hello again.

Tap tap - is this thing on?

Yes.  Sort of.

I apologize to my (few) readers for neglecting this space for over a year - that said, I have been moonlighting as a legit mastering engineer on a half-dozen or so records since the last post.  So I’ve been around.  I do owe the nice TAR gents a post or two of some TAR-iffic material that didn’t work in the context of the double-LP comp, so watch this space for that.

The other day I was cleaning off the cobwebs from an old hard drive when I came across the purported multitracks of Joy Division’s "Love Will Tear Us Apart" - 8 individual tracks of what presumably are Rock Band or some similar game “stems”, which themselves are slightly mixed down from the original 16 or 24 track masters.  I said “why the hell not” and threw them up on a mixer.

1. Peter Hook recorded at least two runs of “that bassline”.  Clangers, duff notes, missed strings and all.  Yet it’s perhaps one of his best-known, and certainly among the most melodic, basslines out of a career built on excellent ones.
2. Steve Morris is a drumming phenom.  No news there.  There are some drum patterns on the multis not used in the final mix.
3. Bernard Sumner recorded several distinct guitar parts - electric, and acoustic - some of which were unused in the classic 1980 mix.  Don Gehman’s 1995 “radio mix” featured some of these acoustic guitars in the mix, but not all.
4. Ian’s vocals are effects-laden.  Hard to tell if they’re “vari-speeded” though.
5. The original intent was to have a nearly 4-minute song, not the 3:28 final version.
6. As long as I have all these multis loaded up in the mixer… Love Will Tear Us Apart 2015! (dropbox) (soundcloud)

I quite like this 2015 mix.  There’s a strong sense of warmth and depth, and dare I say it but jaunty, feel to the song now.  The chunky electric guitar part that’s completely absent from the classic 1980 mix is quite nice.  The acoustic guitar, which barely surfaces in the 1980 mix towards the end but here plays throughout the track, nicely carries the melody through the entire song.

Take 14 - yes, the 14th mixdown - is soundclouded here.  I spent all weekend with the "original" remix, and found quite a few things I wanted to do better.  So I did - drums up, better EQ, better balance overall.  No sounding like 128kpbs on $10 earbuds for this one  (well, except for Soundcloud processing)!  Hah.  If you only listen to one of these, go with this one.

Please excuse me while I go back to ground...

Joy Division 8 Feb 1980 Univ of London Union 2012 master

NOTICE:  Please read this first!!!

In August 2006 I was approached to assist with the sourcing, cleanup and mastering of various Joy Division gigs for inclusion in the then-upcoming double-CD deluxe edition reissues.  The in-between story, between first being drafted into the project and then September 2007's Warner Brothers/Rhino release of the Unknown Pleasures, Closer and Still Collector's Editions, is boring and not really worth rehashing.

What is relevant is that six years is a long time ago, with regards to my skill set and general knowledge of audio theory and mastering.  I listen to the stuff I turned in to the band and Rhino in late 2006 and essentially cringe.  Not because it's bad, because it's not, but with where I've advanced to today my 2006 work sounds amateur to these ears.  And while it's out there for the world to enjoy (and the two sets I did, for Closer and Still, all got great reviews), I can no longer listen without wishing for a mulligan.

Well, with my blog avenue, I can finally take that mulligan.


I went back to the original raw transfers from Duncan Haysom's 1980 master cassette tapes, the very tapes on which he recorded the Joy Division gigs that we released.  I started from scratch - essentially, if Warners came knocking today and asked me to master these gigs, I did what I'd do for them with the skills, techniques, secret sauces and magic I've either advanced or flat-out learned anew since 2006.

They are spectacular.  Not to toot my own horn, but these now simply crush what was used on the 2007 releases.  Even the most hearing-challenged of listeners can tell the difference, and not just by minutiae.  Cymbals ring, drums go THWACK and not "thwop", guitars slice through the murk.

If there were any justice in this world, Rhino would pull the 2007 sets off the market and reissue with these masterings.  One can dream...

So we start, chronologically by performance date, with the set used in association with the Closer Collector's Edition.  Recorded by Duncan, this set from the University of London Union is a stormer.  You get the still in-development Closer tracks (which had yet to be recorded by Martin Hannett) mixed in with stridently-performed Unknown Pleasures and other pre-Closer choices.  You get "Dead Souls" brilliantly leading off the set, and you get "Digital" taking us out.  And thanks to Duncan, it's magically captured on C45 tape for us to enjoy 32+ years on.

JOY DIVISION
8 February 1980
University of London Union
Mastered in November 2012 by Analog Loyalist, from Duncan Haysom's master recording

01 Dead Souls
02 Glass
03 A Means To An End
04 Twenty Four Hours
05 Passover
06 Insight
07 Colony
08 These Days
09 Love Will Tear Us Apart
10 Isolation
11 - encore break -
12 The Eternal
13 Digital

FLACs here.

