Limited edition collector’s box and individual 180-Gram Vinyl releases due.
Joy Division’s 1979 debut UNKNOWN PLEASURES is a landmark album that established the band as principal architects and ultimate icons of the post-punk movement and the U.K. Manchester scene of the late ’70s. UNKNOWN PLEASURES’ ten classic songs resonate with the atmospheric textures and deep sonic spaces of Martin Hannett’s production. Highlights include “Insight,” “Disorder,” “New Dawn Fades” and “She’s Lost Control.” The latter song is the inspiration for the title of the 2007 film Control, the acclaimed Anton Corbijn-directed feature chronicling the life and times of Joy Division’s lead singer and principal songwriter, the late Ian Curtis.
Joy Division’s 1980 follow-up CLOSER, another seminal post-punk masterpiece, ranks #157 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.” Musically and lyrically driven by the prevailing despair of Ian Curtis – who killed himself only months after the LP was released – CLOSER was also produced by Martin Hannett, who weaves sprawling emotional chaos and shifting atmospheres and textures together into an enormously powerful ten-song tour de force. Stand-outs include “Heart And Soul,” “Isolation,” “Eternal,” “Decades” and the wrenching “Twenty Four Hours.”
The compilation STILL came out in late 1981, over a year after Curtis’ death. Comprised of twenty studio outtakes, b-sides, live cuts and other rarities, all the tracks were previously unissued at the time of STILL’s original release except for “Glass” and “Dead Souls,” both compelling studio recordings from 1978 and 1979, respectively. STILL also presents material from Joy Division’s last-ever concert, recorded at Birmingham University in May 1980 including the only time they performed “Ceremony” live (the song would later become a New Order single). Another track captured at Birmingham is “Shadowplay,” a selection covered in 2007 by The Killers for the soundtrack for the film Control. Other highlights include a live cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray” and a 1979 studio recording of “Something Must Break.”
Joy Division formed in Manchester, England in 1977, and had an immense and profound impact on contemporary music in a very brief time together. They recorded only two full-length studio albums, UNKNOWN PLEASURES and CLOSER, prior to lead singer Ian Curtis’ 1980 suicide, just before the single “Love Will Tear Us Apart” became their breakthrough hit. The remaining members – guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris – disbanded Joy Division after Curtis’ death, and re-formed as New Order.
In addition to this limited edition collector’s box housing all three titles, individual 180-Gram Vinyl releases of UNKNOWN PLEASURES, CLOSER and STILL are also available.
