"The Best Of Joy Division" Was Released in 2008

Released in 2008, this is an excellent compilation. But to get the main niggle out of the way once and for all: Joy Division was to release an EP and 2 LPs in the years they were together. The 2 albums fit one CD easily, so that coming up with a “Best Of” album which has about 50 minutes of music is always going to be objected to by many. In this particular case, the compilers made the blunder of including an instrumental track (“Incubation”) that is extraneous to the usual spark of the band, which was dependent on Curtis delivery both in terms of content and form.

There, that was the only negative thing that could be said about this anthology. Because the cuts that did make it to the CD are among Joy Division’s finest compositions, conveying in equal measure the palpitating rage and frustration that lay behind Curtis haunted glance, and the melodically ferocious approach of the band. Starting with “Digital” (one of the most delectable paranoid tirades I ever listened to) and ending with “Isolation”, the album is a perfect snapshot of what made the band so unique and (above all) so influential for generations to come.

The first three numbers in particular work like nothing else, as “Digital” is followed by “Disorder” and “Shadowplay”, two emblematic Joy Division songs. The album also includes the hit “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, “Heart & Soul”, the maniac “She’s Lost Control” and a song that makes me think of Costello’s “Radio, Radio”, only that the approach is obviously far removed. The song is called “Transmission”, and while Costello’s number deals with the way the industry dominates the airwaves, Curtis’ song takes a more personal way through and showcases the effect of what is played, not the role of the ones who decide what does get played.

The album includes a second disc that has some radio sessions and live appearances of the band. A short interview is appended at the end, too. This disc is serviceable at best, but fans are always going to relish having that material in an official way. In any case, “She’s Lost Control” and “Transmission” are as phenomenal as ever.

While some might criticize the actual length of the “best of” disc, what should matter (and be underlined the most) is how attractively something which many might find unattractive is communicated. The world is ugly. Truth is ugly. Yet (as Kendal Payne sang) “the truth contains much beauty”. As haunted as Ian’s lyrics are, there is a willingness to live evident in many of his compositions. He was to lose that battle, but I think he won the war. He lives eternally through his music. You can never have it both ways.

Would I recommend purchase of this compilation: Yes
Do I feel like digging deeper into their catalog after listening to it: Yes

There is something about Joy Division that is impossible to apprehend or even hope to comprehend. Is that because they beget a caterwaul of emotions when you listen to them, and these emotions turn to be the ones we want to keep our distance from yet at the same time the ones we want to have as a permanent fixture within our lives?

The band formed in Manchester in the year 1977. Its members were singer and occasional guitar player Ian Curtis, drummer Steven Morris, guitarist Bernard Albrecht and bass player Peter Hook. They were going to release one EP and two full albums, as their career was to be truncated by Curtis’ suicide in late 1979. He suffered from epileptic seizures, but his lyrics made it clear there was so much more going on, that his frail health was the tip a devastating inner conflict. And the real tragedy is that maybe what happened could have been avoided – the band members readily admitted they never paid his lyrics any heed, and after that fateful day whenever they listened to the old songs something always clicked.

They moved onwards as best as they could, recruiting a keyboards player (Gillian Gilbert) and becoming New Order, a very distinguished exponent of early electronic music.

But they could never, ever escape the shadow of their first band. Because New Order is one of those bands that one is always certain must exist someplace – one is aware there must be people who are battling anguish and remorse in the most genuine way of all, with a veil of silence over their hearts, and a muttered conviction that everything will go away, that one day upon waking up the storm will have passed. Until one day upon awakening they find that the only way for the storm to pass is to leave this existence, and go somewhere storms are not felt any longer. A place where one becomes the storm itself.

I have looked for a way to try and explain what it is this band does so harrowingly, and the one and only way in which that could be explained without resorting to a video (you will find one at the end) is by telling you what I feel when I look into Curtis’ eyes. A wave of dread. A wave of inquietude. I have never in my life felt fear when watching a music video. But I am scared when watching Joy Division playing live. They do not swear, or do anything intimidating. That is the problem. Just as in real life those who are always putting a belligerent front are nothing but cowards and those who keep to themselves are harboring more venom you could imagine, Joy Division is harboring something which is too voluminous too bear. Their story was to be tragic by definition. And their definition is something so tragic that it might be comprehended and it might even be apprehended. But I doubt there is a person brave enough to truly get to the bottom of it all.