Please to enjoy!

how I wish we were here with you now: In A Lonely Place

It truly pained me to see the marked devaluation of these songs, the last known recordings of Joy Division.

A YouTube poster, whom we shall not call out and "honor" by name except as Mr. YouTube, has made a travesty of this material - not by posting the music, but by the presentation and his utter callous disregard for the sensitivity and nature of these recordings - by his series of YouTube posts featuring (most) of these recordings.

I have no idea how this individual obtained these tracks, masterings that (probably outing myself here much more than is my wont) I did, ultimately at the band's behest in preparation for the recent Record Store Day 2011 12" release.  I won't divulge my sources for this material, because that's ultimately of no matter here.  What is important is that the respect is given to these songs that they deserve.

I truly dislike the way these recordings surfaced publicly, obviously outside the official 12" release which I fully supported.  There was no discussion, no humility, no essential background given within the YouTube postings - because Mr. YouTube had access to none of that (and I doubt he can define humility if it were demanded of him - one only need to see his comments on his YouTube page, and elsewhere, for evidence).  Whether it be detailed liner notes inside a CD/box set package, a detailed press release, a detailed blog post with insider information, or, the "the statement is the music" ideal as realized by Saville's considered minimalism of the official 12", this material - by its nature - deserves careful, respectful treatment which completely escaped the YouTube postings.  Not that I believe Mr. YouTube would have done so anyway, even given half the chance.

I am ultimately in favor of all this material being "out there" as it does no one any good to hoard, when they've escaped band/label clutches in the first place.  I am no gatekeeper to the doors of the Joy Division vault, but I do try to respect wishes for privacy and restraint when asked, and can say with certainty I've lived up to that.  The unreleased material I've posted here in the past didn't arrive with the same strings as the rehearsal material, which is one of the many reasons you haven't seen these tracks here before.  Events forced me to bring some respect and honor to the material with this post, and the companion post over on our sister blog Recycle, sooner than planned.

I had originally envisioned this post being a compendium of the rehearsal tracks in question: two early lyric takes on "In A Lonely Place", three mostly-finished versions with the "final" lyric, and then the "Ceremony" rehearsal - all mastered for release.  What surfaced on the official 12" was the next-but-last take of "IALP" and the previously-known "Ceremony" rehearsal, with the 12" leaving on the cutting room floor the other known takes of "IALP".  We used the Recycle post to surface the full version of "IALP" as excerpted on the Heart and Soul box set, as a "bonus" to the tracks used on the 12".

I'm making the executive decision, mine and mine alone, to withhold the "full" set of rehearsal takes for the time being.  Will the rest see the rational (i.e. not trainwreck-style) light of day?  I believe so, but now is not the time or place.  We are lucky we have - and lucky the band saw fit to release - what we do now: full lyric versions of Ian Curtis foreshadowing his suicide, literally days before doing so.  These were never believed to exist, within general circles.  Respect for the family, the band, etc. kept these out of public light and I completely understand the reason why.  Why now?  I don't know.  I'm grateful they exist, grateful we - as fans - have the opportunity to catch this last, tragic, piece of Joy Division history.

I will not honor requests for copies of anything not posted here, so save your keystrokes and don't ask.  I will not publish comments asking for the rest of the set.  Do I have other unreleased material?  Don't ask, because you won't get an answer, especially one that satisfies your question.  Wearing my other hat as a fan, believe me, I understand the want is there.  But it is not my place to satisfy that, at this time.  Respect that, respect the music, and treat it with the honor and consideration it deserves.  Because it is beautiful and tragic.

JOY DIVISION
April/May 1980 Rehearsals
mastered by the Analog Loyalist 2011
Stereo

For mastering notes and other errata, please see the Recycle post.  Those are lossy M4A tracks, while these are lossless FLAC.

01 In A Lonely Place (final lyric, take 2 - Record Store Day 12" take)
02 In A Lonely Place (final lyric, take 3 - Heart and Soul full take)
03 Ceremony (rehearsal take)
04 In A Lonely Place (edit mix of takes 2 and 3) *
05 In A Lonely Place (brief instrumental snippets)

* Track 04 was assembled from bits of 01 (take 2) and 02 (take 3) and presented to the band as an alternate "best of both takes" version for consideration for the 12", and rejected.  Takes 2 and 3, on their own, each have their own flaws which we tried to minimize by a bit of comping between versions.  The band - understandably - chose to go with an unedited version, warts and all, not to say the warts detract!

FLAC set here.  Please do not repost elsewhere; if I find these elsewhere I will remove this post and post nothing further of this material.

beat the (for profit) bootleggers!

