Joy Division Day By Day - Part 2

My experience of I Remember Nothing is very similar. With age and the passing of time, I appreciate it a lot more now. Hannett production really worked here. And as with many other songs, some of the live versions are great. A really good album closer

 

Don't take my word for it... i'll produce the evidence and post it as soon as I've dug it out. I've just bought for the second time Peter hooks book Inside joy Division, for £2.50 on Ebay with free postage.. It's the first edition hardback as well.... I fancy reading it again. i'm sure he makes mention of it in the book. I've also sent him an email, but he generally doesn't answer them to be honest.

 

Day 23

Transmission




"Transmission" was released on 7" vinyl in October 1979 by record label Factory. It was re-released as a 12" single with a different sleeve in December 1980. The single charted twice in New Zealand, debuting at number 2 in September 1981 and re-appearing again at number 24 in July 1984.

The song was performed once by the band on television, for the BBC 'Something Else' programme. Twenty seconds of the song is shown in the movie Control (2007), directed by Anton Corbijn, a film based on the biography of Ian's wife, Deborah Curtis's Touching from a Distance. Greil Marcus has a chapter on this song in his book The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs. According to Marcus, "'Transmission' is not an argument. It's a dramatization of the realization that the act of listening to the radio is a suicidal gesture. It will kill your mind. It will rob your soul." Marcus also quotes the band's bassist Peter Hook about the importance of this song: "We were doing a soundcheck at the Mayflower, in May, and we played 'Transmission': people had been moving around, and they all stopped to listen. I realized that was our first great song."

n May 2007, NME magazine placed "Transmission" at number 20 in its list of the 50 "Greatest Indie Anthems Ever", one place below "Love Will Tear Us Apart". In 2016, Pitchfork placed "Transmission" at number 10 in its list of "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s".

This is likely the first track by Joy Division I heard. I was at school, and we were allowed to bring records in. It must have been the end of term or something. My friend Mark Banham brought this 7" single in and gave it to the teacher.... She put it on the record player and I remember thinking "this is f*cking brilliant...... Who is it?" It was of course Transmission and my life changed for the better ever since. This song is brilliant... Not much more to say really

 

Thanks for mentioning that book, I'll hunt up a copy. The only JD references I have are the old An Ideal For Living book from 1984 that I bought in the 90s and Deborah Curtis' Touching From A Distance, which is as you'd expect, less reference and more personal.

 

The Peter Hook book is excellent.... I've read it once before, and it's really well written, funny, full of anecdotes from touring. It is personal too, as he's describing the issues with Ian from a band perspective. Since doing this day by day, I really fancy reading it again

These mostly ship worldwide

peter hook inside joy division | eBay

 

Transmission - A terrific follow-up to Unknown Pleasure. They were now at full throttle and had truly found themselves.

 

Watching that footage from Something Else, just dawned on me how unique Ian was...... A brilliant front man, his dancing almost comical to an "outsider" or casual fan... But to those who know accept that it was just him getting into his own space, and wallowing in the music.. A sad loss.

 

Guys, just to settle the little disagreement once and for all. I have just found my copy of ‘Unknown Pleasures - Inside Joy Division’ by Peter Hook, and in the chapter ‘UP track by track’, on page 206, Peter Hook states the following about Interzone:

“Me singing the main vocal while Ian does the low, backing vocal. Ian was very good like that; there seemed to be no ego with him. He was perfectly happy to let you sing. In fact he’d encourage you to do it. He was very, very generous in that respect. Strangely enough we were always trying to get Barney to sing but he was never interested.”

For anyone who hasn’t read it, I highly recommend it.

 

Cheers..... I had a 95% certainty it was in there, but couldn't remember for sure. I think it's something that was generally known for years that it was him. I can understand people thinking it's Ian, as it sounds too high to be Peter.... But Peter has a vocal range the same as Ian so can sing high and low.

 

Watching him in concert, his stage manner was absolutely hypnotic. You just couldn't keep your eyes off him and this magnified the music and the event. Unique.

 

Just as an aside... I have a N/M copy of Unknown Pleasures up for sale if anyone is interested. It's the 2015 Vinyl Collector pressing. Both sleeve and media are in tiptop condition, and the record is in a poly lined inner. This is pressed from the 2007 digital transfers.

