Heart and Soul

by

Joy Division

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What can you say about Joy Division? They aren't for everyone, that's for sure. A lot of folks cannot get past Ian Curtis' voice, and I understand that; sometimes even I throw up my hands and ask, "Why in the world didn't Martin Hannett tell Ian to do another take? Surely they could have gotten him to sing just a wee bit more in tune."

But on the other hand, sometimes the weird, flat voice is actually good for the track - sometimes, the ghostly, haunted lyrics benefit from Curtis' ghostly, haunted, slightly atonal vocal style. So overall, most of the studio recordings work very well. Live, however, there are a lot of moments that are almost excruciating to the ears. On top of that, the fact that the three musicians in the band were all amatuers themselves made for exciting but inconsistent performances.

WHY THIS BOX SET IS GOOD: Remastered versions of the two proper studio albums "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer." Both these albums remain stunning landmarks of "post-punk" music. The musical style of this band was quite distinctive - bass often carried the melody and the guitar functioned more as the true rhythm instrument. Drum parts tended toward machine-like grooves, but played by a human being. All in all, a unique approach that could only have been developed by guys who truly didn't know better; unaffected by any sort of technical proficiency, Joy Division had to forge their songs with the most rudimentary tools. Miraculously, they managed to create an influential and sophisticated sound with few obvious antecedents.

In addition to the two albums, this also includes almost all their singles and outtakes. Plus, you get some stuff that was never officially released, including three tracks from their unreleased 1978 "Warsaw" album.

WHY IT'S NOT SO GOOD: For the most part, the alternate versions on Disc 3 are not that impressive. On some of them, the vocals are downright horrible. And as far as Disc 4 goes, this is the worst sounding offically released live material I've heard by this band. Even the Preston Warehouse CD sounds better! Even worse, the first 14 tracks suffer from a very common audio flaw in bootlegs: the original tape recorder must have been running at slow speed, and when they remastered it for this CD, the playback deck must have been playing at normal speed. The result: everything is speeded up and the pitch is more than a half-step sharp. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE OVERSEEING THIS PROJECT NOTICE THAT THE RECORDING WAS CLEARLY NOT AT PROPER SPEED???

Now I am going to have to tape this CD, and then play it back again using my variable speed tape deck. How ridiculous!

The only material on the live CD that was recorded at proper speed is the last 5 songs. Overall, this live CD is a big disappointment.

Also, the packaging of this box set is pretty shoddy. The cover is made of what feels like cheap manila paper. I'd had my copy for one day and I already noticed wear and tear on the binding.

WHAT THIS BOX SET IS MISSING:

1) 7 out of ten songs from the "Complete BBC Sessions" CD.

2) 8 of the 11 songs recorded for RCA in 1978 for the unreleased "Warsaw" album. (now available on a CD which includes the group's earliest recordings from 1977)

3) The original "Warsaw" demo - 5 songs recorded in July 1977; incredibly primitive, amatuerish punk. The songs aren't especially good, but it is startling to hear this stuff and realize this is how J.D. started.

4) The live material from "Still" - the full set from J.D.'s last show ever.

5) An excellent live version of a very early song called "At A Later Date" originally released on a Factory Records compilation called "Short Circuit - Live at the Electric Circus."

6) An alternate version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" that was originally released on the b-side of the "Love Will Tear Us Apart" 12" single.

Given the omissions and the crappy-sounding live stuff, I can't give this 5 stars, as much as I adore this band.

I became interested in Joy Division again last year when I stayed in a friend's apt. who happened to have the "The Complete BBC Recordings" CD. My curiosity was piqued, also given the fact that Joy Division had appeared back on the radar with the release of the 2007 film "Control" (directed Anton Corbijn), a biography about the late Ian Curtis. And "The Complete BBC Recordings" was inspiring enough for me to purchase "Heart and Soul". At first I was disappointed by this box set -- the band's earlier material seemed weak, and as the set progressed, there seemed to be too many re-versionings of the band's more popular numbers -- for example, "She's Lost Control". And so I put "Heart and Soul" aside for a while -- thinking that the band hadn't even lasted long enough to have created enough material to sustain a box set. However I recently started listening to "Heart and Soul" again, and my opinion has changed. The earlier material has grown on me, and the various variations of certain cuts/"hits" are stronger that I first suspected (in fact, I am listening to CD 1 of "Heart and Soul" as I write this, and I'm liking it more and more). I've also ended up appreciating Joy Division's earlier material for its rawer, less-polished quality. In closing, even though I'm only giving this collection 3 stars due to the musical/compositional inconsistency of the box set as a whole, I still recommend "Heart and Soul" as a must for the die-hard fan and also for those unfamiliar with Joy Division.

Stephen C. Bird, author of "Hideous Exuberance: A Satire"