Closer (album)
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| Studio album by Joy Division | ||||
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
44:16 |
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Chart placements (preliminary) Explanation of the data |
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Closer is the second and final studio album by the British rock band Joy Division . It was released in July 1980, two months after the suicide of frontman Ian Curtis .
background
The recordings for the second album took place in mid to late March 1980 at Britannia Row Studios in London, which Pink Floyd set up in 1975 . Closer finally appeared on Factory Records on July 18, 1980 . At the time of publication, singer Ian Curtis had been dead for three months. The rest of the band continued under the name New Order from 1980 .
The album was produced by Martin Hannett , who was already responsible for Unknown Pleasures and who also produced New Order's debut album Movement in 1981 .
On the song Heart and Soul plays Ian Curtis guitar on Decades melodica. For Atrocity Exhibition , Hook and Sumner swapped their instruments: Sumner took over the bass, Hook the guitar. Drummer Morris played some of his parts with an electronic drum kit .
Already in April 1980 the song Love Will Tear Us Apart appeared as a harbinger of the new album. It later became - after Curtis' death - the band's most successful song and reached number 13 in the UK singles charts. However, the single was not on the album, but was part of the 1988 compilation Substance .
Closer reached number 6 on the UK album charts.
On October 30, 2007 Warner released the album as a Collector's Edition on 2 CDs. The bonus CD contains a recording of a concert on February 8, 1980.
Cover
The cover, showing a tomb in the Staglieno Cemetery in Genoa , Italy , was designed by Martyn Atkins and Peter Saville . The photography comes from the French photographer Bernard Pierre Wolff, who also provided the cover photography for Love Will Tear Us Apart .
Track list
All songs are penned by Ian Curtis , Peter Hook , Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner .
- page A
- 1. Atrocity Exhibition - 6:06
- 2. Isolation - 2:53
- 3rd Passover - 4:46
- 4th Colony - 3:55
- 5. A Means to an End - 4:07
- Side B
- 6. Heart and Soul - 5:51
- 7. Twenty Four Hours - 4:26
- 8. The Eternal - 6:07
- 9th Decades - 6:10
- Collector's Edition (Live at the University of London Union, February 8, 1980)
- 10. Dead Souls - 4:58
- 11. Glass - 3:42
- 12. A Means to an End - 4:00
- 13. Twenty Four Hours - 4:05
- 14. Passover - 4:53
- 15. Insight - 4:01
- 16th Colony - 4:04
- 17. These Days - 4:17
- 18. Love Will Tear Us Apart - 3:13
- 19. Isolation - 4:41
- 20. The Eternal - 6:30
- 21. Digital - 3:14
reception
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
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| Rolling Stone |
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| Pitchfork |
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| Laut.de |
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| Music Express |
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The album, like its predecessor Unknown Pleasures , is a milestone in rock history that has shaped many subsequent bands.
The music magazine Rolling Stone leads Closer at number 157 of the 500 best albums of all time and ranked 56 of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. New Musical Express voted it # 16 in the 500 best albums of all time. In Pitchfork's selection of the 100 best albums of the decade , Closer reached # 10.
Closer is even more austere, more claustrophobic, more inventive, more beautiful, and more haunting than its predecessor. It's also Joy Division's start-to-finish masterpiece, a flawless encapsulation of everything the group sought to achieve.
“ Closer is more serious, more claustrophobic, more inventive, more beautiful, and even more haunting than its predecessor. It's also Joy Division's start-to-finish masterpiece, a flawless encapsulation of everything the group wanted to achieve. "
Like its predecessor, the album was included in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chart sources: DE UK
- ↑ Review by Ned Raggett on Allmusic (accessed October 23, 2018)
- ↑ Review by Mikal Gilmore on Rolling Stone (accessed May 9, 2020)
- ↑ Review by Joshua Klein on Pitchfork Media (accessed October 23, 2018)
- ↑ Review by Daniel Straub on Laut.de (accessed October 23, 2018)
- ↑ Review by Peter Gehbauer, in: Musikexpress 09/1980, issue 296, p. 45.
- ↑ Simon Reynolds: Music to Brood by, Desolate and Stark. In: New York Times . October 7, 2007, accessed September 12, 2016 .
- ↑ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time on Rolling Stone (accessed October 23, 2018)
- ↑ 100 Best Albums of the 1980s on Rolling Stone (accessed May 9, 2020)
- ↑ The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time on New Musical Express (accessed October 23, 2018)
- ↑ The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s on Pitchfork Media (accessed October 23, 2018)
- ↑ Joshua Klein: Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures / Closer / Still. Pitchfork Media , October 29, 2007, accessed October 4, 2013 .