Unknown Pleasures (180 Gram Vinyl Reissue)

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Joy Division

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Joy Division, originally called Warsaw, was formed in 1977 by a group of Mancunian lads (Ian Curtis, Bernard Albrecht [later changed to Sumner], Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris) that were hugely influenced by Bowie, Iggy Pop, and the punk-rock explosion that was engulfing Britain in the late `70s led by the Sex Pistols and the Clash. After teaming up with Tony Wilson's Factory label and with producer Martin Hannett, they released "Unknown Pleasures" in 1979. Little did they know that they were changing music forever.

The end result is an album that combines Albrecht's discordant punk guitar riffs with Curtis' ever-present brooding tension and monotone deep voice, that can be exhilarating at one moment and the voice of doom the next. The album's opener "Disorder" combines all of these, along with Morris' fast drumming and Hook's never-ending bass hooks. "I'm looking for a guy to take me by the hand" Curtis explains, rushed and almost carefree. The next track, "Day of the Lords" proves almost to be the complete opposite, where the drums have slowed down, the guitars are lower, and Curtis sings like the town crier announcing the end of the world.

Some of the songs on "Unknown Pleasure" have a slower pace rather than the frantic quality many other bands at the period had, which made Joy Division be labeled as "post-punk" to the British music press; the guitar, bass and drums could still surprise you with pounding riffs, but could also march along at much slower paces. But even in the slower songs, like "Candidate" or "New Dawn Fades," the instruments, despite being slower and quieter, echoed and give a general eerie and brooding feeling that might be distant but is still ever-present. To add this all together with Curtis' nihilistic vocals and British working-class pessimism, the songs can become four minute-long journeys through closed factories, failed economics, bleak connected-house neighborhoods and dismantled relationships that were plaguing late '70s Britain--a time when many punk groups were crying out in bold capitals No Future. We hear occasionally distant samples of breaking glass, shut doors and footsteps leading to nowhere. Some of the true gems of this album, as well as in Joy Division's entire career, like "She's Lost Control" or "Shadowplay" combine these themes and are truly memorable. Even though the group later claimed that producer Hannett ruined their sound on "Unknown Pleasures," to listeners the music and moods are perfect; dark, but never dark enough to make you turn away.

Sadly, singer Ian Curtis killed himself in mid-1980 before completing the group's second and last album "Closer." The survivors later joined together and created New Order, who virtually created modern dance and rave music in the '80s and '90s. Meanwhile, Joy Division itself became credited with influencing the Gothic scene in music. Although influential on many goth and later indie rock, Brit-pop and alternative groups, the group never intended to be "goth." Joy Division was coming from an England where the Sex Pistols had broken up, where Thatcherism and the Tories was bringing new meaning to carelessness, where the Falklands War was just on the horizon, unemployment and worker unrest was acute, and skinheads were frighteningly becoming more popular. Certainly, there's no bats, vampires or haunted castles here. Instead, these are songs that come from the industrial grime and nihilism of Manchester circa 1979, with a tortured working-class bloke trying to make sense out of his life. One listen to "She's Lost Control" confirms all of this.