Joy Division. 0907188214, 9780907188216

Citation preview

Joy Division - Written & Compiled by Mike West is published by Babylon Books, Thornlea East, Holme House Road, Todmorden, Lanes., OL14 8LD, England. Contents copyright c 1984. All rights reserved. Photography by Kevin Cummins. ISBN: 0 907188 21 4.

CONTENTS 1.

JOY DIVISION 1977-1980: BAND, MYTH AND MAGIC

2.

FROM MACCLESFIELD VIA WARSAW ... TO WHERE? ORIGINS 1977

3.

NOT A CONCEPT; AN ENIGMA: THE IDEAL FOR JOY DIVISION - 1978

15

4.

"THIS BAND IS BUSY DOING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE MUSIC OF THE EIGHTIES" - MICK MIDDLES, SOUNDS, 1980

18

5.

LIFE AFTER A DEATH - 1980

26

6.

THE NEW ORDER: BEYOND 1980

34

7.

JOY DIVISION LIVE GUIDE

38

8.

EQUIPMENT FILE

41

9.

DISCOGRAPHY

42

10.

VINYL COLLECTORS CHECKLIST

50

11.

ODDS&ENDS

52

12.

JOY DIVISION LEFTOVERS i) Studio Recordings ii) The John Peel Sessions iii) Bootlegs

53

13.

FILMS & VIDEOS

55

14.

INDEX OF SONG TITLES

Ｕｾ＠

15.

THE STATIS TICS a) On Record b) The John Peel 'Festive 50' c) Music Paper Polls

Page

4 8

58

1.

JOY DIVISION 1977-1980: BAND, MYTH AND MAGIC

4

Although they survived merely five months into the decade, the shadow cast over the music of the Eighties by Joy Division is unlikely to have faded by 1990. The tragic death of singer Ian Curtis in May 1980 coincided with the release of what was generally agreed would be their artistic and commercial breakthrough second album (Closer) and, as with so many of rock's graveyard of youthful and unfulfilled casualties, it has become difficult to separate the acclaim justly earned on the merits of some brilliant music from the excesses of the inevitable death cult that subsequently surrounded the name of Joy Division. The myth and nonsense that has accumulated about what was a very private death, and anything but a Romantic artistic martyrdom, has distorted the critical perspective on Joy Division and come close to obscuring the fact that, behind the unsolicited hyperbole , the comparatively small recorded legacy of Joy Division's short life remains remarkable and memorable. It not only stands as classic and unique rock, but will undoubtedly play its part in defining the very nature of rock music in the Eighties. Perhaps the most destructive effect of the Joy Division cult has been the creation of the myth that the haunting melancholic baritone, obscurist lyrics and marvellous timing of Ian Curtis were the only significant ingredients of Joy Division's greatness. It is a myth that unjustly belittles the importance of the roles played by Bernard Albrecht, Peter Hook, Steve Morris and producer Martin Hannett in evolving their beautiful moods, melodies and deceptively danceable rhythms. Joy Division died with Ian Curtis on May 18th 1980 but in a real sense the band does live on - in the music of New Order, the band formed by the remaining members of Joy Division. The history of Joy Division is, therefore, paradoxically a story both with and without an end.

5

Ian Curtis - Lea Festival, August '79

6

Stephen Morris

7

2.

FROM MACCLESFIEW VIA WARSAW ... TO WHERE?

8

ORIGINS -1977 The aggressive 'Never Mind the Bollocks' rock of the Sex Pistols now seems to have very little connection with Joy Division music like 'Atmosphere' or 'New Dawn Fades', but like so many bands, Joy Division may well never have existed if the Sex Pistols had not turned the British rock scene around from its collision course with Middle of the Road respectability in the summer of 1976, first with live performances of almost total spontaneity and carefree enthusiasm, and then with a series of singles which took rock out of the concert halls and back onto the streets. Ian Curtis, Bernard Dicken, Peter Hook and Steve Morris were all twenty in 1976 and working in either dull or dead-end jobs. Ian Curtis pushed trucks in a cotton mill and Bernard Dicken pushed a pen in an office. At twenty they were old enough, after four years of work, to feel themselves to be in a rut but still young enough not to have dreams and ambition worn out of them by the daily grind. The Pistols revolution, which was almost immediately taken up by local Manchester bands like The Buzzcocks, Slaughter & The Dogs and The Drones, inspired Curtis, Dicken and Hook, along with so many others, to buy instruments and form a band as a means of expressing themselves. A year earlier such an idea would have seemed absurd - only Real Musicians who had 'paid their dues' in bands since childhood had ariy right to get up on a rock stage - but the Pistols had cut through the mystique of the '70s rock musicians' art and served as a reminder that three chords and a lot of cheek were basically all that anyone ever needed to rock and roll. At first it was just three friends who met at gigs (Bernard and Peter had been at school together in Manchester) learning guitars and trying to play and write punk music in the evenings and at weekends. Even by the time the three began to take on roles Ian Curtis as the singer and-occasional guitarist, Bernard Dicken as the guitarist and Peter Hook as the bassist - and call themselves a band early in 1977 there was still little to distinguish them from any

other Pistols followers spitting venom in back bedrooms all over Britain. With a target set somewhere between the musical accomplishment of 'London's Burning' and the urbane sophistication of Iggy Pop they played hard and obnoxious and - no doubt to the relief of neighbours - without a drummer as no one was yet willing to join them in that capacity. Uke everyone else of their age they had listened to Bowie in their teens, and when their band became serious enough to need a name it was to Bowie's most recent album, 'Low', that they turned for inspiration: the Germanic instrumental 'Warszawa' seemed to provide just the right combination of the familiar and the exotic once amended to plain 'Warsaw' for local punk consumption. In keeping with the style of 1977, in which bands delayed for a minimum length of time between picking up their chosen instruments for the first time and making their performing debut, Warsaw played their first public performance just five months after formation on May 29th at Manchester punk mecca The Electric Circus. They were bottom of the bill which also included local heroes the Buzzcocks, who still relied on the sparks produced across the twin terminals of Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley at this stage, and Penetration. It was a performance of archetypal punk cockyness and aggression, made all the more convincing by the fact that the original trio's months searching for a fourth member to play drums had only come to fruition on the eve of their public debut, with the completion of the line-up by Ian Curtis' old Macclesfield school friend Steve Morris. Despite the rawness and rough edges - to be expected in such a new-born band - there was already evidence that Warsaw might prove to be a rough diamond and that within the fashionable limitations of the punk format inherited from the Pistols the band had something of their own to contribute. It was a debut that created a lot of interest and gave Warsaw the incentive they needed to continue. Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks was interested enough in

9

the band's cause to suggest they use one of his pet band names 'Stiff Kittens', rather than the less striking, and distinctly un-punk 'Warsaw', and the band even found themselves getting entirely unexpected national press exposure in Paul Morley's New Musical Express review of the gig, which gave them almost as much space as the two established bands Morely had gone to the Electric Circus to report on. Few new bands, except perhaps Siouxsie and the Banshees, have had so much press coverage for their very first public performance, and Paul Morley's comments on the band he saw that May night in 1977 make interesting reading in view of what was to happen to Warsaw over the next few years . "there's an elusive spark of dissimilarity from the newer bands that suggests they've plenty to play around with. I liked them and will like them even more in six months time." -PaulMorely,NME 18th June , 1977 Despite this early break Warsaw did not become over-familiar on the club circuit during 1977 , playing instead a mere handfull of influential dates at the Electric Circus - which had become to the 1977 Manchester punk scene what the Roxy was to London, featuring The Fall, The Worst , John Cooper Clarke, Slaughter and the Buzzcocks. A severe limitation on Warsaw was the fact that all the members of the band had day jobs and while there was still no prospect of a living from the band they were not prepared to give them up. It was a classic 'Catch 22' situation - Warsaw could not be developed as a professional band until it had professional members and without the income of a professional band the members had to remain as part-timers. With no manager and little notion of the workings of the music business, Warsaw made rapid musical progress but could not organise themselves to build upon the promising take-off the Electric Circus debut had given them: "Material-wise everything seemed to be clicking into place. But at that time we felt very detached from things. No one was helping us. It was very disillusioning but in fact it urged us to carry on .. . sort of 'we'll show them' ." - Ian Curtis in an NME interview, 13th January , 1979.

10

Bernard Sumner

11

Warsaw were a combination of wide-eyed amateur enthusiasts and a new band rapidly learning to impose their ideas and personalities on the music they were producing. In much the same way as Siouxsie and the Banshees they soon left the crutch of Punk and developed a more personal and inventive style. It was built around tightening repetition, washes of sound and a replacement of the urban cliches of punk with Ian Curtis' more natural lyrical leanings towards mystery and bleak, strangely Russian, neo-Romantic moods and imagery. In the apparent isolation of what was actually a lack of gigs and exposure, Warsaw began to make the transformation from passingly interesting part-time punks to an excitingly original new-wave outfit with something to say. Many people who saw Warsaw in 1977 and Joy Division in 1978 believed that some miracle had taken place in which a remarkable butterfly had suddenly emerged from the rather ordinary grub that had been Warsaw - it was not a miracle but six months of virtually no gigs in which creative energies were unified and refined in comparative isolation and the process of musical development, usually reduced to fits and starts by the routine of regular gigging, accelerated to an unusual degree. The change coming over Warsaw was evident in October 1977 when the band were invited to play at the 'last weekend' of the Electric Circus. The club was forced to close and as a special wake a marathon 'Last Days of the Electric Circus' weekend was organised over October 15th and 16th. As one of the (many) bands to have made an impression at the club Warsaw were invited to play on the 16th. In fact it was not to prove the last weekend of the club, as it was to reopen in November 1978 for a time, but the passing of the club was duly marked by the presence of a mobile recording unit to produce an album in the tradition of EM I's 'Live at the Roxy'. The fact that the Manor Mobile taped everything played over the weekend and Virgin issued an album means that the weekend of October 15th-16th, 1977 also provided the earliest recorded example of the work of Curtis, Dicken (now Albrecht), Hook and Morris: 'At a Later Date' included on the 'Short Circuit' album eventually released in June 1978. While Warsaw's riffing contribution is interesting while undistinguished, recognisable as the work of the band that was to become Joy Division, 'At A Later Date' must surely stand as one of the most unmemorable recording debuts ever experienced by a band, in the sense that Warsaw completed their entire set without being

12

aware that they were being recorded - only discovering the fact when they sat in the dressing rooms and were asked to sign contracts for the use of their performance on the album! The closure of the Electric Circus, one of the few venues Warsaw ever played and where they had built up a 'home' following, and a legal move by heavily promoted HM band Warsaw Pakt to prevent them using the name Warsaw, signalled the end of the 'Warsaw era' and drove the members of the band further into internal exile from the local rock scene and consolidation of their musical identity. Although Warsaw had achieved a great deal during 1977, they may have achieved more if they had found someone to manage their career at the start rather than at the end of the year. By their own admission, Warsaw had not been very good at managing themselves before they met up with Rafters DJ Rob Gretton in December 1977. Having developed a stock of material by the middle of 1977, Warsaw were keen to put out a record, but having limited funds allowed a local record production company to handle the project for them. Unfortunately when the recording was made, in October, the band were not happy with the technical quality and the four songs were shelved. A major label was sniffing around by November and putting up money for recording sessions which seemed to be leading towards an album deal, but ultimately Warsaw - now trading as Joy Division didn't care for the long-term contract deal they were offered and refused to sign. The Stiff/Chiswick Test, however, proved to be the turning point in the band's career. This was a special showcase for three local bands, in a series held all over the country, to discover groups ripe for a recording deal with either Stiff or Chiswick. The Manchester test was held at Rafters Club, and in the audience were DJ Rob Gretton and Tony Wilson, presenter of the North-West ITV local news programme 'Granada Reports' and the nationally networked rock programme 'So It Goes'. At the time Factory records was not even a gleam in Wilson's eye but he felt that Joy Division "had something to say" and he did not forget them. The impact on Rob Gretton was more immediate, despite the fact that Joy Division played third on the bill and did not begin to play until 3.00 in the morning, and finding they were manager-less he offered his services. It was to become one of the rare band/manager relationships in which the manager's level of involvement made him in effect a non-playing member of the band.

