Joy Division
“Joy Division were the first band of note to say ‘I’m fucked.’” – Capn Marvel
“They’re just depressing.” – Al
“At this very moment, I wish I were dead. I just can’t cope anymore.” – Ian Curtis’ suicide note
“Don’t worry! Be happy!” – Bobby McFerrin
Albums Reviewed:
Joy Division is one of those bands that’s
simultaneously completely obscure and royally revered. A very, very sizeable majority of the United
States has assuredly not heard of them (a much higher percentage of Brits
probably have, though, I’d wager), but those that like them often worship them and find their music more meaningful than bands like the Beatles
and, yes, even Bananarama. Part of this
is undoubtedly because of the all-too-short career of the band (only a few
years and TWO studio albums), due to the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis in
1980, a few days before the band had planned to start their first North
American tour. A premature death
(especially by suicide) is always a boon to a band’s stature, but
especially a band like Joy Division. If
Mark McGrath were to commit suicide right now, I don’t think Sugar Ray fans
would spent the next twenty years analyzing whatever the fuck that stupid hit
they had was (you know the one, “IIIIIIIII just wanna fly” or whatever), but
Joy Division, on the other hand…I mean, their music just sounds like suicide. As you read my
reviews, you’ll come across adjectives like “icy,” “cold,” “robotic,” and not, say, “happy” or “jumpy.” The
name “Joy Division” refers to the sections of Nazi concentration camps where
young female inmates were kept as sex slaves for Nazi officers. Their lead singer was an epileptic and would
often go into fits on stage. Random
samples of their lyrics provide you with such uplifting nuggets as “a cry for
help, a hint of anaesthesia, the sound from broken homes, we used to always
meet here” and “we saw ourselves now as we never had seen, portrayal of the
traumas and degeneration, the sorrows we suffered and never were freed.” That should all give you a pretty good idea
of why some people might go a little overboard with this band.
But I’m not here to criticize. Joy Division are a very, very good band, and a worthy addition to anyone’s listening experience. On the surface, their music is just depressing music for depressed people, but you have to dig deeper, and eventually you’ll find a musically extremely interesting band who had tight songwriting in spades, a kick-ass bassist, a super subtle little shy man of a guitarist, and a frontman in Ian Curtis who, while a little morbid for my tastes, was nevertheless one dramatic and charismatic son-of-a-bitch, just in a way diametrically opposed to someone like, say, David Lee Roth. Even though I have trouble really identifying with this band sometimes and thus probably can’t rate them as highly as I’m sure some of their fanatics would like me to (I was reared on Radiohead and Nirvana depression music, so a band this subtle, quiet, and paranoid actually went completely over my head when I first listened to them, and I had to listen to these two albums something like 10-15 times each before I felt comfortable reviewing them), they’re still great, and I hope you like them too. And really early U2 is really just an adaptation of their first album, Unknown Pleasures, that replaces subtlety with bluster and depression with power, though if you go out, buy Unknown Pleasures right now, and listen to it once, you’ll probably call me an idiot for saying that. But, as I said, it takes time.
Anyway, lineup! From left to right in your picture are drummer Stephen Morris, bassist Peter Hook, our friend Ian Curtis, and guitarist Bernard Dicken, who changed his name to Bernard Albrecht because it sounds smarter than “Dicken,” and then changed it again to Bernard Sumner, because once Sting became famous he must’ve thought the world was becoming dangerously low on Sumners. No one is a virtuoso (or even close, to be blunt), but they know what to do and they know how to work together, and their interplay is often superb. But if you don’t get up for subtly intriguing band interplay and can’t get down with Ian’s complete lack of a traditional singing voice…this band is just fucking depressing.
And on that note, onto the reviews!
Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Rating: 8
Best Song: “She’s Lost Control”
The first thing you’re gonna notice about this record, besides the absolutely phenomenal album cover, is the bassist, Peter Hook. He is way out front in the mix, and on many of the songs his (actually not all that complicated) basslines pretty much dominate the instrumental story here. Stephen Morris is interesting on the drums, but more in a “cold, icy, robotic” way than any kind of flashy “LOOK AT ME!!!!” type stuff, and Bernie Dicken/Albrecht/Sumner lets his guitar sort of toil away in the background most of the time, usually not playing much of anything that overshadows the bass unless it’s absolutely necessary, like the pretty rockin’ line he throws down in “She’s Lost Control” or the feedback-y poo in “Day of the Lords” (possibly my two favorite tracks here, by the way), but he’s always there, and if you pay attention, he’s almost always interesting. I guess, being formed in England in the late-70’s, they originally started as a sort-of punk-related band, and you can still see the leftovers from that era in a few tracks here, mostly the speedy (and practically hardcore-thrash-crazy-speedy compared to a lot of this record) “Interzone,” but also the opener “Disorder” a bit, too. I can actually picture some of the less slow tunes here sounding like punk songs if Bernie followed Hookey’s lines with distorted chord bashing instead of hiding in the corner adding “texture,” and if, you know, Ian Curtis wasn’t in the band.
