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"...Blood On My Fear..."
Perception
is an interesting thing.
Original
band member and future New Order leading light, Bernard Sumner remembers
Manchester's Joy Division in the live arena as Hard and Heavy and Raucous (and
indeed they were known to be a bit punishing as a listen). And that's what they
wanted to capture on their first platter, new to a studio environs or not.
But
their debut album "Unknown Pleasures" - UK issued June 1979 on
Factory Records with only 5000 copies initially - ended up sounding like
nothing of the sort. What emerged on vinyl was a Downbeat Post Punk new kid was on the sonic block
that needed to get out more. It was all doom and dreamscape and ever so
slightly druggy - like an updated British New Wave/Alternative Indie version of Pink Floyd's "Piper At The
Gates Of Dawn" debut in 1967 - or maybe the physical manifestation of a
hangover with incessant droning noises in your throbbing forehead that just
won't quit and if you think about them too much, somehow call themselves songs
(if you can believe that).
In
fact, Bernard Sumner's recollections in the new 20-page booklet come on as if he's describing
Joy Division's initial sound stage as being Hawkwind doing whatever the f they want. So
what happened - why did we end up with this hypnotic relentlessly black and white Pulsar CP 1919 downer?
The
difference is and has always been the Production Values of the hip and happening wunderkind Martin Hannett. The
album was done at Strawberry Studios in Stockport in April 1979 where Sumner maintains egotist
Hannett did 'his own thing' regardless - turned down the guitars when they
wanted them up - smoothed out the 'raw' upfront for a backdrop of eaten crisps
and broken bottles in the background - whilst emphasizing the real-world-hurt-drenched vocals of Ian Curtis and the
whack-chops of Drummer Stephen Morris (someone Hannett rated). But you have to
argue, that despite the hate some band members have expressed on the finished
product at the time and maintained down through the decades (they apparently didn't attend
the original mixing sessions) – what Hannett did – worked – like say Trevor Horn did for Frankie Goes To Hollywood in 1984.
At
this point in April 2022, it seems the common consensus that Hannett kind of
accidentally invented the Joy Division Sound for which they became
famous - an emotional extremity you either loved or loathed - the public going
for the first. Well, if I crank "Interzone" where huge riffage now
comes kicking out my speakers or settle on the funereal grunge of "Day Of
The Lords" - I'm thinking this sympathetic 2007 Remaster is giving us both. To
the New Dawn...
UK
released 12 September 2007 - "Unknown Pleasures" by JOY DIVISION on
London Records 2564 69778 9 (Barcode 825646977895) is a 2-Disc Collector's Edition Reissue and Remaster that
plays out as follows:
CD1
(39:28 minutes):
Outside
1.
Disorder [Side 1]
2.
Day Of The Lords
3.
Candidate
4.
Insight
5.
New Dawn Fades
Inside
6.
She's Lost Control [Side 2]
7.
Shadowplay
8.
Wilderness
9.
Interzone
10.
I Remember Nothing
Tracks
1 to 10 are their Debut Album "Unknown Pleasures" - released June 1979
in the UK on Factory Records FACT 10, October 1980 USA on Factory Records
FACTUS 1. Produced by MARTIN HANNETT, it eventually charted (after re-pressings)
August 1980 and peaked at No. 71.
CD2
The Factory, Manchester, Live 13 July 1979 (44:39 minutes):
1.
Dread Souls
2.
The Only Mistake
3.
Insight
4.
Candidate
5.
Wilderness
6.
She's Lost Control
7.
Shadowplay
8.
Disorder
9.
Interzone
10.
Atrocity Exhibition
11.
Novelty
12.
Transmission
I
have to admit that the gatefold foldout card digipak is pretty in some ways,
but it's also bloody boring. I don't really get a sense of celebration from
this 2-Disc Reissue. You have to say that sympathizer and singles-genre CD
compiler JON SAVAGE does a bang-up job in his new 20-page liner notes of
keeping it truthful – interviews with surviving band members Bernard Sumner,
Peter Hook and Stephen Morris all allowed to breath – uncensored opinions.
There are four black and white photos - The Factory building and Joy Division on a center spread,
but bizarrely none of the actual LP sleeve or 45s surrounding it – no catalogue
numbers, no discography, no charts etc.
Over on the Bonus Disc, ten
of twelve tracks from the live gig of 13 July 1979 at The Factory were issued
on the December 1997 "Heart And Soul" 4CD Box Set (also on London Records) –
here it has been decided to include the other two to complete the concert – "Shadowplay" and "Transmission". Taped only weeks after the debut LP had
arrived in local shops, that show captures them in the moment - better than bootleg sounding rip-roaring
versions of "Novelty" and crowd pleasers like "Insight" and "Disorder". But yes,
you would have to say that two new live versions and the whiff of laziness in the packaging is hardly the stuff of reissue
legend (hence the four stars). To the dirty laundry in squalid launderettes...
"I've been waiting for a
guide to come and take me by the hand...cut these sensations...make me
feel the pleasures of a normal man...take the shock away..." - Curtis
sang on the opening "Disorder" where you can so hear the grooves of Can
and Neu - what a racket. "I'm
not afraid anymore!" Curtis then sings on the Space Invaders infected drone
that is "Insight" - that distorted guitar clearer now than I remember
on previous versions. The huge Bass of Peter Hook dominates the opening palette
of "New Dawn Fades" before Ian gets intense singing of different shades in a monochrome landscape - thoughts spinning - hoping for something more. It's a
magnificent slice of Joy Division - weight-of-the-world heavy for sure, but up
there as the cymbals and drums fade out.
Even
now, nearly 45-years after it first hammered my ears with its undeniably power
- "She's Lost Control" is extraordinary-sounding DIY British New Wave - a disturbing yet moving song about epilepsy and its debilitating effects. The drone and sheer lowlife sleaze that emanates from the six-minutes of "I Remember Nothing" (Side 2's finisher) is another incredible moment and you have to say that the Remaster of this nasty little brute has made it huge - possibly one of the most impressive moments on an album full of them.
Curtis and his crew left behind an extraordinary legacy and this cleanly presented 2007 Two-Disc Collector's Edition of "Unknown Pleasures" at least does the Audio business by it - I just wish I could get back that excitement of old when I take it down off the shelf...
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