Peter Hook

13

When Warsaw re-emerged as Joy Division on the club scene in January 1978 they were clearly a band that had made use of the space they had been given over the past months to organise their approach and refine their material, and those who had missed them since the days of the Electric Circus were conscious of an apparently overnight change : the potential that Paul Morely had written about six months earlier was now cashed-up into currency . The much-needed business skills of Rob Gretton now provided a firmer base for creativity and the peanuts recording deal. of the previous Autumn was finally put behind them. Even so, Joy Division still presented a curious combination of lethal creative control and direction and gauche amateurism , as all the members of the band spent most of their waking hours in entirely unrelated day jobs in order to make ends meet. Disentangling the recording deal freed Joy Division from a potential millstone but also left them without anything due on record apart from the Electric Circus album which was by no means certain of being issued. Without a record to post off hopefully to the John Peel programme and the music papers, the name of Joy Division was unlikely to spread far beyond Manchester and the North West , and in desperation the band turned once again to the tapes they had made the previous October. Although they were quite satisfied with the material the recording quality did them no favours. Without the funds to record the songs again Joy Division reluctantly filled the gap in their career by packaging them up as the 'Ideal For Living' EP on Enigma Records. So it was that Joy Division made their record debut in May 1978 with an EP they had previously considered unworthy of release . Fortunately the technical short comings of 'Ideal For Living' were generally over-looked and the record judged for its musical content and as a welcome opportunity to hear a much-praised new band for the first time . The hoped-for plays on the John Peel radio programme and some unexpectedly good reviews in the music weeklies created a great deal of interest, and the EP not only achieved the objective of spreading the name

14

3.

- NOT A CONCEPT; AN ENIGMA: THE IDEAL FOR JOY DIVISION - 1978

15

and music of Joy Division to a national audience but provided a small financial bonus by selling out of its initial pressing by September of 1978. Joy Division remained a favourite band to make predictions about in the music press : "there are a lot of good ideas here (on the 'Ideal For Living' EP), and they could be a very interesting band by now, seven months on" - Chris Brazier, Melody Maker, 24th June, 1978. The only negative reaction was - somewhat inevitably- to the fashionably 'shocking' Nazi Chic dressing of the EP. While for the vast majority the band's name was .merely satisfyingly abstract , those who picked up on the Nazi allusion of the name were not particularly appeased by the blatancy of the picture sleeve's imagery - the band's name spelt out in heavy Gothic lettering beside the portrait of a Hitler youth beating a drum! In fact the Joy Division was a body of prostitutes in Nazi Germany and the band's choice of this as their name had no political implications, rather it was a cynical statement by the band on the 'state of the art'. To read fascism into it, or indeed in Factory Records, is to mis-interpret. The overwhelmingly good impression made by the 'Ideal For Living' EP did not, however , convert to the kind of recording deal that would enable the members of Joy Division to obtain a living wage and so leave their day jobs and become fully professional, while at the same time maintaining the control over their recording output they felt essential. What Joy Division were looking for was not the usual kind of contract offered to a new and untried band, but it was by no means an impossible dream and in many respects showed them to be down to earth and practical, in not being seduced by deceptively fat royalty advances ahead of contracts with no provision for a living income in future years. Discussions with Radar Records took Joy Division to the verge of signing a 'conventional' recording contract but this fell through, and the band continued their search for a company prepared to take the chance and support them financially and artistically in the way they wanted : "Sometimes we felt like finishing but it was because everyone ignored us or interfered that we kept thinking 'we'll show them' . . . we need to give up work to continue .. . but it's not worth signing to a record company unless they can supply you with a living. We'd love to stay on the outside but we can't afford to do it ourselves, which we'd want." - Ian Curtis in an interview, NME 13th January , 1979.

16

With nothing new in prospect the compromise 'Ideal For Living' EP was repressed in September 1978 and reissued as a 12 inch, distributed by Rough Trade , with a redesigned sleeve . The showcase spot on the Virgin Electric Circus album which had eventually been released in June proved less of a breakthrough than they at one time hoped . Although Virgin put a lot of effort into promoting the album, with a big press and in-store campaign to back up the twin fashionable gimmicks of a 10 inch pressing and limited (5 ,000) initial quantity in blue vinyl , the record made less impact than expected in a year glutted with similar live albums , and Joy Division's contribution - 'At A Later Date' - was a below par version which the band immediately regretted having chosen for inclusion in preference to one of the other numbers they had performed that night. Morale was hardly boosted by the fact that Virgin's pre-release advance on royalties quickly proved to have been over-generous when the sales figures for the album started to come in , and Joy Division actually had to pay some of Virgin's money back.

Despite the unsatisfactory progress of Joy Division's recording career, the Autumn of 1978 saw them spreading their live reputation beyond the North West with dates in Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield and , in November, a support spot on two shows of a national tour by the Rezillos which took Joy Division to such distant venues as Reading Top Rank and Canterbury Odeon for the first time. The solution of Joy Division's recording dilemma came when Granada TV presenter Tony Wilson decided to try his hand at running an independent record label. Although best known in the North-West of England for his work on ITV's local news magazine 'Granada Reports'. Wilson was equally familiar to rock fans for the adventurous 'So It Goes' and as a champion of John Cooper Clarke, Ian Dury, The Sex Pistols and virtually everyone else who was to mean anything on the British punk and post-punk rock scene . His involvement had already led him to promoting acts at the Factory Club in Manchester's Moss Side, and putting out a record featuring local bands seemed a fairly logical next step . So when a small

inheritance came his way, Tony Wilson used some of the money to finance a record release. He arranged with local record producer Martin 'Zero' Hannett to record several unsigned local bands for a sampler EP/ LP and one of these bands was the group he had ｲ･ｾｭ｢､＠ from the Stiff/Chiswick Test at Rafters Club - Joy Division. His new label was to be known, like the club, as Factory (a name not entirely uninspired by Andy Warhol's art studio in 1960's New York) and the directors Wilson and Hannett plus Wilson's club co-promoter actor Alan Erasmus and Manchester Poly design graduate Peter Saville. In October 1978 Joy Division were duly dispatched to Cargo Studios in Rochdale with Martin Hannett to record material for probable inclusion in a Factory sampler record that would also include Durutti Column, Cabaret Voltaire and comedian John Dowie. Like Tony Wilson, Martin Hannett had been interested in Joy Division for some time - he had been instrumental in getting the original 7 inch 'Ideal For Living' EP distributed more effectively through his connection with Rabid Records - and the Cargo sessions were made particularly successful by the immediate creative rapport struck up between band and producer. It was to prove a classic partnership with Hannett becoming like a fifth member of the band in every possible respect, and the benevolent support of Factory from the Autumn of 1978 proved to be a major turning point in Joy Division's career. The frustrations and mistakes of the previous eighteen months began to give way to 'career' success to match the band's remarkable artistic progress and development, and having completed their first wholly successful and satisfying recordings, Joy Division found themselves invited to record four songs for broadcast on the highly prestigious John Peel Radio 1 programme in the New Year. The 'Ideal For Living' EP, like so many independent record releases by new bands had received its only national radio exposure on ｴｨｾ＠ John Peel programme and Joy Division had already joined the long list of bands that owed much of their initial success to the interest shown in them by Peel and producer John Walters. The sessions were a showcase that unrecorded bands like Adam and the Ants Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Slits had already used to turn local cult status into national acclaim and successful record deals. As 1978 drew to a close Joy Division seemed to be winning through at last and, one way or another, the elusive recording deal on their own terms seemed to be on the verge of becoming a reality.

17

4.

"THIS BAND IS BUSY DOING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE MUSIC OF THE EIGHTIES"

18

-MICK MIDDLES, SOUNDS, 1980

The first Factory release featuring Joy Division was entitled 'A Factory Sampler' and came in the slightly unusual format of two 7 inch EP records in a foldover sleeve , reasonably priced at £1 .80. Deliberately , it was a format that defied categorisation as a single, EP or album and reviewers were divided on whether to review it as a single or as an album. A pressing delay on the first 5 ,000 copies and a lack of national distribution reduced the initial impact of the record, but the sampler was into most shops by the time the Joy Division John Peel sessions were broadcast. With Joy Division given two tracks , interest in the EP took it rapidly from modest 'mail-order' beginnings and on to the Rough Trade national distribution network. Record reviewers whose previous experience of Joy Division had been the less than satisfactory track on the Electric Circus album and the flawed 'Ideal For Living' were quick to note that, suddenly and unexpectedly, Joy Division were one of the most interesting and original bands in the country at the

start of 1979 : "Joy Division wind their claustrophobic, abrasive yet precise anger even tighter , a quality only hinted at in their previous 'Ideal For Living' EP : both 'Digital' and 'Glass' are strong, massive and .. . make you want to hear more ." - John Savage, Melody Maker, 20th January 1979 In NME , Paul Morely , who had perceptively seen the greatness latent in Joy Division long before their maturity, spoke of: "more proof of Division's intelligent development." "this individual group " and also succeeded in identifying Joy Division's uniqueness as: "the missing link between Elvis Presley and the Banshees." - Paul Morely, NME, 31st March 1979 .