Oh, Ian. Morbidly depressing speak-singing Ian. I actually like Ian, so don’t get on me for making light of his weaknesses, but, I mean, he only hits the right notes like half the time and he sounds about 50. BUT, he is better than Geddy Lee, and (what is most important) he has emotion. He may only have one emotion, yeah (really, really, really depressed), but it’s still emotion, and he’s quite good at presenting it. The music backing him up is pretty depressing-sounding as well, in its droney, bass-y, post-punk robotic-ness, but it’s Ian’s fault that people refer to this band as “the most depressing band of all time,” and I’d actually like to thank him for it, because with someone who didn’t sound so, um, unique, this band probably wouldn’t interest me quite as much as it does. But Ian’s clearly not faking it, and even if he hadn’t proved that fact by hanging himself, you’d be able to tell instantly from his band’s music that he is sincere in his catatonic depression, and you can’t help but get affected by it eventually, even if, at heart, you wish he’d STOP BEING SO GODDAMN DEPRESSED ALL THE TIME, because Joy Division can sometimes be kind of a bring-down.
But let’s
get back to the music. Except for a few
songs, when you break it down mathematically, it’s actually very mid-tempo. It’s not really slow. Everything is so robotic and droney that it
just appears slow even when it’s not.
Some have claimed it’s also “dance music,” and while I definitely do not
buy that, I will definitely buy the assertion that the music contained herein
is something you might call “proto-trance.”
So if you put depressed British kids on downers swaying back and forth
to more depressed British kids singing about how depressed they are to a
steady, rhythmic beat (i.e. “trance music”) under the umbrella of “dance
music,” then it is. But I don’t, so it’s
not. And another thing it’s not is
“diverse,” which is a reason I rate this one a bit lower than it’s sequel, and
cannot hand out a grade higher than an 8.
The instrumental hibbity-jibbity, while very interesting if you’re
really paying attention, is monotonous and samey (i.e., as I’ve said, “robotic
drums, loud bassline, cool, twiddly, proto-The Edge guitar bits in the
background, and Ian being depressed), and the incredible sense of “Wow, cool! Something different!” I get when that
lasers-firing synth effect in “Insight” comes in is unfortunately not
duplicated at any other point on the record.
The last few songs at the end also don’t quite measure up for me as well. The record is incredibly consistent through
about track 7 (with my slight nod going to “She’s Lost Control” for its
aforementioned rocking guitar line and Ian’s very cool, very personal,
epilepsy-related lyrics), but the last, oh, ten minutes don’t quite do it for
me. I can’t remember a damn thing about
“Wilderness,” the speed of “Interzone” doesn’t really fit at all (Hey, I just
said lack of diversity was a problem, then made a criticism of a song that
tries to offer diversity! Go me!), and I
much prefer Closer’s duo of dirges at the end to the closer “I
Remember Nothing,” which to me just sort of draaaaaaags.
Great album up to that point, though.
Possibly 9-worthy. Certain points
are very emotionally hard-hitting, especially the “Where will it eeeend? WHERE WILL IT END!!??” in “Day of the
Lords.” That gets me every time. It’s really not the most depressing album in
the world. The most depressing album in
the world would be just as morbid as this…but SUCK! It wouldn’t have all those cool little guitar
lines in this one to keep you intrigued, or good songwriting, or a lead
vocalist who’s able to make his depression sound real and human instead of
just…depressing. Creed is much more depressing than this.
Closer (1980)
Rating: 9
Best Song: “Colony”
Hey!
Don’t listen to Joy Division if you’re actually depressed. It won’t help. But if you’re not, DIG IN! Because they’re very good, and they show a
little bit more stylistic diversity here to prove it! You know you’re in for a different Joy
Division experience right from the start, too, because the first few seconds of
“Atrocity Exhibition” (a charming little ditty about something similar to Roman
gladiatorial fights, but much creepier, like if that scene where Snake Plissken
has to fight that hairy guy with baseball bats and trashcan covers in Escape From New York actually played out in real life on ESPN8
(The Ocho)) start out with a very interesting faux-tribal drum pattern and
Bernie off in his corner of the room doing some sort of wanton sexual-feedback
act with his guitar, and I dig it! It’s
very strange and fractured, and the drum pattern repeats for the song’s entire
six minutes (Yeah! Droney
repetition! Hammer that shit into your
head!). I can’t really remember the
melody, but that’s not really the point of the song, I think. It’s weird, droney repetition, and it KICKS
ASS!!!! Then it’s followed by the
disturbing “Isolation,” which can’t decide whether it wants to be cheesy
synth-pop or a horribly paranoid depresso-song, and ends up an intriguing mix
of both. It’s very, very interesting…and
it KICKS ASS!!!!
