bernard sumner Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart”

sfilzen — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 19:58:23 +0000

Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart” 1980/2020. Factory Records. Today, January 4th, is Joy Division co-founder, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner’s birthday (b. 1956). This 12″ single is a remastered reissue for “Love Will Tear Us Apart”‘s 40th anniversary. The non-album single was released a month after Ian Curtis’ suicide; it hit #13 in the UK (#1 on the indie chart) and was named the best single of all-time by NME (in 2021 Rolling Stone placed “Love Will Tell Us Apart” at #41 in their greatest songs of all-time list). Side A has the single version, recorded in March 1980. Side B has the “Pennine version” of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (recorded in January ’80) in which the keyboards are distinctively brighter and more prominent, along with the excellent “These Days.”

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Joy Division “Closer”

sfilzen — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 17:06:48 +0000

Joy Division “Closer” released 40 years ago today, July 18th, 1980. Original US pressing, Factory Records. Joy Division’s second and final LP (released a couple of months after Ian Curtis’ death) is considered one of the best post-punk records of all-time and makes many best of any kind of all-time lists as well. It went to #6 in the UK. It’s a difficult album, but in the best of possible ways: dark, weirdly dense and sparse at the same time, melodic in minor. Curtis doesn’t really seem to sing, but rather delivers with a voice that is almost but not quite out of key as he meanders along the musical staff, hovering somewhere between speaking and singing.

I’ve found myself listening to “Isolation” a lot these past few months as we continue to live in partial quarantine. That’s one of my top tracks but I also really like “Atrocity Exhibition” (Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook swapped guitar and bass for that track), and the gothically industrial “Colony” and “Twenty Four Hours.”

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New Order “Blue Monday”

sfilzen — Thu, 28 May 2020 21:02:40 +0000

New Order “Blue Monday” 1983. Original UK 12″ single, Factory Records. Considered by many as the ultimate synthpop dance single, it hit the top of the dance charts it both ‘83, again in ‘88 with a new version (“Blue Monday 88″) remixed by Quincy Jones and then another in ‘95 (remixed by Hardfloor), making it one of the best-selling singles of all-time. On the official single charts, it initially went to #12 in the UK in ‘83 and then again to #9 later that same year; the ‘88 version went to #3 in the UK and to #68 in the US; in ‘95 it went to #17 in the UK. Oh, and another reissue in 2006 took it back on the UK charts to #73. It’s the single that never truly goes away. For good reason – it’s catchy, hypnotic, layered and interesting and has the perfect beat for dancing. The 12″ single’s b-side is an instrumental re-working of “Blue Monday” – “The Beach.” The sleeve of the 12″ has become iconic despite the fact that the neither the band’s name nor the name of the song appears anywhere, including the spine. Its die-cut sleeve designed to mimic a floppy disc was so expensive to make that Factory Records lost money on each record sold, only one of many many many financial woes of the label, some of which I just learned about.

Last night I finally finished reading Peter Hook’s book Substance: Inside New Order that I picked up at Rough Trade Records in London last summer. It’s massive, with a dizzying amount of personal and band stories, snark (mainly aimed at Bernard Sumner) and technical details about synths, recording equipment, every single concert New Order performed and each release. I’m nowhere even close to a New Order geek but I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to any New Order fan as a one-stop shop for all the techy details about the band.

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Joy Division “Unknown Pleasures”

sfilzen — Sat, 15 Jun 2019 18:52:56 +0000

Joy Division “Unknown Pleasures” released 40 years ago today, June 15th, 1979; limited edition 40th anniversary LP on ruby red vinyl. Factory Records. Joy Division’s groundbreaking debut album is considered one of the first post-punk recordings (this, just three years after the first wave of British punk when Joy Division formed after seeing the Sex Pistols perform) as well as one of the best/most influential albums of all-time. While Unknown Pleasures did not chart upon its release, it did enter the UK album chart in 1980 after Ian Curtis’ death, peaking at #70; Joy Division did not officially release any singles from the album though a new version of “She’s Lost Control” was released in 1980 as the B-side to “Atmosphere” in the UK; the A and B sides were reversed for the US release.

Unknown Pleasures is an uncomfortable record – it is at times dense and claustrophobic while also managing to be musically and lyrically sparse and opaque. One critic described it as “a bleak nightmare soundtrack” and that’s pretty accurate. My favorite tracks are “Disorder,” “Insight,” the amazing “New Dawn Fades” (ooof – the guitar on this one!) and “Shadowplay.”

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