19

But by Febraury 1979, the October 1978 contribution to the Factory sampler was already well out of date - as the John Peel programme sessions proved. The sessions, recorded at the end of January, became one of the most successful ever broadcasts on the programme, and most listeners, music fans and music business people alike were struck by the rapid development the band were capable of and the inner power and tension of the music they could now produce. The four songs recorded at Maida Vale Studios in London were 'She's Lost Control', 'Transmission', 'Insight' and 'Exercise One' and made 'Digital' and 'Glass' seem like relics from some distant past. Joy Division's ability to develop over short periods of time, first demonstrated during the lay-off from performing in the Autumn of 1977, suggested that the potential of the band, already regarded as very great, might be little short of awesome. Although the Factory sampler had been a one off project and no contractual ties existed between Factory and the performers concerned - mainly, of course, because Factory was not a 'record company' in the traditional sense - Joy Division resisted some attractive offers from major record companies who at last saw their potential, and agreed to make an album for Factory on the same profit-sharing basis as the Sampler. During April and May 1979, Joy Division and Martin Hannett spent time at Hannett's favourite Strawberry Studios in Stockport, recording a dozen songs for an album that was to emerge in July as 'Unknown Pleasures'. The growth of national interest also enabled Joy Division to 'rest' the Manchester clubs, where they had played solidly for two years and felt they were becoming over-familiar, and play a string of dates around the country and in London. And just as their casual contract deal with Factory was out of the ordinary, so too was their approach" to live work and touring. Joy Division never undertook anything that could be described as a 'tour', with the single exception of a support spot on a Buzzcocks tour in the Autumn of 1979, but instead played isolated dates or groups of dates seemingly at random throughout their performing life mainly under the banner of 'Factory Nights'. The fact that Joy Division's recorded output was very tiny and, by the Spring of 1979 well out of date, focused a great deal of attention on these live performances and encouraged the circulation of bootleg tapes of live material and the famous John Peel sessions. Live Joy Division in early 1979 was already

20

several light years away from the immaturity of 'Ideal For Living' and the tentative first steps toward greatness on the Factory Sampler, as the rave reviews of Joy Division performances indicate: "Joy Division . . . sketch withering grey abstractions of urban malaise. Unfortunately . . . their vision is deadly accurate." "A series of spatial constructions based on cyclical variations on simple melancholy themes. The impact is stunning and oppressive". "What makes them unique is singer Ian Curtis. A slight thin figure, he moves deftly and delicately, his voice surprisingly strong, in his eyes and face a look of humility and fear. If this sounds like a mere stage play on paper, in reality Curtis' transparent humanity - that of a loser caught in a world only partially understood is totally credible." "When Joy Division left the stage I felt emotionally drained. They are, without any exaggeration, an important band." - Ian Wood, NME, 26th May, 1979. The first Joy Division album took a total of four and a half days of recording to put at the mixing stage, as the bulk of the material was already perfected in live performance, and in a suitably crafted Peter Saville sleeve became the first Factory album release in July 1979 as 'Unknown Pleasures'. Few first albums had been so eagerly awaited as the first from Joy Division, and while many who had become used to the power and glory of Joy Division live felt the album inevitably lacked the intensity and passion the band was capable of projecting, the direction indicated by the Factory Sampler and revealed by the John Peel session was satisfyingly explored over the album's ten songs. Included were versions of two songs from the Peel sessions - 'She's Lost Control' and 'Insight' - with 'Transmission', now familiar as a live opener, being reserved for a single and 'Exercise One' along with 'Auto-Suggestion', 'From Safety to Where?', 'The Kill' and 'Walked in Line' being recorded but left off the finished album which presented the bulk of the familiar live show, including a stunning version of 'New Dawn Fades' at the end of the 'Outside'. Reviews of the album generally acknowledged that 'Unknown Pleasures' would be remembered as one of the classic releases of 1979:

"Unknown Pleasures is an English rock master-work, it's only equivalent probably be'ing made in Los Angeles twelve years ago. The Doors' 'Strange Days'." -MaxBell,NME, 14th July, 1979. " 'Unknown Pleasures' may well be one of the best white English debut LPs of the year." - John Savage, Melody Maker, 21st July, 1979. The NME review by Max Bell indicated one of the identifiable ingredients of Joy Division's unique musical concoction: Ian Curtis' melancholy baritone so often recalled the Doors' Jim Morrison, just as his wild epileptic dancing conjured up visions of Iggy Pop: a man who also lapsed into a very acceptable impersonation of Mr Mojo Rising on occasion. This undeniable Jim Morrison/Iggy Pop heritage was set against a musical backdrop that was an electric mix of post-punk 'free-form' a la Siouxsie and the Banshees' explorations vf Minor 7th chords, Tangerine Dream/ Neu/La Dusseldorf mood mekaniks, Epic grandeur of the Pink Floyd/King Crimson school and the sullen melancholia of the Jacques Brel/Scott Engel/Tim Buckley /Leonard Cohen faculty of Psychosis Engineering. Yet to list the elements of Joy Division's music is to devalue a unique and original experience: just as a chemical compound takes on an identity that is uniquely its own and not that of an amalgam of elements, so Joy Division's music achieved the rare and elusive quality of originality. So much so that identifiable similarities with past music soon seem to be merely surface features when the music becomes familiar. Much of Joy Division's impact was, for example, derived from their subtle melodic inventiveness and their haunting quality from a remarkable manipulation of familiar ideas set against lyrical and instrumental 'obscurity' and uncertainty, which placed them within the context of late seventies rock but at the same time quite outside similar previous experience. Remarkably, an era dominated by the independent single, Joy Division had not released a conventional single during their first two years of operation so for them releasing a single in 1979 was a novelty. Usual practice was to fssue one of the outstanding tracks from an album immediately before putting the album out, in the hope that a hit single would give the album an initial sales boost, but neither Joy Division nor Factory were slaves to industry conventions and although a single was chosen from the May album sessions it was deliberately left off the album arid no one seemed in any hurry to release it, despite con-

siderable demand. The A side selected was 'Transmission'. The song had been a highlight of Joy Division live since late 1978 and the January John Peel programme session version had created a great deal more interest. The exclusion of the song from 'Unknown Pleasures' had been a disappointment to many but with deliberate contrariness Joy Division did not begin to mix the track for single release until July - when any other band would have been busy promoting the song as a hit single - and 'Transmission' did not appear in the shops until the following November. The attitude of Britain's notoriously cynical rock press to Joy Division had been favourable from the very first and with the release of 'Unknown Pleasures' began to verge on the dreaded 'future of rock 'n' roll' overkill. This, combined with heavy play on the John Peel programme, ensured that the album sold out its tentative 10,000 copy first-pressing in less than two months, more than justifying Tony Wilson's personal investment of the unit trusts he had inherited the year before. Although 'Unknown Pleasures' never reached the British album chart, even during the first two fastselling months, Joy Division's unique arrangement with Factory actually meant that they earned more real cash money from the album than most of the groups signed to major labels with records high in the Top 20. Factory made no advance payment of royalties but merely put up the funds to pay for recording and manufacture and, once those costs were covered by income from sales, paid over two thirds of all the money plus the usual performer/writer royalty percentages. That kind of deal on 10,000-plus albums wholesaling at around £2.70 eventually brought Joy Division a very healthy clear profit as the basis of a living wage - a great deal more than the usual 4% of selling price contract would have brought them. Joy Division's glorious independence with Factory proved itself capable of profitability to match its artistic integrity but independence also brought problems. Income from records is slow to reach record companies and performers, and with limited funds and no arrangement for record manufacture and distribution, each batch of 10,000 copies of 'Unknown Pleasures' could only be financed when the previous batch sold out, often leaving shops with customer orders but no copies to sell. It is a well known fact that customers who find that records are not readily available will buy something else, so 'Unknown Pleasures' lost numerous sales by being temporarily off the streets. The lack of mass promo-

21

t'ion and distribution also limited sales in chart-return shops, keeping the album out of the sales chart, and put a ceiling on the number of copies the album could actually sell over a short period of time: 'Unknown Pleasures' had to remain an unknown sales quantity Factory could not sell 50 or 60 thousand copies of the album in a week simply because they lacked the means of putting such large numbers of the album in the shops at any one time and, in any case, could not supply the promotional 'push' to win so many customers at the same moment. It was a dilemma, because while the hand-to-mouth arrangement worked beautifully for small quantities and gave complete control, a pressing and distribution deal gave unlimited sales potential and ultimately much larger profits at the cost of smaller percentages and the loss of total artistic control. In fact, Joy Division never took the 'licensing deal' option on any of their records in order to sell larger quantities, and the fact that their second and final albums, as well as the 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' single (which sold a remarkable 160,000 copies) being big hits is a vindication oftheir artistic integrity and refusal to compromise to achieve success, and a tribute to the efficiency with which Factory handled their records, despite minimal facilities. By September 1979 and the 'second coming' of 'Unknown Pleasures' into the record shops, Joy Division live had jumped even further ahead of their record persona, beginning their set with the sullen, awesome 'Atmosphere'. It was a choice which set Joy Division apart from just about every other performing band that has ever been. The straight· forward, accessible, bright 'limbering-up' opener is almost obligatory in rock performances and Joy Division now chose to begin with an entirely new song of shattering/shattered emotion built around staggering chords of doom: a choice entirely at odds with their forthcoming position as support/guests on a major national tour by the Buzzcocks. But Joy Division were already beyond being judged according to 'the rules' - they had joined the thin ranks of those whose adventures re-define the rules: "Compared with Joy Division most other bands working in supposedly left"field areas are like light entertainers on the Saturday Night special." - Adrian Thrills, NME. Similarly unpredictable was the next Joy Division record release on the heels of 'Unknown Pleasures' not 'Transmission' or any other single and not even a

22

Factory record. In their unique contractual position Joy Division were entirely free to release their material in one-off deals with any company they wished and when Bob Last asked them to contribute music to the second of his Fast Products 'Earcom' (i.e. Ear Comic) 12 inch EP-based packages they passed him the tapes of two songs they had complet· ed the previous Spring at the 'Unknown Pleasures' sessions but not used on the album - 'Auto-Suggestion' and 'From Safety to Where?'. Giving potentially valuable material to such a low key enterprise was a move by now typical of Joy Division's anti-star attitude toward the music business, and although 'Earcom 2' sold very well, the songs were never to rise above 'obscurity' status tucked away on such a small label experiment. The EP's release also helped to make an already confusing band discography a maze of mysteries and take Joy Division into a sixth record release without their having made an ordinary 7 inch single. The Buzzcocks' Autumn 1979 tour was a curious setting for Joy Division, with the band's hard-ecj.ged and introspective music and sombre presence contrasting totally with the bright Pop tunes and ebullience of Pete Shelley, but the tour actually succeeded surprisingly well with both bands benefiting rather than suffering from the sharpness of the contrast. If joining a tour seemed to suggest that Joy Division were softening in their defiance of rock conventions, the fact that they released their long. awaited first single of 'Transmission' at the end rather than at the start of their nationwide showcase tour was enough to reassure any doubters. Such crude commerciality as using a tour to promote a single (and vice versa) had no place in Joy Division's scheme of things and Factory did not release the band's first entry into the singles market until the middle of November, the tour having ended on November 10th. 'Transmission', backed by a new song 'Novelty', came in surprisingly ordinary 7 inch form and presented Joy Division being about as close as they ever got to being 'commercial'. Reviewers were certainly in no doubts about the quality and potential of 'Transmission': "This is an awesome disc ... could easily be a hit." "cannot be dismissed as just another good single by a provincial band on a nice little independent. Joy Division ... not to mention Factory, are con· tenders." -Adrian Thrills,NME, 17th November 1979.