What surprises me is it's taken so long for something like this to happen. Bastards.

Remember - you heard these tracks, these actual versions, here first!

Spread the word far and wide, all but the Moonlight tracks are available, FREE - and lossless, right here on this blog.

On to our regularly-scheduled programming....

as promised: Joy Division 'Recycle' Sampler - lossless

I don't think this needs any introduction.

JOY DIVISION
A Recycle Sampler
Selections from the Recycle project
including one track completely unused in the "official" set!

Presented in lossless FLAC

01 At A Later Date (from the 'An Ideal For Living' set)
02 No Love Lost (from the 'An Ideal For Living' set)
03 Digital (Hannett version) (from the FAC 2 set)
04 Transmission (Strawberry version) (from the FAC 13 set)
05 Atmosphere (from the 'Licht und Blindheit' set)
06 Dead Souls (pitch corrected) (from the 'Licht und Blindheit' set)
07 Ice Age (pitch corrected) (from the 'Licht und Blindheit' set)
08 Love Will Tear Us Apart (single A-side) (from the FAC 23 set)
09 These Days (pitch corrected) (unissued)
10 The Sound Of Music (from the FAC 23 set)
11 Komakino (from the FAC 28 set)
12 Colony (pitch corrected) (unissued)
13 She's Lost Control 12 inch version (pitch corrected) (unissued)
14 Twenty Four Hours (live from the High Hall, Birmingham 2 May 1980) (from the FACUS 2 set)
15 These Days (live from the Lyceum, London 29 February 1980) (from the FACUS2 set)
16 She's Lost Control full mix (pitch corrected) (unissued)
17 Atmosphere (live from the Paradiso, Amsterdam 11 January 1980) (from the FAC 213 set)

Find it here!

enjoy....

summer break / Joy Division RECYCLE musings

Well only a brief one...

Our next post, unless the mood strikes differently, will be this blog's alternative masterings of the RECYCLE blog's Joy Division packages. There are enough curios either left out of RECYCLE, or tracks released there to warrant additional consideration, that it would warrant its own post over here (and as lossless FLAC).

I'm just waiting for our friend £50 Note to wrap up his end of the deal with Atmosphere 1988, which I promise will be a spectacular treat to wind up the series ;)

So, with the caveat that no, I will *not* be posting every part of the Joy Division RECYCLE series as lossless FLAC, which individual tracks, from the Joy Division series, would you like to see over here?

RECYCLE: Joy Division 01 An Ideal For Living

The Power of Independent Trucking is proud to link up with the folks at the Recycle blog (well, £50 Note at least) to present the Joy Division chapter of RECYCLE - £50 Note's yeoman effort at doing the box set that should have happened all along.

The mind behind the PoIT curtain - your own Analog Loyalist - is overseeing and handling the mastering work of the raw audio tracks. £50 Note is managing the general presentation and the artwork. Occasionally I will host over here differences, or oddities, I've come across while restoring the audio.



Today we feature the premier release of the nascent Joy Division, the EP recorded in December 1977 that became the highly-sought-after An Ideal For Living 7"/12". While the tracks themselves ultimately saw wide release on 1988's Substance, and then 1997's box set Heart and Soul, the quality of both issues was just so-so. Furthermore, the box set versions sounded *worse* than the 1988 release! Why, I have no idea. It's almost as if the box set used a cassette dub of the tracks as its source, while 1988's Substance went back to the masters.

Anyhow, oddly enough, the original vinyl pressings themselves, and all subsequent digital reissues (which I have confirmed by comparing to raw transfers from the actual original 7" and 12" releases) were mastered a bit fast, perhaps to be more punk? I don't know, and all I do know is that the recordings were not in concert pitch. It could simply have been a mastering error, or perhaps the band themselves didn't own any tuning equipment.

So of course I corrected it, for this post at least. £50 Note is posting the pitch-accurate-to-original-release version, as he should. If you want the pitch-accurate-to-a-tuning-fork, however, you're at the right place.

Lossless FLAC, remastered from the original Japanese CD pressing of Substance - the best digital source I've been able to locate. Grab them here!

JOY DIVISION
RECYCLE 01: An Ideal For Living
7" debut release, Enigma PSS139 (June 1978)
12" reissue, Anonymous ANON1 (October 1978)

01 Warsaw
02 No Love Lost
03 Leaders Of Men
04 Failures
05 At A Later Date (bonus, from the Virgin CD issue of Short Circuit)

See the post over at the Recycle blog for more details, and my original mastering notes.

Enjoy!

paradiso: Joy Division 11 Jan. 1980 *best ever version*

It was 30 years ago today that Joy Division performed one of their most famous gigs.

Famous in that it's probably spawned the most bootlegs of any Joy Division gig, that is.