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

I've just acquired a new 2007 pressing mastered from the original analogue tapes so this is surplus to requirements.... £10 including free shipping within the UK, cheap at half the price. If you're outside the UK contact me for shipping costs.

 

Just watched a short documentary on You Tube about Kevin Cummins, and in it he says that The Factory gig that that they played in July 79 was sound engineered on the night by Martin Hannett. This was 1 month after Unknown Pleasures was released. This recording is available legally on the Unknown Pleasures CD Collectors edition...... It's a fantastic recording, very aggressive... The feedback from the guitar at the beginning of Shadowplay is monumental. Bernard must have been playing his Shergold as he dive bombs the feedback just before the drums come in...

check out the video here... It also has a brief interview with Natalie Curtis, Ians daughter.

 

Here the RCA version:

 

AllMusic review of the Substance compilation:

After New Order released their own Substance compilation in 1987, it was perhaps inevitable that a similar and long-overdue collection would apply to Joy Division, especially given the out-of-print status of many of the band's singles. The end result turned up in 1988, and as a listen easily demonstrated that the same sheer sweep and energy that applied to the band over a full-length album similarly worked, even more so, with the focus of a 7" or 12" release. Though the earliest tracks like "Warsaw" and "Leaders of Men" were a strange sort of art punk, there was already something distinct about the group, and by the time of "Digital" and "Autosuggestion," it was perfectly apparent. The former centered around Curtis' circular declarations of repetition and angst, while "Autosuggestion" builds up slowly, carefully, before an invigorating final rush. After that, "Transmission," a cold blue laser light of power, sneaking on an echo of synth and Hook's commanding bass before Morris, recorded brilliantly by Hannett, simply takes control. And from there, up and up, the whole band reaching a peak with Curtis' anguished scream "And we could dance!" As gripping as that is, by the time of its final singles, Joy Division outstripped even that -- "Atmosphere" and "Dead Souls" arguably make some of the best singles ever, the former a haunting, minimal call, the latter an ever more wired and explosive portrait of demand on a soul, from some inescapable outside force. Then, of course, "Love Will Tear Us Apart," Joy Division's eternal calling card, the inadvertent final bow, the blueprint for endless cover versions, a portrait of love and connection endlessly turning in on itself to destruction, set to a beautiful melody and one of the band's warmest performances ever.

- Ned Raggett

 

AllMusic song review:

Picking out an exact moment of Joy Division at the sheer peak of its collective power can never be agreed on by fans, but if there's a strong candidate, "Transmission" would have to be it. It's not merely for the sharp performance but especially Martin Hannett's legendary production, which drop-kicked the tight-riffing number into a futuristic setting of space and action needed to fill silence. Starting with distant keyboards like a lost moan, it takes shape around Peter Hook's direct bass line and then gets kicked up even further by the sudden echoed smack of Stephen Morris's drums. Bernard Sumner's simple but devastating riff provides the counterpoint, and at the center of the straightforward charge is Ian Curtis, celebrating the power of music and activity as a near-literal electric force for connection -- "touching from a distance/further all the time." After an amazing instrumental break, Sumner's overdubs along with a skittering, nervous synth part adding even more of a thick surge to the music, the final jaw-dropping verse finds Curtis in perverse excelsis, his sudden scream of "And we could DANCE!" a perfectly timed moment of tension and blessed release. That the song ends on a slowing, breath-catching coda seems only appropriate after the jaw-dropping heights scaled -- in recording, arranging, writing, and delivery, "Transmission" has a power few other songs share.

- Ned Raggett

Watching the kids now, my opinion will be posted at a later time.

 

Bought Transmission 7" when it was released. Just a fantastic record. The 7" porky cut is a bit more compressed than the 12" but I think it sounds better, or at least more exciting. Great b side too!

 

I think the 12" sounds better, there's more air in the soundstage... certainly more open... I still think the last verse is a muddle mixing wise though.. you can't hear the guitar under all the reverb and effects.

 

What is there left to say?