Joy Division, Manchester Cathedral

23

In fact 'Transmission' was not a hit in November 1979 nor in February 1981 when it was re-issued in 12 inch form but, as with all Joy Division's Factory produce, the modest sales and profit targets were quickly met to everyone's satisfaction: the 'success' of a record being ultimately measurable only in terms of what it is intended to achieve. After almost five months break from recording, Joy Division had returned with Martin Hannett in mid October to the studio where they had begun their relationship - Cargo in Rochdale - and recorded three new songs, 'Ice Age', 'Dead Souls' and the much praised live opener 'Atmosphere'. It was, as those recorded versions testify, a particularly creative session but the outstanding results were treated with a casualness that was little less than contrary. 'Ice Age' was to be given away for use on a proposed Leeds Futurama Sci Fi Festival album (this never materialised, of course, and the song did not emerge until the 1981 'Still' album) and 'Dead Souls' and 'Atmosphere' - simply two of the very best things Joy Division ever achieved in the studio - were presented to two French conceptual artists who asked for Joy Division songs to place on a single at the centre of a 'Total Art' package with a proposed circulation of a mere 1578 copies - worldwide. Condeming such a powerful piece of work as 'Atmosphere' to the obscurity of a French independent single of just over 1500 copies is almost psychotic in its deviant zeal to avoid rock 'n' roll obviousness: Joy Division had recorded a genuine classic fit to stake their vinyl claim to be ranked with the Greats and then acted as if they were ashamed of it, off-loading it onto an arty-farty project as if it were some onetake jam no one could be bothered to finish. The band's final recording date of 1979 was at the BBC Maida Vale studios for another John Peel Programme session on November 26th. Joy Division's closest followers were once again kept in touch with the latest developments, and in a session of unusual power produced versions of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', 'Colony', 'The Sound Of Music' and 'Twenty-Four Hours'. This session not merely provided a chance to hear studio versions of new songs, but actually presented definitive versions of the songs. Once again, they showed themselves capable of a rate of expansion and creative development which left many still clutching at the reference points of the first album. In spite of their studied avoidance of conventional rock career progress, as 1979 drew to its close Joy Division had undoubtedly 'made it' and on their own

24

terms become a fashionable and popular band. Surprisingly, perhaps, they ended the year very much as they had begun it as the darlings of the British music press. New Musical Express rated 'Unknown Pleasures' as third best album of 1979 after Pil's 'Metal Box' and Talking Heads' 'Fear of Music' in it's staff chart, and Sounds, rather safely perhaps, tipped them to 'be big' in 1980. This favour was not restricted to the staff either, as the reader polls published in the new year showed: the readers of NME voted Joy Division as 5th Best in the 'New Act' category. They were on their way ...

25

5.

LIFE AFTER A DEATH 1980

26

1980 began with Joy Division on the road and preparing themselves to record a new album in March. The New Year brought with it a new Joy Division stage repertoire which abandoned the familiar and popular like a used skin in favour of all-new material. It was a transition which compounded Joy Division's reputation as a 'difficult' band and left no reference points as a concession to their audience or a sop to easy popularity. Gone were landmarks like 'Transmission', 'She's Lost Control' and 'Insight' and in their place were new problems and puzzles to be solved like 'Ceremony', 'Decades', 'Atrocity Exhibition' and 'Colony'. The first Joy Division vinyl offering of the new decade was French Sordide Sentimentale's 'Atmosphere/Dead Souls' package, a furiously obscure record only available by mail and limited to a tiny 1578 copies with not even the promise of a more available reissue. Although the Joy Division contribution was entirely under the control of band and producer, the artist Jean-Francois Jamoul and writer Jean-Pierre Turmel packaged and marketed the project as they wished. It was all an extraordinary notion, which only a band as indifferent to music business conventions and the profit-motive would have agreed to, when the two Frenchmen wrote out of the blue asking them to contribute two unused tracks for a single to form the centrepiece of a quality 'total art' package. Certainly the finished product was unlike any other record release: the 7 inch single was presented inside a handsome folder featurhg an original print by Jamoul and accompanied by an extensive text by Turmel in which he attempted rather grandly to place the music of Joy Division within the context of the history of European Romanticism. To the surprise of no one, Sordide Sentimentale's limited edition sold out within only weeks of receiving airplay and publicity on the John Peel programme and the many were left disappointed after the swift and fortunate few bought up the precious obscurities. As a consolation Factory then announced that the prized item on Sordide Sentimentale's exercise in

27

28

gesamtkunstwerke - 'Atmosphere' - would become available again within months but, typically, merely as the B side of a specially re-recorded 12 inch version of 'She's Lost Control' to be issued only in the USA! The attitude of Joy Division towards their greatest achievements took low profile almost to the point of inversion. With the material road-tested over the previous two months, the sessions for a second album took place in March at the Britannia Row Studios in Islington, London. This was the first time Joy Division had recorded in London, but there was no feeling of adventure abroad in the Joy Division camp as the shadows now deepening around Ian Curtis cast furrows in every brow. Ian Curtis was never the cliched tortured artist in the Van Gogh tradition that his legend has cast him as, on the evidence of aspects of his music. He was a deeply sensitive and creative introvert but also capable of such everyday acts as enjoying a joke, a drink and following Manchester United FC. Few people are capable of smiling through the crumbling fragmentation of emotions and nerves that accompanies the break-up of a marriage and Ian Curtis was not exceptional in any way when he joined the ranks of the sufferers. Recording what was to become the 'Closer' album took 13 days and 13 nights in March 1980 and, despite the brilliant result, no one present enjoyed the experience very much. The Romantic gloom that surrounded Joy Division's fractured ballads seemed to lure Ian Curtis into a claustrophobic dialogue with himself which drew him ever inward and further down. No one who has heard the resulting album can fail to feel the tensions reverberating around the vast musical area that Joy Division had created for themselves, but even within the darknesses on the album there is hope and optimism which seem to exist in contradiction of the realities crushing the owner of the album's voice. 'Closer' is not an album of gasps uttered from the end of a rope but the peak of artistic achievement that everyone had hoped for and predicted. Even on the rack Joy Division's group identity and corporate greatness could not be muted. The tensions which hacked at Ian Curtis during those album sessions cut ever deeper in subsequent weeks as he performed his duties with Joy Division through a sequence of live dates that were to preceed and warm up for the band's debut US tour in the middle of May. The tortured figure temporarily unable to continue at Hampstead's Moonlight Club

on April 4th was no sham-acting James Brown but a man treading a tightrope across a deeply personal internal abyss. Yet, paradoxically, even at such extremity Joy Division could still give hope to the wretched through the glory and ultimate triumph of the will that was their musical maelstrom: "Joy Division convince me that I could spit in the face of God." - Neil Norman,NME, 19th April, 1980. The handful of early April dates at the Moonlight were in the tradition of the 'Factory Evenings' but deviated slightly in that Joy Division performed for four consecutive nights supported by a fly-past of Factory acts, changing on each night. Section 25, A Certain Ratio - Joy Division partners on so many Factory evenings - Durutti Column, X-0-Dus, Kevin Hewitt, Crawling Chaos, Blurt and the Royal Family all took their turn to support Joy Division and in their turn Joy Division took advantage of their stay in London to support the Stranglers at a prestige Rainbow date on April 4th. It seemed hectic and to outsiders Ian Curtis seemed to be the worst affected by the heavy work-load in between songs. The Moonlight shows and the isolated gig, so typical of Joy Division's date book, on May 2nd at Birmingham University's High Hall, soon took on a far greater significance: they were to be the last the band would ever play. After playing the Birmingham date, supported by A Certain Ratio and recorded for a proposed Germanonly live album release, as were many performances over previous months, Joy Division returned to Manchester to prepare themselves for whatever the US of A had to offer them. 'Unknown Pleasures' had been successful as an import album - voted one of the year's best by 'New York Rocker' - and the dates booked in New York were already attracting some interest. In the days before their planned departure date of Sunday May 18th, Joy Division rested and made plans for future releases with Factory. The second album was set for June release, and the song 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' was left off the albttm and mixed for a single release with accompanying video (filmed on April 30th) for possible TV exposure if, as expected, the single became a hit. And as if these two releases seemed too conventional, Factory also prepared to take the unheard-of step of releasing an entirely free single to be given to anyone who asked for it. Not even the Beatles at the height of their success gave free records to more people than were

29

members of their fan club but Factory were planning to give back some of the 'Unknown Pleasures' profits via 25,000 free three-track flexi-discs. Also planned, but with no specific date, was the live album for Germany, to be assembled from recent live tapes. In usual Factory style there were no plans to issue the album anywhere else in the world. On Saturday May 17th, 1980 - the day before he was due to fly to New York to play the first of Joy Division's US dates - Ian Curtis revisited the home he had shared in Macclesfield with his wife and baby and, after an evening alone watching his favourite director Saul Herzog's film 'Stroszek' on BBC2 TV, hung himself in the kitchen during the early hours of Sunday morning. His dead body was found by his wife just before noon on Sunday 18th May and at the inquest the following week a verdict of suicide was recorded. The funeral t0k place on June 13th. During May 1980 the British music press began a lengthy industrial dispute which kept the familiar weeklies - NME, Sounds, Melody Maker and Record Mirror - off the streets so the news of the death and confirmation of details was slow to spread. At first it was just a rumour that sounded more like a sick joke being put about at gigs but on May 24th the temporary opportunist weekly music paper 'New Music News' carried a tiny announcement - almost as if they did not believe the story - that Ian Curtis had "died at his home" the previous Saturday. Listeners to the John Peel programme knew by this time that the story was no hoax, as not for the first or last time John Peel was given the entirely unwelcome task of being the first to broadcast the news of a rock death. When the weeklies began to drift back onto the streets the details and the tributes began to accumulate. The fact that Ian Curtis and Joy Division (the band that seemed just an album away from their very own brand of superstardom) were suddenly no more began to sink home. For many, the method and circumstances of Ian Curtis' death seemed an inevitable development of the gloom and despondency of his music, as if the 'Where' that he had sung about was inevitably the same destination as the cliche 'tortured artist', in spite of the plain enough fact that Ian Curtis was no more or less than a sad and unfortunate man driven into the ground by private and deeply personal unhappiness. His was no Romantic martyrdom but still the necromancers gathered to sob to the sounds of 'Atmosphere' and 'New Dawn Fades' and distort the critical perspective on what was, on merit alone, one of the Great bands in the history of rock with a singer

