On this date in 1980, JOY DIVISION released their second and final studio album, CLOSER – three years to the day after they had entered PENNINE SOUND STUDIOS to record their first demo (July 18th, 1980).
With its eerily claustrophobic and introspective atmosphere, Closer was a dark, unwavering dystopia. ATROCITY EXHIBITION, a nod to JG Ballard, was a hellish invitation to a possible 1984 to come. ISOLATION and HEART AND SOUL were almost resigned to a world in which humanity's supply of optimism had given out ("Existence, well what does it matter?/I exist on the best terms I can").
This was a beautiful and breathtaking body of work. The hard bass lines and punchy drum beats of the previous effort had been replaced by haunting vocals, rattling drums, trance-like keyboard rhythms, forbidding basslines and restrained guitar riffs. Ian's voice had mellowed and transformed into a deeply moving instrument, distorted with emotion.
The lugubrious tone of the music was reflected in the album cover, an Italian tomb.
Designer Peter Saville expressed concern with the choice of cover following Curtis’ death, “When Tony Wilson told me Ian Curtis had died I said, ‘Tony, we have a tomb on the cover,’” Saville declared.
“There was great deliberation as to whether to continue with it. But the band, Ian included, had chosen the photograph. We did it in good faith and not in any post-tragedy way”. Later, Saville used a photo from the same cemetery as the alternative cover for the posthumous single, “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”
Described by Fact's Mark Fisher as an album "often considered the crown jewel of post-punk” it sounds as rousing and important as it did in 1980.
Closer remains essential listening: a collection of sepulchral atmospheres that heralded a new decade of experimental music.
So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.
A cloud hangs over me, marks every move,
Deep in the memory, of what once was love.
Oh how I realised how I wanted time,
Put into perspective, tried so hard to find,
Just for one moment, thought I'd found my way.
Destiny unfolded, I watched it slip away.
Excessive flashpoints, beyond all reach,
Solitary demands for all I'd like to keep.
Let's take a ride out, see what we can find,
A valueless collection of hopes and past desires.
I never realised the lengths I'd have to go,
All the darkest corners of a sense I didn't know.
Just for one moment, I heard somebody call,
Looked beyond the day in hand, there's nothing there at all.
Now that I've realised how it's all gone wrong,
Gotta find some therapy, this treatment takes too long.
Deep in the heart of where sympathy held sway,
Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late.
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發表於 2019-7-19 22:26:01
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發表於 2019-7-19 22:39:01
