Cheap Unknown Pleasures (Music) (Joy Division) Price

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Customer Reviews of Unknown Pleasures

An Album Of Despair and Lost Love That Isn't Emo
This is an emotionally draining album, straight from the broken, depressed mind of Ian Curtis, who on another note looks a bit like Elijah Wood. Most people already know the tale of Joy Division and Ian Curtis, a band whose singer suffered epileptic fits regularly on stage and at the age of twenty-five took his own life. Now I'm not one to give a band better letter grades because their singer died tragically, I hate Sublime, Drowning Pool, and am not too fond of INXS. Listening to this album it's not at all a surprise that Curtis killed himself, the album is dark and devoid of almost any hope. But let's not focus on Curtis, but the band as a whole. The sound of Bernard Sumner's guitar is stripped down to a skeleton, brittle and unpolished. Peter Hook's booming bass would later become a staple in post-punk and new waveish bands for years to come, and Stephen Morris's drums are loud and slow, pacing the music. Ian Curtis is still the star of the show though, and is a very engaging frontman, his droning, broken voice demands your attention.

Let's get down to what matters though, the tunes. The opener Disorder is an excellent opener, and ends with Curtis screaming "I've got the spirit, but I'm losing feeling" and it really gets the blood pumping. There is not a sucker in the bunch though, and every song is excellent, of course some moreso than others. Insight is particularly noteworthy, as is She's Lost Control which may or may not be about Curtis's epilepsy. If you're looking for lots of synths in this album ala New Order, you may be a bit disappointed as the music is alot rougher. The lyrics are excellent but I'm not going to comment on them much. Whether Unknown Pleasures or Closer is better I'm not sure, because their both almost flawless.

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Hugely Influential to Modern Music
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.

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Debut album by hugely influential band
Not as good as Closer due to the production and weakness of the songs included. It sounds really stunted and nowhere near as emotionally engaging as Closer. Transmission is not included, even though it was their first proper single, which is crazy. However, Disorder, New Dawn Fades, She's Lost Control, and Shadow Play are included and they are just perfect songs. However, I do prefer the live versions of all of the songs here, because on Unknown Pleasures, all of the songs sound like they have been recorded from a mile away, so everything is really quiet and toned down, whereas Joy Division always seemed to excel in their ability to engage the listener with their mania.
Some of the songs on here are just crap really. I mean Interzone and I Remember Nothing do nothing but make me want to skip them as soon as possible and go back to Disorder. I personally think they were best when playing short, sharp, bleak 'pop' songs with the best lyrics ever written. I think I Remember Nothing and Autosuggestion (not on this album) are too similar to Velvet Underground ramblings really to be any good. But if you like that sort of thing they could be for you.
Enough of the negatives. New Dawn Fades is the ultimate existential song of all time: 'Directionless, so plain to see, a loaded gun won't set you free, so you say'. No one toys with the idea of suicide in such a devastatingly bleak and serious manner. It really sends shivers down your spine. She's Lost Control is so sparse and hypnotic, it feels like you are the one having the epileptic fit. Shadow Play has wonderful images of 'assassins all grouped in four lines dancing on the floor'. Very manic and out of control. Wilderness shows the same profound sadness through the eyes of victims throughout history. Not as good as Closer, but in comparison to all of the vile wannabe bands out there today, it tears them into to little shreds and spits them out.