30

of unusual power. The growth of such a death cult focusing on Joy Division was doubly inappropriate, for beneath the melancholy surface of their music lay an undeniable affirmation of purpose and hope. The apparent despair and sadness in much of Joy Division's greatest music was, in context, merely an aspect of humanity reflected and always accompanied by a sense of ultimate victory over adversity. The 'message' of Joy Division's music was not - as so many like to believe - to lay down and die but to accept the human condition for what it was without self-pity and rise through that acceptance to the affirmation of individuality and purpose. The 'gloom' often provided a smoke screen for the true uplifting nature of Joy Division's music which, far from being the soundtrack for suicide, was something that almost by its very existence proved that determined individuals can assert themselves against the odds, 'beat the system' of the music business or anything else. Ian Curtis' death of course halted the US tour and put an end to Joy Division as a band. All the members of Joy Division had agreed that if any one member ever left the remainder would immediately abandon the identity of Joy Division along with all the material associated with the band and begin again under a new name with new music. Such devotion to integrity and principles is extraordinary in a music business in which bands often tour under once famous names regardless of the fact that the original members associated with near-forgotten hit songs may have left the fold years since. The decision to bury Joy Division with Ian Curtis was a brave one in view of the fact that his death had created the myth that the singer and co-songwriter was the be-all and end-all of Joy Division's greatness, and far too many people were prepared to regard the remaining members of Joy Division as pathetic figures whose ride to fame and fortune had been halted for good by the death of their pilot. This was, as events were to prove beyond all doubt, an extremely inaccurate assessment of Joy Division's creative mechanism: Albrecht, Hook and Morris were never merely three satellites of a creative sun but three quarters of a unique partnership. Publicly the remains of Joy Division - now nameless - kept a low profile, writing a new repertoire while testing out the possibilities existing within the quartet framework. The whole question of 'replacing' Ian Curtis was avoided, but at the same time the possibility of a new member or members if needed was kept open. Any additions would be part of a natural process arising from needs rather than the

usual auditions and trials that follow the departure of a member of a conventional band. The fact that several major record releases were in a late stage of readiness at the time of Ian Curtis' death presented a problem, as cynics would be sure to accuse the band and label of cashing-in on the death publicity, while at the same time any change of plans would not only be false but also be a disservice to the four living people who had played just as much a part in the records as Ian Curtis. The fact that the first Joy Division record to be released after the death news was an entirely free flexi-disc did much to deflate the critics but, of course, the flexi had actually been planned many months earlier. Although this single of three new

31

32

songs - 'Komakino'/'Incubation' and 'And Then Again More' rapidly 'sould out' its initial 25,000 copy pressing, it did not qualify for the charts as it cost less than 50p and it took the grimly appropriate single title of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' - released a week or so later - to put the name of Joy Division on the British charts for the first time during the week ending June 28th, 1980. The success of 'Love' and subsequent Joy Division releases was attributed by the band's few detractors as a morbid reaction to May 18th, but while it is likely that many had heard of Joy Division for the first time through the death news there is ample evidence - such as the results of the May 1980 Zig Zag reader poll - to argue that Joy Division's subsequent records would have gained mass acceptance anyway. 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' was an astonishingly successful record for a company of Factory's modest resources and rose as far as No. 12 on the BBC singles chart (Melody Maker took it even higher to No. 8) eventually selling 160 ,000 copies. The acceptance (and cash) from the record went a long way to justify the time and money spent preparing the song for release. In fact, two versions of the song were actually put onto record - the 7 inch and the 12 inch not for the usual reasons of disco-mix novelty or marketing gimmick but because the band and producer were never agreed on which of the two alternative mixes should be used - so they compromised and used both. The issue was further confused by the fact that the John Peel session version of the previous January also had a lot in its favour, however, this version did not complicate the decision as the BBC tapes were tied up in a maze of legal difficulties. When 'Closer' was eventually released after a few weeks delay in July 1980 it came not in a moment of triumph or confirmation, but as a premature and (sadly apt) closer to the chapter on a band that had entered the realms of what-might-have-been. Unlike so many 'last albums' - Hendrix's 'Cry of Love', Lennon's 'Double Fantasy' or The Doors' 'LA Woman' - 'Closer' gained nothing from the circumstances of its arrival. The quality of material and unity of purpose and texture made even their excellent debut album of a year earlier seem, by comparison, flawed by an uncertainty of direction. 'Closer' was a superb album, with Martin Hannett's absorption into the band as synthesizer-playing fifth man providing the vital and crowning cohesive element. The fact that it had to be a last album is jarring because, unlike those other final albums mentioned above,

'Closer' did not represent the last efforts of once great stars but the start of something new and magnificent.... a start that was to be over within the time it took to listen to a single album. Not surprisingly, 'Closer' was warmly reviewed in the music press and a sizeable hit album.

33

6.

THE NEW ORDER: BEYOND 1980 With what was not the past so strongly in vogue, the remains of Joy Division , never keen to give interviews to the press at the best of times , retreated into seclusion to rehearse and re-direct , with the US tour now due in the Autumn. Even the identity of the new Joy Division remained vague - hints that 'The Eternal' (after the 'Closer' song) and 'The Hit' were being considered as names were dropped but nothing definite announced. Similarly unconfirmed was a report that Factory singer Kevin Hewitt , who they recorded with during the Summer, was about to be announced as their new vocalist. When the band re-emerged in September at Liverpool's Brady's Club as support to Skafish, on the first of a string of entirely unpublicised dates , Kevin Hewitt was entirely absent and the band traded under the name of New Order. It was a name which cleverly(?) stated the obvious and at the same time preserved the Joy Division connection in its Nazi-chic reference .. Information about New Order was still sparse , despite their emergence. Although interest from the public and press alike was great, New Order stuck to their decision to regard themselves as an entirely 'new' and untried band, shunning the publicity that was theirs for the asking in favour of creating interest in their New Order on the merits of their new music rather than the legacy of Joy Division . This created some hostility among those of the music press who regarded the band's attitude that they had yet to earn publicity as somewhat artificial , in view of the fact that New Order were Joy Division minus Ian Curtis and therefore not an 'unknown' band at all. The practical problem of having lost their 'voice' in the person of a very distinctive and charismatic vocalist - was solved with quiet efficiency. New Order did not invite comparisons with Joy Division by employing another individualistic or 'name' vocalist in the role, but instead grafted Steve Morris' girlfriend Gillian Gilbert onto the band to free Bernard Albrecht from the full weight of his former live guitar and keyboard duties and enable him to become the

34

35

main vocalist, with Peter Hook providing an alternative voice to compensate for the fact that the band's vocals no longer had the character and interest of Ian Curtis' unique voice. The bravest move of all was New Order's insistence on not playing any of Joy Division's material despite their undoubted right to it, and that fact that it was, at the start, the only common ground with their audience. Few other bands would have taken this refusal to trade on their past works as far, but New Order were determined to be accepted as an entirely new band with their own music, and presented themselves as committed to success on their own terms as Joy Division did. New Order make exceptions to their refusal to trade on the Joy Division legacy in the cases of the songs 'Ceremony' and 'In A Lonely Place': the last two songs composed by Ian Curtis and Joy Division. Although these songs had been performed live during the last months of Joy Division they had never had the chance to record them - a live version of 'Ceremony' from the last ever Joy Division performance appears on 'Still' - and rather than lose them in the transitional zone between Joy Division and New Order the songs were included as the single point of continuity between the two bands. Factory meanwhile laboured to tidy up the recorded legacy of Joy Division and satisfy the huge demand for the former band's records. In an attempt to beat the importers who were making large profits from the US 12 inch of 'She's Lost Control' a British pressing was made available, and to beat the pirate element selling bootlegged copies of the free flexidiscs for prices up to £5, the money made from 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' was used to pay for a second pressing of 25 ,000 with a committment to more if needed. The Joy Division archives were also due to be cleared with the release of all finished but unused Factory material on a 'last gasp' album - which was eventually to emerge as 'Still'. The Joy Division 'activity' in Britain gave New Order the chance to slip away for the postponed Joy Division US tour in September. The Factory package (like Joy Division, New Order had A Certain Ratio as support band) hit the New York streets which had once provided a home for Andy Warhol's Factory, and far away from the eager eyes and ears of the British music press New Order began to state their case for life after a death. On stage the immediate impression was the desired

36

one - New Order were not Joy Division II. Bernard Albrecht's voice carried none of the Jim Morrison timbre of Ian Curtis and with the main vocalist now sporting a Gibson 335 at centre stage the whole appearance of the band was different. The new set also proved beyond any doubt that the vital spark that had fired Joy Division's greatness had not died with Ian Curtis and that, unlike the remaining Doors who, despite being just as important to the band's music as the sunken Mr Mojo, were left without a voice and without a song by Jim Morrison's death, New Order were able to assert their own music. Inevitably, the music of New Order had much in common with that of Joy Division - the rhythmic interest was a function of the Hook/Morris combination just as the melodic strength derived from Albrecht's guitar/keyboards and Hook's forward bass - but to compensate for the missing vocal distinction these elements, so often below the surface mood in Joy Division's music, were brought to the front in New Order: to the surprise of many, New Order were a new band with a highly attractive line in melody and a fortuitously fashionable regard for the dance. Still retaining a low profile of unannounced random British performances and surprise appearances at such places as Rotterdam, New Order released a first single in February 1981 - 'Ceremony'. The critics who still wanted to believe that the cloak of secrecy around New Order was worn in order to hide the fact that they had nothing to offer were immediately silenced by the first real opportunity to hear what New Order was all about. While still undeniably retaining something of the aura of Joy Division, 'Ceremony' took the music of 'Closer' nine months of uneven progress further on, with Albrecht's much weaker voice almost forgotten as a shortcoming in the context of a perfect instrumental mesh and prominant melody more satisfying than could ever have been hoped for. In context the new voice was a strength because Bernard Albrecht brought the full warmth of absolute honesty to his performance, he sang just as it came, whereas Ian Curtis' richly cavernous tones had always seemed somehow aloof and created a tension by so often teetering on the edge of play-acting the American sonorities of Jim Morrison. 'Ceremony' stated the case for New Order entirely convincingly and by reaching No. 34 on the British singles chart satisfyingly became the second biggest hit single the members of the band had been associated with (after, of course, Joy Division's 'Love Will

Tear Us Apart'). Perhaps more significant, 'Ceremony' was voted second best single of 1981 in the NME Readers Poll published in January 1982 and rated 4th best single of all-time in the December 1981 John Peel Radio 1 programme's 'Festive Fifty' poll. The satisfying acceptance of 'Ceremony' on its own merits did not lead New Order to press their case. New Order took 1981 slowly but surely, so aware that the wave of acclaim and affection that had broken over the 'Closer' album in the middle of 1980 could just as dramatically leave them high and dry in the middle of 1981. The final Joy Division album 'Still' prolonged the agony for New Order by not ending the Joy Division release schedule until the Autumn of 1981 and when it did come - in its slightly absurd choice of conventional cloth sleeve - belied its title by reviving interest in Joy Division once again and betrayed its purpose by presenting yet another rag-bag assortment of material rather than neatly closing the chapter on Joy Division's recording career with an assembly of missing and scattered items to sit beside 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'Closer'. What it had to offer was worthwhile nonetheless and the album had its own claim to finality with the inclusion of two sides made up from the final performance of Joy Division at Birmingham University on May 2nd 1980. Inevitably, 'Still' outsold New Order's album 'Movement' released just weeks after, and did little to help New Order's attempt to move out of Joy Division's long shadow in Britain. In December 1981 New Order returned to the USA where they were able to play to an audience able to regard them as a new band, and judge them without reference to a band that died in May 1980. Life for the living goes on. Artistic development in new directions, high-profile commercial success and the memory-wiping passage of time have been the ingredients in New Order's four-year battle to exorcize the ghost of Joy Division. The widening and diversifying of their audience through chart successes has sealed off their past and separated their acclaim from that of Joy Division. Joy Division existed for a mere two years as a recording band and have now been gone for far longer than they flourished. Their complete studio output would barely fill a half dozen LPs and a complete list of their live performances barely fills a couple of pages. Yet they are remembered with reverence. That Joy Division are now a cult and legend is under-

standable but also worrying. It would be another tragedy if the undoubted greatness of their music was lost in a mist of sloppy hyperbole, or cut up in the reaction of an irreverent backlash. Ultimately the monument to Ian Curtis is the fact that the music he made with Joy Division will always be listened to. That is remembrance and reverence enough for anyone.

