JOY DIVISION:
                        A "PERMANENT" PLACE IN MUSIC HISTORY

With the possible exception of the Velvet Underground, no band has had a greater impact on the shape of music in
the post-modern era than the Manchester, UK quartet known as Joy Division.

It is not simply that Joy Division fashioned an ambient, heavy-laden and emotionally charged sound since echoed by
scores of other bands. It's not that the group itself has spawned an offshootNew Order that continues to push the
outside of the alternative envelope. It's not even that founder and lead singer Ian Curtis, who took his life fifteen
years ago this May, endures as one of rock's most enigmatic and tragic figures. It is, rather, that the music of Joy
Division was so consistently ahead of its time that even today it sounds like nothing so much as a glimpse into the
future.

It's a contention amply borne out on Permanent: Joy Division 1995, an aptly titled retrospective album released
domestically on Qwest Records. Charting the group's brief but brilliant three-year rise, Permanent more than lives up
to its billing with sixteen classic Joy Division tracks, including several rare and unreleased treasures. Also included is
the group's breakthrough 1980 single "Love Will Tear Us Apart," both in its original version and in a remix done
especially for the album by John Mellencamp/R.E.M./Hootie & The Blowfish producer Don Gehman. Together,
these tracks comprise a fitting tribute to a band whose creative contribution is indeed permanent. 

Formed by Ian Curtis in 1977, Joy Division's initial line-up included Bernard Sumner (aka Bernard Albrecht) on
guitar, Peter Hook on bass and drummer Steven Morris. Spawned in the grimy industrial metropolis of Manchester,
the group made their stage debut in May of that year at the city's Electric Circus, at the bottom of a bill with two early
punk pioneers, The Buzzcocks and Penetration. Two months later, the group recorded a four-song demo, titled An
Ideal For Living, and released it in June of 1978 on their own Enigma Records label. The EP, along with additional
live performances, brought them to the attention of journalist Tony Wilson, who had just formed the
Manchester-based indie label Factory Records. The group subsequently appeared on a Factory compilation with two
original tracks, "Digital" and "Glass." 

In June of 1979, Joy Division released their Factory Records debut album Unknown Pleasures, with recording
funded by Wilson's life savings. In October of that year, two singles, "Atmosphere" and "Transmission," were
released to widespread underground acclaim, subsequently increasing demand for the group's live performances,
which, in turn, put additional pressure on Curtis' always-frail health. 

April of 1980 saw the release of the above-mentioned "Love Will Tear Us Apart," a single that unquestionably
poised Joy Division for mainstream success. (The song has subsequently been covered by everyone from Paul
Young to P.J. Proby.) The band completed a second album with producer Martin Hannett and plans were laid for a
U.S. tour. 

It was in the early morning hours of May 18th, four days before the group was to fly to America, that Ian Curtis
hanged himself in an upstairs bedroom of his childhood home. Two month later, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" had
reached the Top 20 on UK charts while Joy Division's second album, Closer, reached the Top 10. 

That, it seemed, was that. Curtis' suicide, brought on by illness and depression, cut short the career of one of the
most promising bands of England's punk and post-punk eras. Sumner, Hook and Morris would go on to form New
Order, a group that would continue Joy Division's experimental mandate. Yet the power and presence of the original
Joy Division was forever lost with the death of its creative mainstay, Ian Curtis. 

But not quite. In the years that followed, additional Joy Division material was discovered and released, serving to
underscore their originality and extend their influence even further. In 1981, Still, a double album of live and studio
material was assembled, followed a year later by the video collection Here Are The Young Men. Such was the
importance of Joy Division to the modern music scene that in 1988, a full eight years after Curtis' untimely exit, a
comprehensive Joy Division release, Substance, saw the light of day. 

It is from this rich legacy of original material that the music of Permanent: Joy Division 1995 has been collected. Key
tracks include both the singles "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Transmission," along with their rare B-sides, "These
Days" and "Novelty," respectively. A third single, 1980's limited edition "Atmosphere" and its B-side "The Only
Mistake" are also included. From Unknown Pleasures come the tracks "She's Lost Control," "Shadow Plays" and
"Day Of the Lords"; while Closer yields "Isolation," "Passover," "Heart And Soul" and "Twenty Four Hours." Two
more vintage Joy Division tracks, "Dead Souls" and "Something Must Break," round out the Permanent selections.

The release of Permanent: Joy Division 1995 comes at a time of remarkable resurgence in interest for both Joy
Division and Ian Curtis. The book Touching From A Distance, a harrowing look at the life of Ian Curtis written by
his widow Deborah Curtis, has just been published in the UK. A new tribute album, Means To An End, is also set
for release on Virgin Records, featuring tracks by such acclaimed artists as Moby, Codeine, Face To Face, members
of Smashing Pumpkins, members of Red Hot Chili Peppers and others. 

Small wonder that, with the recent UK release of Permanent, Melody Maker took the occasion to call Joy Division,
"the most influential British band of their time." It's an influence that continues with the American release of this
remarkable retrospective.