At least this post isn't contributing to the glut. Or perhaps it is.



Featured today is the band's 11 January 1980 Paradiso, Amsterdam gig, in best-ever quality (though it has to be said that the high end on the meat of the gig could use some touchups, but that's a post/project for another day). Assembled with care from a multitude of sources (bootleg, private CD-R from an uncirculated low-if-not-master copy of the soundboard recording, FM broadcast, etc), this version pretty much is the last word on this gig. All tracks pitch-accurate to boot! (Common bootleg versions were often at the incorrect speed.)

Supposedly this gig was actually two sets because the support band didn't play, but some have their doubts because the majority of gigs on this winter 1980 European tour are about this long. Why, nobody knows...

So enjoy!

Lossless FLAC as is our custom on the PoIT...


JOY DIVISION
11 January 1980
The Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands

01 Passover
02 Wilderness
03 Digital
04 Day Of The Lords
05 Insight
06 New Dawn Fades
07 Disorder
08 Transmission
09 Love Will Tear Us Apart
10 These Days
11 A Means To An End
12 24 Hours
13 Shadowplay
14 She's Lost Control
15 Atrocity Exhibition
16 Atmosphere
17 Interzone
18 Atmosphere (again) ("Black Rain" FM broadcast)

Get it here!

radio live transmission: Joy Division Paris 1979 UPGRADE

I do have quite a few queued items in the "to be blogged" category, but while this one wasn't techically atop the list, we are close enough to its 30th anniversary that I wanted to feature it this week.



One of the better sounding Joy Division live CDs out there is Les Bains Douches, a disc documenting 9 tracks from their 18 December 1979 gig in Paris (with the remaining tracks on that particular CD coming from other gigs).

I had a slight problem with this CD though.

1) The compilers did FAR too much noise reduction on the track intros.

2) Better (DAT) sources existed than what was given the compilers, though you can't fault the compilers for that since I believe the DAT source didn't surface until after this was done.

3) It wasn't a complete document of the gig.

Reasons for all three?

1) I think the original source for the compilers was off cassette;

2) The DAT, the person helping the compilers, and the compilers themselves couldn't get together in time;

3) France Inter radio - in particular DJ Bernard Lenoir - did not broadcast, at least that we are aware of, the entire gig. This gig has been broadcast several times on Paris radio, though each time a different selection of tracks featured. The 1994 broadcast is the source for *most* of the below, it was recorded on 32kHz DAT by a gentleman direct off the air.

Bernard Lenoir has said in the past that the original reels, as recorded for France Inter at the gig, are unusable and safety copies had to be used to source the latter-day broadcasts.

So allow me to present a hodgepodge - though in total, the best document of the gig ever assembled outside of France Inter offices - of this legendary gig.

Lossless FLAC of course!

Source key to follow.


JOY DIVISION
18 December 1979
Les Bains Douches, Paris, France



01 Passover
02 Wilderness
03 Disorder
04 Love Will Tear Us Apart
05 Insight
06 Shadowplay
07 Transmission
08 Day Of The Lords
09 Twenty Four Hours
10 Colony
11 These Days
12 A Means To An End
13 She's Lost Control
14 Atrocity Exhibition
15 Interzone
16 Warsaw

01 from a 2001 broadcast, DAT source
02/10/13/15 from an audience recording
03-09, 11-12 from the 1994 broadcast, from DAT source
14/16 from a unknown-year 1980s broadcast

Grab the 4 RAR's here!

insight: Joy Division 1979 "unreleased" sessions

Joy Division, over their short duration, had several studio sessions which never really saw the light of day until 1997's box set Heart and Soul, and even then, not entirely.



Your humble blogger's previous Joy Division entry contained several tracks from these sessions, but I decided to do a roundup-style post featuring the majority of these - some are already available on the box set, but others aren't, and at that some of these have never been heard before in this quality you're about to find here.

So allow me to present Joy Division: 1979 Miscellaneous Studio, pulling from three separate recording sessions, presented in lossless FLAC for your pleasure.


JOY DIVISION 1979 Miscellaneous Studio
(mostly unreleased, mostly remastered)


1) 4 March 1979 Eden Studios, London with Martin Rushent (the "Genetic" demo)

Four tracks previously released on Heart and Soul, but presented here slightly repitched and remastered
"Digital" never before released except on bootleg

01 Insight
02 Glass
03 Digital
04 Transmission
05 Ice Age


2) 4 June 1979 Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham (for Piccadilly Radio) with Stuart James

Four tracks previously released on Heart and Soul, but presented here remastered
"Atrocity Exhibition" never before released except on bootleg

01 These Days
02 Candidate
03 The Only Mistake
04 Chance (Atmosphere)
05 Atrocity Exhibition


3) mid-July 1979 Central Sound Studios, Manchester with Martin Hannett (the "1st Transmission session")

Two tracks previously released on Heart and Soul, two other tracks previously unreleased except on bootleg
"Transmission" and "Novelty" from this session never before heard in this quality
All four tracks taken from a previously-unknown source cassette, in "best-ever" versions - this cassette is suspected to be 1st generation mixdowns from the rough mix master
All four tracks presented here remastered

01 Transmission
02 Novelty
03 Dead Souls
04 Something Must Break


Four RAR files, as usual, grab 'em all!