37

7.

JOY DIVISION LIVE GUIDE

38

1977 May 29- Debut as Warsaw at Electric Circus club, Manchester (Steve Morris joined as drummer 28th May). June-October - Handful of gigs at Electric Circus and around Manchester. October 16- Perform as Warsaw at 'Last Weekend of the Electric Circus' closing down event (Recorded by Virgin and one track released on June 1978 Short Circuit album). December - First performance as Joy Division at Rafters Club, Manchester's 'Stiff/Chiswick Test' - third on the bill and play at three in the morning!

1978 January.July - Scattered dates as Joy Division at Rafters and around North West clubs. August 29 - Manchester Musicians' Collective September 4 - Band on the Wall, Manchester September 10 - Royal Standard, Bradford November 14- Odeon, Canterbury (as support to Rezillos) November 15 -Top Rank, Reading (as support to Rezillos) November 25 - Check Inn, Altrincham November 26 - Electric Circus, Manchester(Grand re-opening)

39

1979 January - London debut at the Hope and Anchor, Islington January-May - Scattered dates around North West and Northern clubs such as Eric's in Liverpool, The Limit Club in Sheffield May 17 - Acklam Hall, London ('Music From the Factory' with A Certain Ratio, John Dowie and OMD) June-October - More random gigs mainly around North West July - Mayflower Club 'Stuff the Superstars Special' July 27 - Blackpool Imperial Hotel: Benefit for Year of the Child (with OMD, Glass Torpedo, Section 25) August - Prince of Wales Conference Centre Festival August 13 - Nashville, London 'Factory Night' (with OMD, A Certain Ratio) August 27 - Leigh Rock Festival August 31 - Electric Ballroom, Camden, London (with Monochrome Set, Scritt.i Politti, A Certain Ratio) October - Buzzcocks Tour (Part One) 2 Mountford Hall, Liverpool 3 University, Leeds 4 City Hall, Newcastle 5 Apollo, Glasgow 6 Odeon, Edinburgh 7 Capital, Aberdeen 8 Caird Hall, Dundee October 12 - Factory Friday, Factory Club, Manchester (not on Buzzcocks Tour) October 19 - Factory Friday, Factory Club, Manchester (not on Buzzcocks Tour) October - Buzzcocks Tour (Part Two) 21 Top Rank, Sheffield 22 Assembly Halls, Derby 23 King George's Hall, Blackburn 24 Odeon, Birmingham 25 St. George's Hall, Bradford October 26 - Electric Ballroom, Camden, London (Not part of Buzzcocks Tour - with Distractions and A Certain Ratio) 27 Appollo, Manchester 28 Appollo, Manchester 29 De Montfort Hall, Leicester 30 New Theatre, Oxford

40

November 1 Civic Hall, Guildford 2 Winter Gardens, Bournemouth 3 Sophia Gardens, Cardiff 4 Colston Hall, Bristol 5 Pavillion, Hemel Hempstead 7 Pavillion, West Runton 9 Rainbow, London 10 Rainbow, London

1980 February - Assorted Factory dates: High Wycombe Town Hall (with Killing Joke, A Certain Ratio, Section 25) London University (with Killing Joke, Section 25, Smirks, Fatal Microbes) Apollo, Manchester Lyceum, London April 2 -Moonlight Club, West Hampstead (with Section 25, Crawling Chaos) April 3 -Moonlight Club, West Hampstead (with A Certain Ratio, Blurt, Kevin Hewitt) (Version of Sister Ray on Still was recorded at this gig) April 4-Moonlight Club, West Hampstead (with Durrutti Colum, X-0-Dus, Royal Family) April 4- Rainbow, London (as support to Stranglers) May 2 - High Hall, Birmingham University (with A Certain Ratio) Last ever performance by Joy Division - recorded and released as part of Still album

8. EQUIPMENT FILE BERNARD ALBRECHT:

PETER HOOK:

Guitars (with Joy Division): Gibson SG Standard (without Vibrola), Shergold Masquerader, Vox Phantom (with New Order): Gibson 335 semiacoustic. Amplification: Vox UD 30 amplifier driving Vox cabinet with two Marshall 12 inch speakers Synths: ETI Synthesiser, Powertran Transcendent 2000 Synthesiser, ARP OMNI 12 Synthesiser. Effects etc: Woolworths (Bontempi) Reed organ, Melos Echo unit, MXR Ten band Graphic Equalizer, Chorus Flanger, Attair PW-5 Power Attenuator (for both guitar and ARP synth), Melodian. Basses: Rickenbacker copy, Yamaha RB 1200, Shergold Marathon Six String bass (with New Order) Amplification: (Early Joy Division): Marshall 50 Watt Bass Amp driving Vox cabinet with two Marshall 12 inch speakers (Later Joy Division/New Order) Amplification: Marshall Bass Amp (later replaced by Hiwatt Custom 100 Watt amp) driving Vox Foundation Bass cabinet fitted with two 18 inch Goodmans 100 Watt speakers OR Alembic Preamplifier with Crown Amcron DC 300 A amplifier with Marshall Bass cabinet fitted with four 15 inch Gauss 400 Watt speakers (Choice of amp dependant on venue)

STEVE MORRIS:

Rogers Concert kit consisted of: 22 inch Bass drum, 12 inch, 13 inch, 14 inch, 15 inch hanging concert Tom Toms, 14 inch and 16 inch Floor Tom Toms, 20 inclt Earth Ride and Crash ride cymbals, plus 14 inch Gretch Snare drum, 15 inch Super Zyn Hi Hat, 14 inch and 18 inch Zildjian Crash cymbals. Simmonds 2 channel drum synth, Synare 3 drum synth, Musicaid Claptrap, Roland BOSS Dr 55 Drum machine

IAN CURTIS:

Guitars: Vox Teardrop and Vox Phantom Amplification: Vox UD 30 amplifier driving Vox cabinet with two 12 inch Marshall speakers

MARTIN HANNETI: (Producer)

(On records only): ARP OMNI 12 Synthesiser (through effects such as MXR Graphic EQ, Chorus Flanger, Melos Echo unit on Closer album)

41

9.

DISCOGRAPHY

42

SECTION 1: MAY 1978 - MAY 1980 IDEAL FOR LIVING Enigma Records 7 inch EP with picture sleeve (Hitler Youth with drum). Side 1: Warsaw/Leaders of Men Side 2: No Love Lost/Failures All songs composed by Joy Division. Personnel: Ian Curtis (vocals), Bernard Albrecht (guitar), Peter Hook (bass) and Steve Morris (drums). Recorded: November 1977 Released: May 1978. (Pressing sold-out September 1978 and deleted) Sleeve note reads: ''This is not a concept EP it is an enigma". SHORT CIRCUIT: The Last Night at the Electric Circus Virgin VCL 5003 10 inch album (First 5,000 in Blue Vinyl) Album recorded live at Manchester's Electric Circus by The Manor Mobile in October 1977 (not, as it turned out, the last night of the Electric Circus) and featuring The Fall, John Cooper Clark, The Drones, The Buzzcocks, Steel Pulse and one song from Joy Division: At A Later Date Personnel: (As for Ideal for Living 7 inch EP) Released: June 1978 IDEAL FOR LIVING Anonymous Records ANON 1. 12 inch EP with picture sleeve. All credits as for 7 inch Ideal for LivinQ_ EP Released: September 1978 (via Rough Trade) Sold out and deleted. Note : Picture sleeve on this 12 inch re-issue is a different design to the original 7 inch.

43

FACTORY SAMPLER Factory Fae 2 Double 7 inch EP with picture sleeve Six track double EP produced by Martin 'Zero' Hannett at Cargo Studios, Rochdale with one side devoted to Joy Division: Digital/Glass (Glass re-issued October 1981 as track on Still double album, Factory Fae 40). Both songs composed by Joy Division. Personnel: As for Ideal for Living 7 inch EP. Released: January 1979 (Delayed until February 1979 by pressing problems). (Sampler also features tracks from Cabaret Voltaire, Durutti Column and John Dowie).

Transmission/Novelty Factory Fae 13 7 inch single with picture sleeve (designed by Peter Saville) Both songs by Joy Division Personnel: as for Unknown Pleasures album Produced by: Martin Hannett at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, July 1979 Released: November 1979. (12 inch version released February 1981 with different picture sleeve).

Atmosphere/Dead Souls Sordide Sentimentale SS 33002. 7 inch single in folder with essay and print. Limited edition of 1578 copies only issued in France. Both songs by: Joy Division UNKNOWN PLEASURES Factory Facl O Personnel: As for Unknown Pleasures album 12 inch album Outside: Disorder/Day of the Lords/Candidate/ Produced by: Martin Hannett at Cargo Studios, Rochdale, October 1979. Insight/New Dawn Fades (Special artistic project of Jean Pierre Turmel Lost Control!Shadowplay/WilderInside: ｓｨ･ｾ＠ and Jean-Francois Jamoul involving elaborate ness/Interzone/Remember Nothing folder including Jamoul painting, 7 inch single All songs composed: by Joy Division Personnel: Ian Curtis (vocals), Bernard Albrecht and text by Turmel placing Joy Division in the context of Romantic art - recording entirely (guitar), Peter Hook (bass), Steve Morris supervised by Joy Division and Martin Hannett (drums), Martin Hannett (synth). but packaging entirely the work of Turmel and Produced by: Martin 'Zero' Hannett Jamoul.) Recorded: at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, Released: March 1980 (Limited edition of only May 1979 1578 copies worldwide) Sold out and deleted Released: July 1979 but Atmosphere later available on US 12 inch Sleeve design: by Peter Saville, based on graph single later issued in UK and Dead Souls of radio waves from an imploding star suggestissued October 1981 as track on Still album). ed by Bernard Albrecht. EARCOM 2 Fast Products 9b 12 inch EP with paraphenalia Bob Last Turntable magazine featuring 20 minutes of music from Thursdays, Bascax and Joy Division. Features two tracks left over from May 1979 Martin Hannett produced Strawberry Studios, Stockport sessions for Unknown Pleasures album: Auto-Suggestion/From Safety to Where? All credits: as for Unknown Pleasures album Released: October 1979

44

45

SECTION 2: MAY 1980 - OCTOBER 1981 (THE POSTHUMOUS JOY DIVISION) Love Will Tear Us Apart/These Days Factory Fae 23. 7 inch single with picture sleeve (designed by Peter Saville). Both Songs by: Joy Division Personnel: As for Unknown Pleasures album Produced by: Martin Bannett at Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London, March 1980 Released: June 1980 (12 inch version in January 1981) Chart: No. 12 (or No. 8 depending which chart you believe - sold 160,000 copies). (Scheduled for release before the death of Ian Curtis). Atmosphere/She's Lost Control Factory US 2 US only. 12 inch single with picture sleeve. Atmosphere: the track originally released in March 1980 as part of the very limited edition Sordide Sentimentale package (France only). Recorded at: Cargo Studios, Rochdale, October 1979. She$ Lost Control - A new version of the song appearing on the Unknown Pleasures album. Recorded at: Central Studios, Manchester July 1979 but extensively re-mixed at Strawberry studios, Stockport prior to release Both songs by: Joy Division Personnel: as for Closer album Produced by: Martin Bannett Released: June 1980 (Scheduled for release before the death of Ian Curtis) Komakino/lncubation Factory Fae 28 Free 7 inch flexi-single (no picture sleeve) Released: June 1980 (25,000 copies initially distributed free to all applicants. Sold out by (Actually includes a third track on the second July but re-pressed with money from Love side after Incubation: And Then Again but this is not credited on the label). Will Tear Us Apart hit so that all who wanted All Songs by: Joy Division it could have a free copy). (Scheduled for Presonnel: as for Closer album release before the death of Ian Curtis). Produced by: Martin Bannett at Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London March 1980

46

CLOSER Factory Fae 25 12 inch album Side 1: Atrocity Exhibition/Isolation/Passover/ Colony/A Means to an End/ Side 2: Heart and Soul/Twenty-Four Hours/The Eternal/Decades All Songs by: Joy Division Personnel: Ian Curtis (vocals), Bernard Albrecht (guitar), Peter Hook (bass), Steve Morris (drums), Martin Bannett (synths).

