(continued from here)

When you open the CD tray (I wish I had the vinyl) you can read the name of the band on the CD: Joy Division. This mysterious seemingly innocent name is a provocation with a sexual allusion. Like the names of the two punk bands which played in Manchester, July, 20th 1976, the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks. When three of the later members of JD were in the audience. The mauvais goût of their name is unprecedented in rock history though. Joy Division is a quote from the book House of Dolls by Karol Cetinsky, referring to the brothels in the concentration camps for Nazi officers and/or camp detainees. JD flirted with WWII-Germany, eg Bernard Sumner changed his name to Bernard Albrecht, shouted "You all forget Rudolf Hess" in the 1977 Electric Circus concert and there was the cover of the Ideal Living EP with the Hitler-Jugend look-alike drummer boy. I guess it was a juvenile opposition thing without any political meaning. They wanted to shock, they wanted to be extreme. And they were. Just listen and forget about all this...

Next to the name of the band you will find the title of the album imprinted on the CD. Unknown Pleasures. We all know the pleasures of life. Be them physical like drinking, eating, having a shelter, having sex. Or immaterial. Like having friends, being in love, being loved, hoping, believing in something. Unknown pleasures are the ones we didn't know they existed. Pleasures we never imagined, we couldn't even dream of. Pleasures which may hurt occasionally but which are still pleasures. Moving pleasures. In the physical (those hard-hitting beats) and spiritual sense. Touching something deep inside the listener. JD offer these kind of things. To those who are willing to lose themselves to JD's music. It is as simple as that.

There are at least two prejudices about Joy Division which are totally wrong. Their music is neither cold nor depressive. Unknown Pleasures is a manifestation of intensity. It is dark and occasionally heavy but what really sets it apart from punk and most of post-punk is the energetic cohesive band sound. Stephen Morris drums kick forward and reverberate backward reversing the movement of the supernova on the cover. Exploding first and imploding after within a millisecond. Peter Hook's bass is playing the melody most of the time. Fast and full like an apple tree in October after a hot summer. Martin Hannett's synthesizer and noise samples add the sometimes ethereal sometimes discomforting touch. Bernard Sumner's electrical guitar provides the melancholia when gyrating in distortion around the bass. Ian Curtis finally aspires human life into this music with his baritone. Even when he intonates like someone singing the dirge for his own funeral. His first line is:

Here is the overview of the series 40 years, 40 albums of which part XV was this post.

P.S. I have been too lazy to upload an mp3. Just tell me if you are interested and I will try to do something about it.

P.P.S. I lost more than half of the post last night. That's maybe one reason why this review is a little bit on the shallow side. I finally more or less gave up on the chronological order thing.