Rest in peace, Ian.
I wonder what you'd think of your band. Would you love New Order's music? Would you marvel at the technology and realize it's OK to let your troubles go for a while and lose yourself on the dancefloor? Would the 53-year old you have moved to America, gained 50 pounds, and grown a big beard? Would you have retreated from the public eye in 1981 and be running a small bookshop in Holland? Would you be the person Bono became because your band was bigger than U2?
Recycle
- 50 Pound Note
A careful restoration of Joy Division/New Order's years on Factory Records (and maybe a little before and after).
All tracks were taken from the best/earliest possible sources to avoid modern mastering techniques which crush the dynamics. Tracks sourced from vinyl have been carefully cleaned and EQ levels have been tweaked for consistency. The artwork was scanned at the highest possible resolution and the type was reset when possible using the original fonts.
All of these singles are out-of-print. Many of the tracks have never appeared on CD. This was a labor of love from a small, devoted circle of fans.
These singles changed my life. I hope they change yours, too. If you like what you hear support the band by purchasing their catalog.
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Interesting thoughts.
ReplyDeleteMt. St. Helens in Washington State blew its top this very same day 30 years ago. Somebody was angry about Ian's decision, maybe?
would speculate that Joy Division would have gone on for another two albums and then would disintegrate as a unit. certainly New Order wouldn't have been created out of necessity, so perhaps lamentable side projects like Revenge and Electronic might have happened a little sooner, over and done by 1987.
ReplyDeleteIan, though, would retreat from fame a la Syd Barrett (but obv for different reasons) start a publishing firm with his JD residuals and be fairly successful reprinting obscure volumes of literature.
Repeated calls from Sumner and Hook begging to do a reunion tour would go unanswered.
I often wonder these same thoughts. I suppose we shall never know. Thanks for this post.
ReplyDeleteI see 1980's Joy Division with fame comparable to Radiohead. Artistic integrity, with a massive audience. U2 did some selling out along the line and thus have achieved fame that warrants something like the 360 tour.
ReplyDeleteI see it them putting out a few more records, but I think Ceremony would have been a real gamechanger for them, who knows what direction their music was headed.
as for Ian, i'm sure he got a kick out of all this. The legacy, what not. and i'm sure this is what he wanted (to some degree). You can't argue that Joy Division has one of the greatest/unique histories in modern music.
I actually think Joy Division would have developed more or less like New Order did. They would have toured in late 1980, so they would have discovered hip-hop and electro a few years earlier than they did. I still see them working with Robie and Baker. I imagine they would have become more of a studio group--I don't think Curtis would be keen on touring all that much--and think Gillian would still have joined at some point to help Steve with the electronics. Their career path (and sound, to some extent) would have been closer to Depeche Mode; I think Joy Division would have been the defining post-punk synth band (and, possibly, Depeche would have been more of a cult band.)
ReplyDeletecome on! the wait for atmosphere 88 is two months long by now. I can't wait... :)
ReplyDeleteFab