OK, so from then on you’re on ground
more solidly “Joy Division-esque,” or at least “Unknown Pleasures-esque,”
but you can still sense the leap in artistic maturity and variety, something I
appreciate, even though, in terms of pure songwriting and catchiness, you might prefer Unknown
Pleasures. And that’s the dichotomy, isn’t it? Unknown
Pleasures is more immediately
pleasing and pop-friendly (relatively…I mean, this is Joy Division we’re
talking about here), but Closer is more elaborate and detailed and artsy
and tough to get into. I liked Unknown Pleasures more originally, but over time I’ve come to appreciate this one as, in
my opinion, superior, though not by all THAT much. The catch is whether you like their new
repetitively artsy direction, with stuff like “Atrocity Exhibition” and my
favorite here, “Colony,” whose basis is a strangely put-together drum ‘n’ bass
line that just sort of goes around in circles for five minutes. Bernie adds some sexcellent guitar
textures, and Ian’s cathartically yelling “GOD IN HIS WISDOM TOOK YOU BY THE
HAND!!! GOD IN HIS WISDOM MADE YOU
UNDERSTAND!!!” is to me the most affecting moment on either of these two
albums, but it comes down to that bassline.
Does it excite you or bore you?
Peter Hook is still the center of attention on a lot of the material
here, and this track, as with a few others, is up to him. And I like it. A lot. I think it’s awesomely cool and
hypnotic, and I also appreciate the strange little groove in “Heart and Soul,”
as well as the creepy-as-my-ASS keyboard textures in there. They’re, like, howling at you. Or something.
They’re very neat, in any case.
In terms of material similar to what
you found on Unknown Pleasures, though, there are still some nice
offerings. “Passover” is farging brilliant (and probably a close second to “Colony” here), and I appreciate how
Stephen Morris’ drumming is probably the most notable part of the tune. He adds some very nice little touches
and fills at appropriate moments. It’s
very good stuff. “A Means to an End” and
“Twenty-Four Hours” are your two remaining Unknown Pleasures-ish
songs, and while “A Means to an End” actually gets up off the examination table
and rocks a few times, despite the fact I’m not sure
if it tries to, “Twenty-Four Hours” tries to and does not. I think it’s intended to be the album’s
catharsis. It’s definitely the loudest song here, and band builds a very impressive crescendo a couple times
(this band knows dynamics, my friend), but I can’t quite
support it as much as everyone else seems to do. It’s a good song! Yes, it is.
It’s pretty powerful, yeah, but I don’t think it’s quite as powerful as
it’s supposed to be, or as the band wanted it to be. I think the problem is that Bernie’s guitars
are the main element of catharsis in the song, and Ian is the one who tends to
give me cathartic moments (you know, “WHERE WILL IT END???” and all that), not
Bernie. I like Bernie huddled up in the
corner being interesting but subtle.
Now, finally, as I said in the last
review, I like both “The Eternal” and “Decades” here a good bit more than “I
Remember Nothing” from the last album, but I don’t think that, as a general
rule, suicidally slow dirges from this band will ever have much interaction with
my personal taste meter. I LOVE whatever
those synth/chirping noises are in “The Eternal,” and that’s a nice bassline,
but, christ, six minutes? SIX??? It’s very pretty! I just can’t personally take six
minutes of it without getting bored, and that’s a problem. “Decades” is better (cool keyboards!), and I
feel the six minutes here are put to better use than on “The Eternal” (I sense
at least two distinct melodical-ish sections!), but the twelve minutes of dirge
that end the record, while strangely appropriate and definitely good, are nevertheless slightly boring, and end the album on a slightly
less-than-ideal note for yours truly, because I’m Ritalin-deprived.
So!
In the never-ending Unknown
Pleasures vs. Closer debate, I choose Closer by a pretty sizeable nose, though still
just a nose, and not an arm or a leg or a uvula. And judging from my usual taste in music, as
well as my initial impressions of the records, it’s a little surprising to me. Repetitive, artsy, droning stuff isn’t
normally my cup of tea, but this stuff works. And the more traditionally midtempo tracks
work just as well as (if not better
than, in the case of “Passover”)
the best material on Unknown
Pleasures, so I declare this
record a winner! And I declare Ian
Curtis dead. And I declare I’ve never
listened to a New Order album, so I can’t comment on what the rest of the band
went on to do.
nator9999@comcast.net writes:
Im glad you came up for
Closer, because it seems to be losing the
battle against Unknown Pleasures in the WRC. A lot of people complain
that Ian Curtis sounds too detached, and while this may be true I don't
think that it, by any means, makes the album have less of an emotional
impact. I have no idea what Ian at this point, but every time I hear
the last 3 songs (my favorites), I feel emotionally moved; they're just
great pieces of music. Closer is a lot more of a varied listen than its
predecessor as well. I enjoy Unknown Pleasures, but I'll be honest: I
can't tell what the hell the difference is between half those songs.