If you would ask me I would say that this probably ties with The Cure's A Forest as THE defining post-punk song of it's era, more than Love Will Tear Us Apart.
I didn't vote for it because it would make it on it's own strength and I got some other personal faves I wanted to give a push, but basically everything and everyone playing on here just gets it right. Ian's delivery is spot on, so are Morris and Hook. As for Berny I would say this song is probably a guitarist's dream. The arrangement gives him all the space in the world (and so will tomorrow's song, about which I will lyrically bore all of you tomorrow).
And the great thing is, if you hear the RCA-version I don't think I would be too far off if I say they basically performed a miracle reïncarnation on something every self-respecting record company wouldn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole.
I definitely do love the Warsaw-album, but this song was basically dead in the water before they re-recorded it.

 

Totally agree with you kaztor. 3 minutes and 36 seconds of pure genre-defining brilliance. End of story.

 

Transmission - absolutely incredible song. Along with LWTUA, I’d say it’s the JD song that music fans who aren’t that familiar with JD are most likely to be aware of. The Something Else performance of it was, er, something else. And we could DAAAAAAAAANCE!

Really spine tingling stuff right from the opening seconds. Agree that the final version was a colossal leap from the RCA one. Live versions are great, I’ve seen Hooky play it live and it was immense. Such an atmosphere in the venue when that song was played. A stone cold classic and one of my all time faves.

I’d also like to give some kudos to this snails paced cover by Low. I like a cover that is sufficiently different to the original. You can tell from the opening bass notes that this certainly is !

 

Just saw the Something Else performance.
I'm sure Thom Yorke took note.
'Get out of my way, $@#*& mic stand!'.
It also seems to cement my thought that were it not for Ian's situation this band would've become big in a major way while still being a working unot.

 

Day 24

Novelty



When the people listen to you, don't you know it means a lot?
Because you've got to work so hard for everything you've got
Can't rest on your laurels now - not when you've got none
You'll find yourself in the gutter, right back where you came from

Someone told me being in the know is the main thing
We all need the security that belonging brings
Can't stand on your own in these times against all the odds
You all just fall behind like all the other sods

You slap our backs and pretend you knew about
All the things that we were gonna do
What you're gonna do?
What you're gonna do when it's over

You're all on your own now - don't you think that it's a shame
But you're the only one responsible to take the blame
So what you're gonna do when the novelty is gone?
Yeah, what you're gonna do when the novelty is gone?

You slap our backs and pretend you knew about
All the things that we were gonna do
What you're gonna do?
What you're gonna do when it's over?

The flip side to Transmission, and what a flip side. A really strong song on it's own merits purged along with transmission from the RCA sessions. A brilliant melodic song, with the guitar following the bass lines, the lyrics also were more mature. Lets not forget this was just months (12??) after those early Ideal Beginning songs were demo'd. So the leap in maturity, musical ability and song writing ability was huge in such a short space of time. back in the day i used to go to a lot of parties when i was 16 in 1982 (gave my age away there). They were generally all made up of Mods, as it was at the height of the mod revival in the UK. My friend gay and i were the only punk/Alternative type there.... In out raincoats (of course), Novelty used to go down really well at these parties to the point the Mods used to search the record out to play.... great times.

 

An amazing song. I remember seeing the TV appearance late at night in the 90s and thinking this band was from another planet. Then one day seeing that wonderful photo of the Orion Nebula in a second hand record shop and diving on it. An amazing, insistent record.

 

Checking that on Amazon, it has the gig down as being from 11 April 1980 - but Wiki has it down as July 1979.

 

While we're here it's worth mentioning the First Transmission Session from Central Sound in Manchester, laid down a week or two before the late July session at Strawberry that yielded the single. You can hear that the arrangements were further refined in that short time, eg Steve dropped the complicated drum fills from the chorus of Transmission for the final session - for the better, I think, the song's more effective when he keeps the constant beat going. Dead Souls was also recorded, but this version went (officially) unreleased until the Heart and Soul box, and Something Must Break was laid down, which surfaced on Still after having extra tracks recorded and being remixed. An excellent snapshot of four works in progress.

Joy Division 1st Transmission Session July 1979 - YouTube