Part I // Part II // Part III // Part IV

EDIT:::::::: PLEASE REDOWNLOAD ALL LINKS.... CONFIRMED 100% THEY WORK (and also re-ordered in correct folders, I repacked and re-organized, you need to grab 'em all)

enjoy!

Joy Division 28 Sept 1979 The Factory, Hulme (soundboard)

Not much to say. Featured today is a previously-unknown (partial) recording of Joy Division's 28 Sept. 1979 gig at the Factory, Hulme, recorded from the mixing desk and presented in lossless FLAC for your pleasure.



This is the legendary gig where Hooky thumped an audience member with his bass and stormed off the stage - unfortunately, this moment is not captured on this recording.

This gig features the original set of lyrics Ian Curtis wrote for "Colony" and as a whole, is stellar sounding. Note that for whatever reason the mixing itself changes from wide stereo to mostly mono (but with effects spread across the stereo soundstage) about halfway through the tape, perhaps the mixing desk guy was having problems with the mix? Who knows but it isn't really noticeable except in headphones, and even then doesn't detract from the gig whatsoever.

Presented warts and all (several slight dropouts here and there, likely due to tape age and/or poor quality tape used in 1979 in the mixing desk), enjoy!

01 - Twenty Four Hours (detail, soundcheck)
02 - Atmosphere (fades in)
03 - Wilderness
04 - Shadowplay
05 - Insight
06 - Colony
07 - Twenty Four Hours (fades out, incomplete)

Please note that track 1, the soundcheck track, is not a mixing desk recording, but the gig itself is. Don't let Track 1 fool you....

Part I / Part II
(gotta grab both parts!)

"Colony", lyrics from here (as best I can make out):

Afraid to walk, afraid to look behind
Afraid to talk, afraid I'll fall in line
Hope to find some friends to maybe lead astray
Maybe make some plans to achieve the one with day (?)

Can you hear me, can you spare the time?
No apologies for all these thoughts were mine
My brother taught I had to take the blame
Now I'm sitting here to make my great escape

I can't see why all these complications
I can't see why all these dislocations
No family life just makes me feel uneasy
Lying here inside this colony

In this colony
In this colony
In this colony
In this colony

May god and his wisdom take you by the hand
God and his wisdom made you understand

May god and his wisdom take you by the hand
God and his wisdom made you understand

God and his wisdom took you by the hand
Your god and his wisdom made you understand

Your god and his wisdom took you by the hand
Your god and his wisdom made you understand

In this colony
In this colony
In this colony
In this colony

unplugged: New Order's Bernard Sumner

In 2007 legendary bassist Peter Hook announced he was leaving New Order, leaving singer/guitarist Bernard Sumner and drummer Steve Morris in the lurch. No reason ever was given.

After some hemming-and-hawing over the New Order name, word escaped that Sumner and Morris had a new project called Bad Lieutenant and would be writing/releasing new music under that name. People said "ummm, OK".

In March 2009 Sky Arts in the UK featured Bernard Sumner on their recurring series "Songbook" that blends MTV/VH1's "Storytellers" and "Unplugged" series into a narrative interview with several acoustic performances interspersed.



Bernard, backed by guitarists Phil Cunningham and Jake Evans, performed 4 tracks "unplugged" - just acoustic guitars and Bernard's legendary voice.

That's not that impressive in and of itself - the thought of New Order tracks unplugged just doesn't really jibe, if you know what I mean - but it turns out Bernard turned in one of his most inspired performances ever.

Not only that, but it was the first public airing of a Bad Lieutenant track, which I'll get to shortly.

What was played? Well, you've come to the right place!

1) "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division, 1979)
High-bitrate, high-quality mp3

Three acoustic guitars, no "whooping" from Bernard. Perhaps the best non-Joy Division performance of this song, ever. Really really good performance, perfectly suited for Bernard in this interpretation.

High-quality YouTube footage

- - -

2) "Bizarre Love Triangle" (New Order, 1986)
High-bitrate, high-quality mp3

Oddly I'd never imagined this song in an acoustic setting, but it works, and it's fantastic. Of course I'm discounting Frente!'s version but I don't really count that....

