 albums they changed musics perspective. Lets get that into perspective...... They only released 2 albums.

The quality of those 2 albums is of such high quality a lot of bands would struggle to even achieve this sort of impact after 5 or 6 albums. With just 2 albums they made history, and are still revered for those 2 albums. Martin Hannetts production cannot be understated, without Hannett Joy Division wouldn't be the enigma they are today.... Like George Martin was to the Beatles realising their dreams, Martin Hannett was to Joy Division.... Except with Hannett he was 100% in the driving seat and Joy Division were his blank canvas. Without Hannett Unknown Pleasures wouldn't be the landmark album it is today.

Joy Divisions impact wasn't that they sold out venues, they didn't. In fact you listen to those old bootlegs and there's generally a smattering of applause in half empty venues. It's only when they toured with Buzzcocks that they enjoyed larger audiences and that gave them the springboard they needed to secure better gigs in early 1980, but even then they were still finding their way.....

 

I find this song fascinating, I really do. I just wish that a full length version was on H&S or had been released beyond such a limited vinyl edition. I can't believe that for so many years I didn't even know that anything existed beyond the H&S short demo. I really thought that was all there was of the song. Since acquiring a few full length versions of IALP I have listened to this song a lot. If you look past the blacker than black final verse that Ian Curtis would ever sing, those last couple of instrumental minutes are devastating. Funereal synths swirl and Steven goes insane with the tribal drumming, and the whole thing comes crashing to an extremely sad end.

@Devin S which is your favourite version of IALP? There are so many takes out there that it gets a little confusing. I think some were recorded under the working name 'Walking Away From the Stars' too. I have 3 versions - the New Order one, the RSD one ('Take 2' I think) and the full length of the H&S edited one (is this 'Take 3'?). I would be interested to know which you like best, especially if its not one of these.

 

Beautifully written. Thank you bettsaj for being our guide on this journey. You did an amazing job.

But I'm sure this isn't really the end...

 

@bettsaj Thank you so much for leading us and your great summary. Going on a recent checklist, we still have High Wycombe live, Factory live, Peel Sessions and 'General Discussion' left. We must continue!

I'd like to know others thoughts on the Heart & Soul box set, for those who haven't posted on it yet. Also I'd like to know what, if anything, we would like to see released to mark 40 years of Unknown Pleasures. So far we have audiophile releases. I would love to see an official live release of some of the better quality live gigs, such as Effenaar, Lyceum (in full with soundcheck), and Paradiso.

 

Absolutely....

 

Analog Loyalist's edit mix of takes 2 and 3. Best composite version imho.

 

Postscript.

The Peel Sessions


The Joy Division Peel sessions are a series of sessions recorded by English post-punk band Joy Division for John Peel's radio show on BBC Radio 1 between January and November 1979.

The first EP, The Peel Sessions, was released in 1986 by record label Strange Fruit. It features recordings made for John Peel's show broadcast on 14 February 1979, and was recorded at the BBC Studios in Maida Vale, London, England on 31 January 1979. None of the songs had been released prior to the broadcast. The version of "Transmission" is one of the few recordings available where both Curtis and Sumner play guitar at the same time.

The EP spent thirteen weeks on the UK Indie Chart, peaking at number 4.

Exercise One
Insight
She's Lost Control
Transmission

The second EP, also titled The Peel Sessions, was released in 1987 by Strange Fruit. It features the recordings made for John Peel's show broadcast on 10 December 1979, and was recorded at the BBC Studios in Maida Vale, London, England on 26 November 1979. None of the songs had been released prior to the broadcast.

The EP spent seventeen weeks on the UK Indie Chart, peaking at number 3.

Love Will Tear Us Apart
24 Hours
Colony
Sound of Music


A compilation of both EPs, Peel Sessions, was released in 1990 by Strange Fruit. The US cover does not have the famous "Tube" photo by Anton Corbijn. There is also a French release which has a different cover.


I bought both these EP's when they were first released in the mid 80's. Recorded at the BBC Studios in Maida Vale sharing the same space as so many huge artists previously (Including The Beatles) Joy Division recorded 8 tracks for the John Peel show. John Peels part of Joy Divisions story cannot be understated, he was integral to getting them "out there" for all to hear. Even if he did play Atmosphere at 45rpm instead of the 33rpm required for the Sordide Sentimental release.