Produced by: Martin Bannett at Britannia Row studios, Islington, London, March 1980 Sleeve Design by: Peter Saville ('The Dead Christ' painting). Released: July 1980. (Scheduled for release before the death of Ian Curtis). Chart: No. 8

47

Britannia Row Studios, Islington, London, March 1980 - out-takes from Closer album sessions. Dead Souls -Produced by Martin Hannett and recorded at Cargo Studios, Rochdale, October 1979. Originally released (with Atmosphere) as part of the very limited French Sordide Sentimentale project in March 1980. Transmission/Novelty Factory Fae 13112 Sister Ray - Recorded live at the Moonlight 12 inch single with picture sleeve. Club, 3rd April 1980 (Number featured as an 12 inch version of November 1979 7 inch single encore). with re-designed picture sleeve. Sides 3 & 4 Recorded live at Birmingham Released: February 1981 University High Hall, May 2nd, 1980. (This was the last performance of Joy Division) Originally intended as a German-only live Love Will Tear Us Apart/These Days Factory album release. Ceremony is the only song reFae 23112. 12 inch single with picture sleeve. corded by both Joy Division and New Order: 12 inch version of June 1980 7 inch single with Ceremony and In a Lonely Place were to be re-designed picture sleeve. recorded at the time of Ian Curtis' death but Released: February 1981 only this live version was completed by Joy Division Sleeve Design: Peter Saville. This album released STILL Factory Fae 40 Double 12 inch album in two sleeves: a standard cardboard sleeve Side 1: Ice Age/Walking in Line/The Kill/Glass/ and a special very limited cloth sleeve. Exercise One (Copies of the limited cloth edition being Side 2: Sound of Music/The Only Mistake/Somepriced at considerably more than the 'double thing Must Break/Dead Souls/Sister Ray for the price of a single album' price of the Side 3: Ceremony/Shadowplay/Means to an End/ standard album.) Passover/New Dawn Fades Released: October 1981 Side 4: Transmission/Disorder/Isolation/ Chart: No. 15 Decades/Digital All songs by: Joy Division except Sister Ray (by Reed/Cale/Morrison/Tucker - The Velvet Underground). Ice Age -Produced by Martin Hannett and recorded at Cargo Studios, Rochdale, October 1979 (with Atmosphere/Dead Souls) for never-released Leeds Futurama SciFi Festival LP Walked in Line & The Kill. Recorded May 1979- out-takes from Unknown Pleasures Glass -Produced by Martin Hannett at Cargo Studios, Rochdale, November 1978 and originally released in February 1979 as one track on Factory Sampler double EP Exercise One & Sound of Music - Recorded 31/1179 and 26/11/79 respectively at BBC Maida Vale Studios, London. Produced by Tony Wilson (of BBC) for John Peel Show The Only Mistake & Something Must Break Produced by Martin Hannett and recorded at

Atmosphere/She's Lost Control Factory US 2 12 inch single with picture sleeve (designed by Peter Saville). UK release of US-only 12 inch in order to prevent large scale importation of US copies. Released: October 1980

48

SECTION 3: MAY 1980 ONWARDS (NEW ORDER)

Ceremony/In a Lonely Place Factory FAG 33 7 inch single with picture sleeve (designed by Peter Saville). Both songs by: Joy Division. (Lyrics by Ian Curtis) Personnel: Bernard Albrecht (vocals, guitar, synth), Peter Hook (bass, vocals), Steve Morris (drums) Produced by : Martin Hannett Recorded: In New York, October, 1980 Released: January 1981 Chart: No. 34 (UK) Ceremony/In a Lonely Place Factory FAG 33/12 12 inch single with picture sleeve. All credits as for 7 inch version above.

49

10.

VINYL COLLECTORS CHECKLIST (All are legal UK releases unless stated) SINGLES/EPs 7 inch

D Ideal for Living (Enigma Records) With 'Hitler Youth' drummer sleeve and 'This is not a concept EP it is an Enigma'. Sold out September 1978-Deleted

D Factory Sampler (Factory Fae 2) Double EP shared with Cabaret Voltaire, Durutti Column and John Dowie. D

Transmission/Novelty (Factory Fae 13) Picture sleeve single.

D Atmosphere/Dead Souls (Sordide Sentimentale SS33002) French single with folder, essay and print. Limited edition of only 1578 copies sold out and deleted.

Will Tear Us Apart/These Days (Factory Fae 23) D Love Picture sleeve single. Then Again (Factory Fae 28) D Komakino/Jncubation/And Sleeveless flexi-single provided free of charge. a Lonely Place (Factory Fae 33) D Ceremony/Jn First New Order single in picture sleeve.

12 inch

D Ideal for Living (Anonymous Records Anon 1) Re-issue of first (7 inch) EP with re-designed picture sleeve. Sold out - deleted.

D Earcom 2 (Fast Products 9b)

EP package shared with Thursdays and Bascax.

D She's Lost Control/Atmosphere (Factory US2) US single with picture sleeve.

50

12 inch singles continued

D She's Lost Control/Atmosphere (Factory US2) British pressing of US single (with picture sleeve).

D Transmission/Novelty (Factory 13112) Picture sleeve single.

Will Tear Us Apart/These Days (Factory Fae 23112) D Love Picture sleeve single. A Lonely Place (Factory Fae 33/12) D Ceremony/In 12 inch single with picture sleeve (original February 1981 version).

D Ceremony/Jn A Lonely Place (Factory) 12 inch single with picture sleeve (January 1982 remixed version with re-designed picture sleeve).

s Gone Green/Mesh/Cries and Whispers (Factory /Disques de Crepescule) D Everything Belgian release import into Britain with picture sleeve (New Order)

D She s Lost Control - Grace Jones B side of Private Life (Island WIP 6629). Limited 12 inch version only.

ALBUMS 12 inch

D Unknown Pleasures (Factory Fae XX) D Closer (Factory XXV)

D Still (Factory Fae 40) Double album. 10 inch

D Short Circuit: The Last Night at the Electric Circus (Virgin VCL 5003) First 5,000 copies in blue vinyl.

51

11.

ODDS & ENDS Private Life/Warm Leatherette/She's Lost Control- GRACE JONES Island 12-WIP 6629. Released July 1980 (limited edition - sold out) The first cover of a Joy Division song - and appropriately elusive as Shes Lost Control was the 12 inch 'bonus' track and the limited edition quickly sold out as the record became very successful. Low - DAVID BOWIE RCA PL 12030. 1977 album. The source of the name Warsaw was the Low track Warszawa. Love Will Tear Us Apart - PAUL YOUNG on the No Parkez album CBS 25521 1983 WARSAWPAKT Largely forgotten late seventies British Heavy Metal band who forced Warsaw to change their name. Warsaw Pakt consisted of Lucas Fox, Andy Colquhoun, Chris Underhill, John Walker and Jimmy Coull and lost out on fame and fortune largely through making their bid for stardom at the height of Punk/New Wave popularity in Britain. They are best remembered for their elaborately hyped debut album for Island, Needle time (ILPS 9515 ), released in November 1977 rapidly after recording at Trident Studios. The album actually qualified for the Guinness Book of Records as the band recorded directly onto master discs which were used just hours later to press copies for sale and publicity as a 'direct-cut' super Hi Fi album and 'instant' release. THE NEW ORDER: Not to be confused with New Order. The New Order was a band formed in Detroit USA in 1975 by former Stooges guitarist Ron Ashetom (with ex-MC5er Dennis Thompson on drums, Iggy sideman Scott Thurston on keyboards and ex-Ted Nugent Amboy Duke Dave Gilbert on vocals) which allegedly took the WWII connotations of the name a little too seriously. One album, entitled The New Order was released in France (and nowhere else) by Fun Records in May 1978 - in case the sleeve picture fails to make the point - it has absolutely nothing to do with Bernie and the boys (and girl). Devils and Angels - THE PASSAGE Written as a reply to Heart and Soul Repetition - PETE PETROL (of Spizz Oil) on From Brussels With Love cassette. (Les Disques de Crepescule) was produced by Joy Division manager Rob Gretton.

52

12.

JOY DIVISION LEFTOVERS I

STUDIO RECORDINGS

In November/December 1977 Warsaw recorded early material for a proposed album that was never released. Although quality is said to be poor these tapes may be of some interest. At least three finished Joy Division songs remain unreleased: The Drawback/ Exercise One/The Sound of Music. (The last two were replaced by the more satisfactory John Peel Radio 1 session versions on the Still album so would seem unlikely ever to find their way onto a record). II OFFICIAL LIVE RECORDINGS The· entire Joy Division performance (as Warsaw) at the Electric Circus, Manchester in October 1977 was recorded by the Manor Mobile but only At A Later Date was used for the Virgin Short Circuit live album. The band was of the opinion that their choice of song for inclusion was not a good one so it is likely that something of interest exists on these tapes in recordings of good technical quality. Several 1979/1980 Joy Division gigs were professionally recorded for a proposed German live album and such tapes certainly exist of the 3rd April 1980 Moonlight gig from which the encore of Sister Ray was taken for inclusion on the Still album. Many (if not most) Joy Division gigs were recorded in some form and 8mm and 16mm film of several gigs is also in existance - much of this provides the basis of the Factory Joy Division video (Here are the Young Men). III

'THE JOHN PEEL SESSIONS'

Joy Division recorded two sessions for the John Peel BBC Radio 1 show during 1979 at the BBC's Maida Vale (London) 8 track studio with staff producer Tony Wilson: Recorded 31st January, 1979 Exercise One/Insight/Transmission/She's Lost Control Recorded 26th November, 1979: Sound of Music/Twenty-Four Hours/Colony/Love Will Tear Us Apart Both sessions were broadcast at least three times each and despite the limitations o( only eight tracks and limited time are of very great interest as all versions are considerably different to any officially recorded. In fact, Factory were keen to release an album of these sessions but because of complex BBC contractual agreements this was prohibitively costly and only Exercise One and Sound of Music could be included on the Still album. The first New Order recording session after the death of Ian Curtis was with the Factory protege Kevin Hewitt (two tracks - not used). In February 1981 New Order made their broadcast debut with a session for the John Peel programme and the early versions of songs much later to appear on the Movement album (November 1981) are in some ways more interesting. Once again, these are unlikely to be released officially.