High-quality YouTube footage

- - -

3) "Getting Away With It" (Electronic, 1989)
High-bitrate, high-quality mp3

The debut Electronic single (the side project that Bernard started with Johnny Marr in the late 1980s), never before heard in an acoustic setting. Again, a stellar performance, and it really gets to the root of the melody. And when Jake comes in with a fairly spot-on Johnny Marr imitation in the solo, it's really something else.... I would have to say this is the best version of this song I've EVER heard, no question.

High-quality YouTube footage

- - -

4) "Sink Or Swim" (Bad Lieutenant, 2009)
High-bitrate, high-quality mp3

The first public airing of this brand-new Bad Lieutenant track, this is REALLY good. Interestingly, the main guitar motif suggests a possible Peter Hook bassline, which makes this even more poignant. Stellar, stellar stuff, and a fantastic teaser for any further upcoming efforts....

High-quality YouTube footage

- - -

On YouTube you can also find the interview segments, but I'll leave that for you guys to get. I just wanted to feature the music... ;)

enjoy!

Walk, in silence / Don't walk away, in silence

Today marks the 29th anniversary of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis' death.

Rest in peace, Ian.

"Atmosphere"
October 1979, Cargo Studios, Rochdale



Directed by Anton Corbijn, 1988

homage: New Order - Western Works 9/80

Today was going to feature my favorite live Joy Division tracks. But, as you should be expecting by now if you're a loyal PoIT reader, we're detouring yet again.

Why?

Because picking my favorite live JD tracks is proving harder than I thought. That and it takes a lot of time that I've not had lately. So instead, I've got a better treat for the loyalists.



As you know (or should know), Joy Division ceased as a living, breathing entity when singer Ian Curtis removed himself from existence early in the morning on May 18, 1980 - the day before the band was to fly to New York to start their first US tour. Having long had an internal pact to cease trading under the Joy Division name if any member was to leave the band (probably not expecting the harsh finality of Ian's leaving, but there you go), the band found themselves in another "having to change the name again" situation.

So after an appropriately short mourning period, the survivors regrouped and punched the big red RESET button. Finding themselves bereft of Ian-less material, they wrote a few new songs, tightened up a couple new "unrecorded" Joy Division tracks that had just been written in the weeks prior to Ian's death as "bridge" tracks, and played a few mostly-unannounced gigs in July/September 1980, prior to flying to the US for a very brief East Coast tour and recording session in late September.

As Joy Division, they were close with Sheffield's Cabaret Voltaire, having shared several gigs and compilation records with the Cabs. At some point, JD was going to work with the Cabs in the Cabs' own Western Works Studio in Sheffield, but this opportunity had not yet come to pass at the time of Ian's death.

Suddenly with no lead singer and a wide-open new beginning, the survivors (now known as New Order) took the Cabs up on their offer and decamped to Western Works on 7 September 1980, just two days after their third gig post-Ian. Safely away from the spotlight, and with no Martin Hannett to impose his will on the session, the band laid down several tracks with the Cabs' Chris Watson engineering.

(Due to a date mixup dating back to the early 1980s, this session had long been thought to have taken place in early July 1980. It was only with the release of Joy Division/New Order manager Rob Gretton's notebooks in 2008 that we learn this happened on 7 September 1980, and not July as previously thought. Which makes sense in a way, these are a lot of tracks to write from scratch in the few short weeks between Ian's death and early July.)

These tracks show the band's emotions - both musical and lyrical - laid out to bare themselves to the world. Hesitant yet brave, restrained yet oddly forward-looking, New Order find themselves seeking the path at this very early stage - a path that would not be truly explored publicly for at least another 12 months - that would lead them out of the Joy Divsion shadow into completely new realms of songcraft.

This material has been circulating amongst New Order fans since the early 1980s but never before heard by the general public in this release-ready quality.

Kind souls, who wish to remain anonymous rescued this material from a 1/4" reel of tape that was up for auction on eBay, advertised as something else, and it was only in the reel transfer that it was discovered what this reel actually contained. It's been theorized that if this is not the master reel itself from the studio mixdown sessions, it's at the very least a direct, professional copy of it. The band could release this today, as-is. So I am honored to present it here.

First we have two different mixes - but the same base recording - of "Dreams Never End". The first version is the common version that had already circulated - albeit in much poorer quality - amongst the fans. The second version, however, is a heretofore-unknown alternate mix featuring much louder guitars than the original take - but besides that, it's identical to the first take. Both takes slower than the version eventually recorded for the debut LP in 1981, this track even moreso sounds like bassist (and singer on this track) Peter Hook's own little memorial to Ian. "A long farewell to your love and soul" indeed.

