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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 “Love Will Tear Us Apart”

sfilzen — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 18:48:53 +0000

Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart” 1980. Factory Records. Today, July 15th, would have been Ian Curtis’ 65th birthday (b. 1956, d. 1980). This single is darkly post punk in an enigmatic format: Side A’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is at 45 rpm. Side B is the even darker “These Days” but also has an unlisted second rendition of “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” both at 33-1/3 rpm which is startling if you forgot to switch the speed (which, of course, I did). Tucked inside the sleeve is a bonus flexi-disc 7″ soundsheet of “Komakino” (catalog FAC 28) and the excellent, highly danceable instrumental “Incubation” (catalog FAC Reject). Plus, just like the “Love Will Tear Us Apart” single, the flexi has an unlisted track, the vaguely industrial instrumental “As You Said.” The note on the record states that “This soundsheet should not have cost you anything, wherever or however it was obtained.” According to Discogs, the flexi-discs were record store giveaways and the tracks are from the Britannia Row Studios session for Closer, March 18-30,1980 that didn’t end up on the album.

“Love Will Tear Us Apart” was Joy Division’s first hit, reaching #13 in the UK and #42 on the US dance chart. The title also appears on Ian Curtis’ grave marker; he committed suicide one month after the single’s release.

***reblogging myself from 2017

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Joy Division “Substance”

sfilzen — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 20:26:23 +0000

Joy Division “Substance” 1988 (2015 reissue). Factory Records. Today, February 13th, is Joy Division/New Order bassist Peter Hook’s 65th birthday (b. Peter Woodhead, 1956). Substance is a comp of Joy Division’s singles, b-sides and EP tracks from ‘77-’80; the double LP 2015 reissue includes a couple of extra tracks not on the original, including “Love Will Tear Us Apart (Pennine version)” and “These Days” both of which were the B-side to the original “Love Will Tear Us Apart” single (considered one of the best singles ever released in the UK, it hit #13 in the UK and went to #42 on the US dance chart). Besides that amazing song, other iconic Joy Division songs appear like “Warsaw” (so much more snotty punk than their subsequent songs) which is also on the EP An Ideal for Living, “Digital” from the EP A Factory Sample ( “Digital” was the last song ever performed by Joy Division in 1980 before Ian Curtis’ suicide), “Transmission” (their first released single in ‘79), a different version of “She’s Lost Control” than appears on Unknown Pleasures – this one much more goth/industrial, “Atmosphere” which was released as a single after Curtis’ death in ‘80 (#34 UK), “Komakino” (a rare single from ‘80 given away by some record stores in flexi disc format), and the brilliant original “Dead Souls” (covered by Nine Inch Nails in ‘94 for The Crow soundtrack).

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Joy Division “The Peel Sessions”

sfilzen — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 00:09:06 +0000

Joy Division “The Peel Sessions” 1979/1986 release on Strange Fruit Records. Joy Division’s 4-song EP recorded and broadcast for BBC’s Radio One with John Peel went to #4 in the UK. At the time of the show in February ‘79, none of the songs had been released. It includes “Transmission,” Joy Division’s groundbreaking debut single on Factory Records which they released in October ‘79, “She’s Lost Control,” which is on Joy Davison’s debut Unknown Pleasures (June ‘79) and also was released as a 12″ single in 1980, “Insight” (also on Unknown Pleasures) and “Exercise One” which they recorded during the Unknown Pleasures sessions but did not appear on any physical releases until the 1981 Still compilation (Factory Records). The EP is fantastic: dark, lush, innovative and their live in-studio recording is pretty much flawless.

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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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Joy Division “Ideal for Living”

sfilzen — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 19:16:04 +0000

Joy Division “Ideal for Living” recorded in 1977, originally released as a 7″ on Enigma (Joy Division’s label) in 1978. A 4-track EP of super-early Joy Division just after they changed their name from Warsaw. It’s raw, really lo-fi, snotty punk, especially the tracks “Warsaw” and “Failures” which are messy with sometimes indistinguishable lyrics which simultaneously predate the American hardcore sound, give nods to the protopunk sound of bands like MC5 and The Stooges and mirror the late 70′s British power pop of groups like the Buzzcocks. “Leaders of Men” leans into post-punk, with art punk glam sensibility: dissonance and whispers of Bowie. “No Love Lost” is my favorite track on the EP with its grooving, droning bass line, competent guitar licks and a hypnotic beat that hints at the band’s future at The Factory and the eventual evolution to New Order after Ian Curtis’ death in 1980.

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Joy Divison “Love Will Tear Us Apart”

sfilzen — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 21:00:28 +0000

Joy Divison “Love Will Tear Us Apart” 1980. Factory Records. Darkly post punk in an enigmatic format: Side A’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is at 45 rpm. Side B is the even darker “These Days” but also has an unlisted second rendition of “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” both at 33-1/3 rpm which is startling if you forgot to switch the speed (which, of course, I did). Tucked inside the sleeve is a bonus flexi-disc 7″ soundsheet of “Komakino” (catalog FAC 28) and the excellent, highly danceable instrumental “Incubation” (catalog FAC Reject). Plus, just like the “Love Will Tear Us Apart” single, the flexi has an unlisted track, the vaguely industrial instrumental “As You Said.” The note on the record states that “This soundsheet should not have cost you anything, wherever or however it was obtained.” According to Discogs, the flexi-discs were record store giveaways and the tracks are from the Britannia Row Studios session for Closer, March 18-30,1980 that didn’t end up on the album.

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New Order “Blue Monday”

sfilzen — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 22:44:41 +0000

New Order “Blue Monday” 1983. Factory Records/Qwest. Best-selling 12″ single of all time, b/w “The Beach,” which is an instrumental remix of “Blue Monday.” Our copy does not have the original floppy disk styled sleeve (that artwork was die-cut with silver and Factory Records lost money on its production) so I did a quick screen shot of what the cover should look like. “Blue Monday” hit the charts several times in the UK: first at #12 in early ‘83, then again later in ‘83 at #9. In 1988 Quincy Jones and John Potoker remixed it as “Blue Monday 88″ and this time it reached #3 and hit #1 on the US dance charts (and #68 on the singles chart). In ‘95 the song was remixed again and it went to #17 in the UK, and yet another reissue in 2006 sent it to #73. It’s really not surprising that “Blue Monday” has had such enduring success. The beat is hypnotic and addictive and the track is long enough, without being too repetitive, to get a really good groove on the dance floor. The vocals and lyrics are chilly and aloof, an invitation for even the most reticent dancer to get out there and and do the industrial fist-pump, stomp dance, which is what we did at alternative dance clubs in the late 80′s when goth, industrial and heavy synth pop were the musical staples.

How does it feel to treat me like you do?
When you’ve laid your hands upon me and told me who you are
I thought I was mistaken, I thought I heard your words
Tell me how do I feel
Tell me now, how do I feel
Those who came before me lived through their vocations
From the past until completion, they’ll turn away no more
And still I find it so hard to say what I need to say
But I’m quite sure that you’ll tell me just how I should feel today
I see a ship in the harbor
I can and shall obey
But if it wasn’t for your misfortune, I’d be a heavenly person today
And I thought I was mistaken, and I thought I heard you speak
Tell me, how do I feel
Tell me now, how should I feel
Now I stand here waiting
I thought I told you to leave me when I walked down to the beach
Tell me how does it feel, when your heart grows cold, grows cold, cold

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