And the last song is boring. On Closer, 'Passover' seems a bit like Joy
Division by numbers (not that I'm dissing it, as I really enjoy it
while it's playing, and there is some cool instrumental stuff going
on), but the other songs all have their own distinct personality. The
only one I don't really like that much is 'Atrocity Exhibition.' Too
noisy. But a good album anyway! I'd give it a low 10 or a high 9.
Substance (1988)
Rating: 9
Best Song: “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
Joy Division is really, really fucking good. I’m just realizing this now. They’re so goddamn subtle, but they just sneak up on you. After you’ve been listening to their records for 5 or 6 months, you probably ask yourself why the hell you’re listening to these depressing records so much. And then you realize the answer, that Joy Division is a really, really fucking good band. Some of their earlier stuff may sound like it was produced in a back alley in Millwall, and Ian Curtis has to the most depressing lead singer in the history of popular music, but GOD FUCKING DAMMIT can this band write some songs. And that is what you get with this here record, of which I have the CD version. So not only do I have the ten fucktastically brilliant singles at the start, I get the b-sides, too! Shibby! This makes me excited, because (and say it with me now): Joy Division is a really, really fucking good band.
The only thing that annoys me about this record (besides, I guess, the production on some of the earlier songs) is that the only place that the release dates of all the specific songs are listed is on the CD itself, so I just have to guess when everything came out (thankfully, its dual-chronological; the first ten are ordered thusly, and then the 7 b-sides are also). That’s basically it, though. Because with this here slab of plastic, we get ourselves a thorough overview of Joy Division, the band, and how they evolved from their early punk roots (Ian doesn’t even sound like Ian until the 3rd song! Why is he yelling like that?) to their 1980 post-punk depresso-synth pop tastiness. Very good times. Just real good songs to be found everywhere, from the early punk ravers like “Warsaw” and “No Love Lost,” to creepy, mid-period pieces of atmosphere like “Autosuggestion,” to that aforementioned poppy goodness, including their (deservedly) most famous song, the brilliant “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” with that synth line and melody that, coming from Ian’s weary voice, just sounds so perfect. Like more or less all Joy Division songs, it doesn’t sound like much at first, because the band refuses to do anything commercially cathartic and Ian refuses to sing like a normal fucking human being. But after a handful of listens you go “oh, yeah, that’s what all fuss is about, I get it,” and then after a few more you go “Hey! Joy Division fucking RULES!” At least that’s how I react.
The first half of the record (the singles half) is definitely more memorable and distinguishable than the 2nd half (the b-sides half), so therefore the 9 up above, as the last handful of songs sometimes start to lose me completely, but oh, that singles half! “Transmission” might have the best moment of Joy Division’s entire career contained in its chorus, when Ian yells out “DANCE, DANCE, DANCE, DANCE, DANCE TO THE RADIO!!!!!” in his paranoid-depressive Ian way. The alternate version of “She’s Lost Control,” by a whole new set of guitar and drum tones, might actually be better than the version on Unknown Pleasures. “Atmosphere” is a flabbergastingly effective slow dirge that uses some sort of wind chime-type instrument to continue the ass-ruling. Even the clearly inferior b-sides half has something to offer, as “Failures” does nothing other than rock the house down. It’s a TOTAL punk song, played ultra-fast, with a classic-rock-on-speed guitar solo that sounds like something the Sex Pistols might play if they were a better band. Great fucking song, it is. Beeeee-atch!
Like I said, a good chunk of the b-sides half doesn’t quite measure up to the first half, and there are occasional moments of boredom contained in the singles section as well. I can’t really remember a thing about “Digital,” for instance, and even though “Incubation” is pretty darn solid for an instrumental…it’s an instrumental, so screw it. But let us also screw minor criticisms of a band unjustly forgotten in the United States (which, ofcourse, has infallible taste in popular culture, music, and politics) and remember Joy Division for what they were: a subtle, interesting, little band with a robotically clean drummer, a powerful bassist, a guitarist who went out of his way to get the fuck out of the way, and an incredibly engaging, unique vocalist. They combined whatever their weird little elements were into something moving and powerful, even if it doesn’t appear so at first glance because U2 stole a lot of their gameplan and made it fuckloads more commercial-sounding and less depressing. In short, they were a REALLY, REALLY FUCKING GOOD BAND. And this is a great little compilation.