Then we have the musically very JD-like "Homage", with Bernard Sumner on hesitant vocals, laying bare his emotions for all to see. It's blatantly obvious why this track didn't survive past September 1980 - all you have to do is listen to the very bare, emotional lyrics. Notably, you can understand them for the first time ever:

This smile the unborn child reaction's taken, forsaken
These scenes pervaded me in a way that
People seldom see

This is the only time that I thought I had
Seen the signs and I wait, I'll never know

In this room
The blind pass through
In this room
I think of you
In this room

In this room

Darkness will vanish soon
I awake, always in this room
All days will fall and rise
Helplessly, I watch these figures cry

This sense of needless rejection
Always the sense of reason
Carelessly lead me astray

In this room
The blind pass through
In this room
I think of you
In this room
Father, please don't forsake me now
In this room
Father, please don't forsake me now
In this room

People always ask for dreams
Revelation in a dream

A life that is so scared

This is the only time that I
Thought I had seen the signs
Well, I did... I'll never know

In this room
I think of you
In this room
I think of you
In this room
Father, please don't forsake me now
In this room
Father, please don't forsake me now
In this room
Father, please don't forsake me now

The next track is drummer Steve Morris' turn on lead vocals with a very interesting take on "Ceremony", one of the last two Joy Division tracks written just prior to Ian's death. Famously having no written lyrics they could use (if Ian wrote them down, they weren't available to the survivors at the time), New Order had to run the Joy Division rehearsal recording of this track (which you can hear in the previous post on the blog) through an equalizer to attempt to pick out Ian's lyrics. Considering that even with modern audio software it's nearly impossible to extract Ian's vocals, or at least make them clearer, it's impressive what they were able to pull out of it. Steve sings lead on the verses, with Hooky taking over a chorus as well. Interestingly enough, when the time came three weeks later to record this track "officially" in New Jersey's Eastern Artists Recording Studio with producer Martin Hannett, the lyrics Bernard Sumner sang started off markedly different - which makes one wonder if they were rewritten by New Order.

Steve continues on with the lead vocals on "Truth" which, even at this early stage, is remarkably similar to what they'd end up doing with the track when recording it for their debut LP in 1981 (except with Bernard on vocals). I particularly like this version though, it's much more poignant, fragile and spacious - as it should be - than the released variant.

And then we have the biggest revelation of the reel: A heretofore-unknown new New Order track, or rather, a collaboration with the Cabs and New Order, featuring none other than NO manager Rob Gretton on lead vocals! This has been confirmed by a New Order member directly to your humble blogger, and furthermore, this same member revealed that it was entitled "Are You Ready Are You Ready Are You Ready For This?" and was just one of two collaborations they recorded with the Cabs, with the other (still unknown) sounding much more New Order-ry than this track. What is special about "Are You Ready" though is that, Rob's vocals aside, musically it shows the band taking great liberties with the established Joy Division sound - and the early New Order sound - and is very much so a signpost to the musical path the band would further explore starting with fall 1981's "Everything's Gone Green".

I feel this material is too important to release as MP3 so please enjoy it lossless as FLAC (two RAR files as usual).

01 Dreams Never End (mix 1, quieter guitars)
02 Dreams Never End (mix 2, louder guitars)
03 Homage
04 Ceremony
05 Truth
06 Are You Ready Are You Ready Are You Ready For This?

Files here (2012 version; see neworderarchive.blogspot.com for details.

edit: 8 May 2009 followup

enjoy!

this is the way, step inside: Joy Division part I

Not a lot to say about this legendary band Joy Division. Simply one of the greatest bands of all time, what these self-described oiks from Manchester/Salford/Macclesfield were able to do within the framework of their time (1977-1980) is nothing less than astounding.



Chicago Tribune chief music writer Greg Kot once referred to their two studio records UNKNOWN PLEASURES (1979, Factory FACT 10) and CLOSER (1980, Factory FACT 25), in an email to your humble blogger, as "postpunk's holy-grail albums". Obviously I concur.

I suppose this post would be more apropos closer to the 28th anniversary of Ian Curtis' death, but as it were, we find ourselves just days short of the 28th anniversary of the band's second-to-last-ever gig, at Derby's Ajanta Cinema 19 April 1980.

While this band has been duly anthologized via the four-disc HEART AND SOUL box set, a proper - in your humble blogger's opinion - one or two CD "Best Of" has yet to be compiled. One man's best is another man's scrap heap, or something. There have been two separate "best of"-type compilations released, 1995's PERMANENT (odd song choices, and really terrible mastering), and 2008's THE BEST OF JOY DIVISION (again, song choice is a bit wacky).

So allow me to present The PoIT's DIGITAL: Joy Division 1977-1980, in two parts.