 

It was Analog Loyalist that remastered the London Union concert and was responsible for mastering all the live recordings for the 2007 reissue campaign

 

I like the H&S box set, but I do think they missed a few things with it around the live recordings. They offered the Factory gig, with 1 track missing (Shadowplay), then had Analog Loyalist remaster the Factory concert in 2006 for the reissue
campaign. The Heart & Soul version must be from a different source as drew didn't remaster it until 2006. Why didn't they release the whole Factory gig on H&S? The live choices on H&S all seem to be a bit half arsed, and incomplete. My pet hate is incomplete concert recordings. The YMCA gig is a good example of this, they had 1 track off that recording, why?

They had the chance to release the Paradiso gig on H&S, recognised as the most sought after recording, that or Effenaar would have been a better option. Instead we got a hotch potch of tracks from different gigs that all seems a bit unfinished.

 

As I mentioned upthread, I got it as soon as the imports arrived in Australia. I loved it, and the way it was laid out. The roughly chronological tracklist appealed to me, and it's probably the reason I sort the tracks in iTunes today the way I do. Not long after I got it, I gave away my Closer and Substance CDs - I kept Still and had borrowed Unkown Pleasures and taped it.

I was glad that there was a trove of radio sessions etc. on Disc 3, although it puzzled me as to why one song was missing from each Peel Session. I liked listening to all the alternate versions, hearing things that people would've heard on the radio at the time. These were all things I'd only ever read about in the An Ideal For Living book, I don't know if I mentioned it upthread but I remember spending an afternoon trying to download Chance on a very ropey 28.8 kbps internet connection so to have all these land in my lap was fantastic.

As to the live disc, I listened to it a bit at the time but didn't really know what more was out there. I really haven't listened to it in years, over the last week or so I've been concentrating on shows that have been raised here. I must drag it out and give it a listen when I'm done with these.

And yes, mine fell to bits as well. I've got the 4 discs in a fatboy jewel case and the book is somewhere around here.

 

My bad, its actually 40 years this year for Unknown Pleasures

 

Aside from the aforementioned Audiophile releases of Unknown Pleasures & Closer, I'd like to see an official re-issue of Here Are The Young men on DVD, maybe together with all the available footage like Bowdon Vale Youth Club from march 79, and all the TV footage.

Oh, and Effenaar and Paradiso should definitely be remastered...... And while they're at it for next years RSD how about the release at last of the remastered Warsaw album that was slated for release in 2018 but pulled weeks before the due release date.

 

This is not correct Drew did the mastering. Analog Loyalist did the tape transfers to digital

 

I don’t know what makes you think JD played to half empty rooms. This wasn’t the case when I saw them. The Nashville in Sept 79 was packed out as was the electric Ballroom in Nov 79. Both the London Uni and the Lyceum gigs in Feb 80 were sold out too as far as I remember.
The buzz around JD in late 70-80 was massif
With good reason

 

I have the second edition of Heart and Soul, it isn't as tall as the original version, with the cds overlapping, however it does seem more sturdy.
I checked the inventory online of HMV Cardiff back in 2009 and they had two copies, one old and one new, with the newer one about half the price of the older one. When I got there, the older copy was on display, with broken spokes, so the CDs were loose. They initially tried to palm me off with that copy, at the higher price, but I told them they did have the newer version and they went out back and found it after some persuasion. I imagine the book is a little smaller in the newer version, but it does seem to be better made, and has lasted me well these 11 years. I don't play the box that much, will gravitate more to the vinyl, or if playing downstairs the individual albums on CD, but now and then I get it out.

I agree that the cover isn't the great and wasn't a similar picture used for another release? Kind of lazy. I would have preferred something either of the whole group or even something more abstract.

 

They used a shot from the same performance on Something Else for the cover of The Complete BBC Recordings, which brings together all the Peel Sessions as well as the Something Else performance... And I've only just noticed when you compare the image on my avatar which is from the H&S box, and the image from the BBC recordings cover one of them has the photo of Ian reversed.... looking at it the H&S cover used the reversed image so it looked right on the long box cover when it was first issued...... That's my guess anyway