53

IV

BOOTLEGS

As with all very popular hands with a limited output of records Joy Division have been bootlegged. Indeed, part of their popularity with bootleggers stems from the fairly tolerant attitude of their management and record com pany. Prime bootleg material are the John Peel sessions as these are unlikely ever to he released officially and tapes and records of all eight songs are to he found by anyone keen enough to track them down and pay the high prices. It is worth pointing out that these tapes are very likely to he broadcast again in the future and anyone paying bootleg prices could probably record thesessions legally for themselves at no cost at some future date. Almost every Joy Division live performance has been recorded in some form and while these may he exciting to obtain the technical quality is likely to he poor, the price high and the material unlikely to add much to the cheaper and technically superior legal versions. Some of the Warsaw unreleased album has been bootlegged most notably in the form of an EP The Ideal Beginning which circulated semilegally early in 1981. (Neither Babylon Books nor anyone associated with this particular book is able to supply bootleg records or provide any specific information regarding the trade in illegal recordings and from the consumers point of view would advise against paying the high prices generally asked for what is almost always a disappointing product.)

54

13.

FILMS AND VIDEOS The Factory Flick: No City Fun Factory FAG 9. 16mm documentary film directed by Charles Salem. Low budget 1979 film promoted as a Factory product. An account of the problems and effects of urban decentralisation in Manchester. The soundtrack consists of music from Joy Division, A Certain Ratio and Ludus. Joy Division contribution entitled: No City Fun Music . Otherwise unavailable. Here Are The Young Men-Joy Division FACT 37 Video release compiled from all available footage of film and video of Joy Division. Includes live footage and private amateur Smm film of historical interest. 60 minutes.

55

14. INDEX OF SONG TITLES A A Means to An End (Studio version on Closer album and live version on Still live record). And Then Again (Uncredited third track on free flexi - on Side 2 after Incubation). At a Later Date (Live track recorded at Manchester Electric Circus, October 1977 featured on Virgin Short Circuit album). Atmosphere (Originally a track on the limited Sordide Sentimentale project but also released as a US 12 inch single and British pressing). Atrocity Exhibition (Studio version on Closer album also featured on live bootlegs). Auto-Suggestion (Studio out-take from Unknown Pleasures album released on Fast Earcom 2 12 inch).

c Candidate (Studio version on Unknown Pleasures album). Ceremony (One of the last Joy Division songs recorded only as part of Still live record but featured as first single by New Order).

E The Eternal (Studio version on Closer). Exercise One (Studio version unreleased but John Peel January 1979 session version included on Still album). F Failures (Early song recorded as Warsaw for Ideal for Living EP). From Safety to Where? (Studio out-take from Unknown Pleasures album released on Fast Earcom 2 12 inch project). G Glass (Early Joy Division studio recording released on Factory Sampler and re-issued as a track on Still).

H Heart and Soul (Studio version on Clbser album - also featured live. Manchester band The Passage have recorded a reply to this song Devils and Angels).

I Ice. Age (Studio version originally recorded for proposed Futurama Festival album but eventually released on Still). D In a Lonely Place (Performed live by Joy Day of the Lords (Studio version on Unknown Division but not recorded. Featured by New Pleasures album also featured live). Order on their first single. Words by Ian Curtis). Dead Souls tOriginally the companion track to Atmosphere on the limited French Sordide Incubation (Studio version featured on Free Sentimentale single but re-issued as a track on Flexi). Still album). Insight (Studio version on Unknown Pleasures Decades (Studio version on Closer album and album, performed live and also featured on live version on Still). January 1979 John Peel Radio 1 sessions). Digital (Studio track originally released on Interzone (Studio version featured on Unknown Factory sampler and rare live version featured Pleasures album). on Still). Isolation (Studio version on Closer album also Disorder (Studio version on Unknown Pleasures featured live on Still). album, live version available on Still). The Drawback (Unreleased studio out-take). Colony (Studio version on Closer album, also featured live and recorded at November 1979 John Peel session).

56

K The Kill (Early Joy Division song eventually released on Still album). Komakino (Studio version featured on Free Flexi). L

Sister Ray (The only non-Joy Division song to be recorded by the band - exists only as a one-off spontaneous encore included on Still from a live tape of a performance at the Moonlight Club in April 1980. Originally recorded by the Velvet Underground, of course).

Leaders of Men (Warsaw/Early Joy Division song Something Must Break (Studio out-take eventually included on Still album). recorded on Ideal for Living EP). Love Will Tear Us Apart (Studio version featur- Sound of Music (Unreleased studio version exists, plus live tapes, only the November ed on 7 inch and 12 inch hit singles, the 1979 John Peel session version released - on November 1979 John Peel sessions and perStill). formed live). N

T

These Days (Studio version on B side of Love New Dawn Fades (Studio version on Unknown Will Tear Us Apart 7 inch and 12 inch singles). Pleasures album, live version featured on Still). No Love Lost (Early song recorded on Ideal for Transmission (Studio version on 7 inch and 12 inch singles, live version on Still, recorded Living EP). January 1979 for BBC John Peel programme Novelty (Studio version used as B side of Transand a live favourite). mission single). Twenty-Four Hours (Studio version on Closer album, also featured live and on November 0 1979 John Peel Radio 1 session). The Only Mistake (Studio out-take eventually released on Still album). w p Passover (Studio version on Closer, live version on Still).

R Remember Nothing (Studio version on Unknown Pleasures album).

Walked in Line (Studio out-take eventually released on Still album). Warsaw (Early Warsaw/Joy Division song recorded on Ideal for Living EP). Wilderness (Studio version recorded on Unknown Pleasures album).

s Shadowplay (Studio version on Unknown Pleasures, live version on Still). She's Lost Control (Studio version on Unknown Pleasures, re-recorded and re-mixed versions on 7 inch and 12 inch singles, a different version on January 1979 John Peel sessions and a live favourite. The only Joy Division song to be 'covered' by another artist - Grace Jones recorded a version on the B side of the limited 12 inch edition of her hit Private Life).

57

15. THE STATISTICS a) On Record

b) The John Peel 'Festive 50'

Joy Division recorded just 48 different songs of which 4 7 were composed by the band themselves. These 48 songs are spread over: 2 12 inch albums 1 12 inch double album 3 7 inch singles plus 1 7 inch EP 3 12 inch singles plus 1 12 inch EP 1 7 inch three track flexi single 1 song on 10 inch various artists compilation album 2 songs on ｶ｡ｲｩｯｭｾ＠ artists double 7 inch EP 2 songs on 12 inch various artists EP

For a band such as Joy Division a far better guide to the relative popularity of recorded songs is undoubtedly the BBC Radio 1 John Peel programme's 'Festive 50' - a semi-serious annual poll in which listeners vote for their all-time favourite tracks. Since Christmas 1980 Joy Division have dominated this poll and as the Peel programme occupies a very special place in the Joy Division story the results of the voting give a meaningful reflection of the Joy Division tracks most appreciated by the band's most ardent supporters.

Of the 17 records containing Joy Division mat1980 (The figures refer to position in the overerial released between May 1978 and October all Top 50) 1981 5 have sold out or been deleted (7 inch 2 Atmosphere and 12 inch of Ideal for Living, Factory Sampler 3 Love Will Tear Us Apart EP, Atmosphere on Sordide Sentimentale and 10 Transmission US 12 inch Atmosphere). 14 Decades 20 New Dawn Fades The most successful of all Joy Division records 22 ｓｨ･ｾ＠ Lost Control was the 7 inch single of Love Will Tear Us Apart 41 Twenty-Four Hours which sold 160,000 (and is still available and selling) reaching No. 12 (No. 8 in Melody Maker (The No. 1 for 1980 was Anarchy in the UK). chart) in the British singles chart. The bestselling album has been Closer which reached No. 1981 1 Atmosphere 8 on the British album chart. (All Joy Division 2 Love Will Tear Us Apart records have been successful in selling out initial 4 Ceremony (New Order) pressings). 5 New Dawn Fades 7 Decades Joy Division tracks have appeared on six differ11 Dead Souls ent record labels - Factory, Virgin, Fast, 14 Transmission Sordide Sentimentale, Enigma and Anonymous. 43 Twenty-Four Hours 44 Isolation

58

c) Music Paper Polls New Musical Express: (Published January 1981) Music paper polls generally succeed in saying a 2nd Best Group lot more about the editorial policy of the maga3rd Male Singer zine than the tastes of the 'average' music fan 3rd Guitarist (Bernard Albrecht) but even the most hard-bitten cynic cannot help 2nd Drums (Steve Morris) but experience a satisfying sense of justice being done when his favourite band gets a vote of 4th Bass (Peter Hook ) popularity: 4th Songwriter (Ian Curtis) 2nd Single (Love Will Tear Us Apart) 4th Single (Atmosphere) 1979 2nd Album (Closer) New Musical Express: 3rd Best Dressed Sleeve (Closer) (Published January 1980) 5th Best New Act 14th Most Wonderful Human Being (Ian Sounds: Curtis) (Published March 1980) No mentions Sounds: (Published February 1981) Melody Maker: 9th Band (Published January 1980) No mentions 3rd Single (Love Will Tear Us Apart) Record Mirror: Melody Maker: (Published October 1980) (Published February 1980) No mentions New York Rocker: 9th Brightest Hope (Joy Division) (Published March 1980) 4th Best IndepenRecord Mirror: (Published February 1981) dant record of 1979 (The Unknown Pleasures No mentions import album). 1981 New Musical Express (Published January 1982) 1980 19th Best Qroup (Joy Division) Zig-Zag: (Published May 1980) 2nd Most Missed Person (Ian Curtis - Lennon 5th Group was 1st) 9th Live Group 2nd Single (Ceremony) 6th Small Group 2nd Album (Still) 5th Male Singer (Ian Curtis) 2nd Best Dressed Sleeve (Still) 9th Songwriter (Joy Division) 6th Guitarist (Bernard Albrecht) 2nd Unrecorded Song (Love Will Tear Us 3rd Bass (Peter Hook ) Apart) 4th Drums (Steve Morris) 5th Tip For The Top

4th Album (Unknown Pleasures) 5th Single (Transmissfon) 6th Label (Factory) (It's worth remembering that this voting took place several weeks before Ian Curtis died)

1982 New Musical Express (Published March 1982) 2nd Best LP (Still) 2nd Best Single (Ceremony)

59

60

61

62

63

64

K Thread-sewn binding for extra durability ISBN: 0 907188 214.