Part 1 - this week - is my version of a best-of, featuring tracks pulled from their various studio sessions. I was intending this to be a single disc's worth of tracks, but as usual I wasn't able to restrain myself. So it'll take two. And even beyond these 34 tracks, honestly, is there such thing as a duff Joy Division track? I'll leave that conversation to the peanut gallery to discuss.

Part 2 - next week - will feature my favorite live Joy Division tracks, from a variety of live gigs.

CD1

01 Exercise One
02 Disorder
03 Insight
04 Digital
05 Atrocity Exhibition (Closer version)
06 Colony
07 Autosuggestion
08 Candidate (Piccadilly version)
09 New Dawn Fades
10 Heart And Soul
11 Dead Souls ("Sordide Sentimental" version)
12 Incubation
13 Komakino
14 Transmission (rejected single version)
15 Chance (Atmosphere)
16 Love Will Tear Us Apart (A-side version)
17 I Remember Nothing

4 / Cargo Studios, Rochdale 10/78 (Factory Sample FAC2)
3 / BBC Studios, Maida Vale, London 1/79 (John Peel session 1)
1, 2, 7, 9, 17 / Strawberry Studios, Stockport 4/79 (Unknown Pleasures sessions / FACT 10)
8, 15 / Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham 6/79 (Piccadilly Radio session)
14 / Central Sound Studios, Manchester 7/79 ("Transmission" session 1, unreleased)
11 / Cargo Studios, Rochdale 10/79 ("Sordide Sentimental" sessions)
16 / Strawberry Studios, Stockport 3/80 ("Love Will Tear Us Apart" sessions / FAC 23)
5, 6, 10, 12, 13 / Brittania Row Studios, Islington, London 3/80 (Closer sessions / FACT 25)

CD2

01 The Sound Of Music
02 Isolation
03 Transmission (single version)
04 These Days (Piccadilly version)
05 Shadowplay
06 The Kill
07 Dead Souls (original attempt)
08 From Safety To Where...?
09 She's Lost Control (12" version)
10 Twenty Four Hours
11 The Eternal
12 Decades
13 Ceremony (rehearsal version)
14 Atrocity Exhibition (Piccadilly version)
15 Atmosphere
16 Love Will Tear Us Apart (B-side version)
17 As You Said

5, 6, 8 / Strawberry Studios, Stockport 4/79 (Unknown Pleasures sessions / FACT 10)
4, 14 / Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham 6/79 (Piccadilly Radio session)
7 / Central Sound Studios, Manchester 7/79 ("Transmission" session 1)
3 / Strawberry Studios, Stockport 7/79 (final "Transmission" session, FAC 13)
15 / Cargo Studios, Rochdale 10/79 ("Sordide Sentimental" sessions)
1, 16 / Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham 1/80 ("Love Will Tear Us Apart" session 1)
09 / Strawberry Studios, Stockport 1/80 - 3/80 (FACTUS 2)
2, 10, 11, 12, 17 / Brittania Row Studios, Islington, London 3/80 (Closer sessions / FACT 25)
13 / Rehearsal rooms, Manchester 5/80 (Peter Hook cassette)

as usual , multiple RAR files, you need to grab them all to extract the set....

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

enjoy!

they keep calling me...

(Joy Division live at Prince Of Wales YMCA, London UK 2 Aug 1979, photo by Jill Furmanowsky)

If you're a Joy Division fan, and you purchased 2007's reissued 2xCD packages, you would have seen in STILL's liner notes a blurb about "Ice Age" being at the wrong pitch/speed (it's too fast making Ian Curtis sound like a chipmunk), and had been so since its initial release in 1981.

Here's my returning-the-favor:

Ice Age at proper concert pitch, as it should have been.



JOY DIVISION - Ice Age
(pitch-corrected, from the 1981 Factory LP FACT40 STILL, reissued in 2007 by Rhino)

And a bonus!

"Colony" from Closer, and "Dead Souls" from STILL (and 1988's Substance collection) also are not at proper pitch/speed. Whether this was intended as such by the band and legendary producer Martin Hannett, or not caught at the mastering session and is an error, it's interesting to hear them at proper "concert" pitch (matched up with live performances and properly tuned guitars).

I'm suspecting they should have been at this corrected pitch/speed all along, it's likely they were futzed-with in studio to help Ian sing in a more natural key for him during their respective recording sessions ("Dead Souls" at Cargo Studios 10/79 with "Atmosphere" and "Ice Age"; and "Colony" at Brittania Row, 3/80 for the Closer sessions), but weren't brought back to proper speed/pitch at mastering time.


JOY DIVISION - Colony
(pitch-corrected, from the classic 1980 Factory LP FACT25 Closer, reissued in 2007 by Rhino)

-- and --

JOY DIVISION - Dead Souls
(pitch-corrected, from the 1981 Factory LP FACT40 STILL, reissued in 2007 by Rhino)