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Joy Division: the early years. full of vim and venom!

Campbell Roark | from under the floorboards and through the woods.. | 11/03/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the material that would become Joy Division. Early may '78 recordings, Having just acquired Stephen Morris as a drummer, who skeleton-ized their style, completing it, giving some structure upon which to hang the flesh, blood and bile. The band would walk away from these sessions- in pert because a producer added some synth to the final mix, so as to temper the punk style. warsaw didn't like that, it would seem. ultimately, this was used to attempt to barter a deal with RCA- a project that was eventually abandoned... now it's this import.



When you compare this with what they were doing less than two years later on 'Closer,' you kinda have to marvel. Such evolution is like time-lapse photography. It boggles the heart and soul...



So: Joy Division in their early pupal stages. If you like your music sloppy and punk- true, late-70's punk- look no further. Also, you can hear the vocals and words quite clearly (good cuz no lyric sheet here- just a short history). Always a good thing. Still, this is pretty Stooged-out stuff, stylistically. damn good. The sound production is uneven and it lacks the idiosyncratic attentions of uber-producer Martin Hannett. They're feeling out their own style and it's exciting to hear. The thing is, for the most part you can get most of these songs on Disc 3 of the "Hear and Soul" box set. The versions there are mainly as good if not better than these. These are crustier...



"The Drawback," think, is the exact same cut on both editions.



"Leaders of Men," a classic track, played faster and thinner than the box set. Ian sounds haunted.



"They Walked In Line," is a bit faster, I think, than the box set version. Scratchier. Echo vox on chorus.



"Failures," a short romp through this bare bones punk tune. I dig the box set version more: more guitar noodling that adds to the mood. Still, this is a rollicking good time. Shout along chorus. Thumping bass.



"Novelty," is, IMHO, the best version of this song. A dated song- not as good as later stuff, it suits this raw style. The later cleaner version just sounds bland to me. I like this quick cutting version better. Works well as a punk tune.



"No Love Lost," is TOTALLY different (much longer) from the box set cut, with rattier vocals and a longer build-up time (more jittery, telegraphic guitar) and a different second verse. I love this version. It stands up with the fuller version one on the box set. I like the way Ian tries to rhythmically rhyme out the second chorus... Neat!



"Transmission," is uniquely odd. Full of what the spaceballs guy would call, 'the beeps, the sweeps and the creeps.' Long version, very urgent. Good vocal tone. Thick drums. Great version that sounds like no other.



"Interzone," sounds raw as hell. The drums are nice. Brutal. The howls are nice. Ron Asheton is channeled in the guitar riff.



"Livin In the Ice Age," fuzzy version. A tad repetitive. Can't hear the thick bass. This was before Hook adopted the high-register/melodic bass-stylings that would become a JD staple. I still like it, though...



"warsaw" Again- the damn bass. This time too much- too loud and thick. The box set version is vastly superior in terms of sound quality. fast.



"Shadowplay" is raw and spare. similar to the box set, but shorter. GREAT TUNE! Great early recording. The vox are ominous and bratty- you can hear the influences of Iggy and Bowie on Ian, he sounds like jagger towards the end ("I did evrythin. Evrythin I cud dew"). bass is screwy again. I like this a lot.



"As you said" is exactly the same two minutes of odd, spacy, dance-synth instrumental hokum as on the box set. I always wonder about this rack as it utterly sucks. the creeping doom of New Order is emerging here- beware!!!!



The final five tracks are demos cut at pennine Studios in July, '77. Steve Brotherdale on drums. They are typical punk. Bread and butter 70's punk rock. Thick bass/screaming/chanting vox/insipid lyrics/sludge guitar/bland drums... Nothing great or eve interesting here, I think. Occasionally the instrumental bridges are indicative of later musical directions... A horrible version of "The Kill," always bothers me.



All in all: worth it for fans of the era or obsessive, cranky, JD purists who have to possess every shred of music the band ever dallied with. People Like Me.

"

Essential for fanatics

John Hilgart | Memphis, TN USA | 07/19/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a bootleg, rather than a band-sanctioned official release. Three of these songs also appear on the "Heart and Soul" boxed set (The Drawback, Shadowplay, Interzone), and the sound quality is notably better there than here. However, the sound quality of this bootleg is really pretty good; you can enjoy the music unimpeded. There is, however, apparently a pristine sounding German bootleg out there somewhere.The final five songs constitute the band's earliest demo, from July 1977. At that point they were called Warsaw, and you can hardly perceive Joy Division in the breakneck punk frenzy. Interesting evidence of how quickly the band evolved, but little more.Five months later, the band (now nearly called Joy Division) recorded the excellent e.p. "An Ideal for Living," which is included in full on "Heart and Soul" and "Substance." In May 1978, they did sessions for a planned RCA album, which never saw release. This "Warsaw" cd includes those sessions in full. To my knowledge, only three (of the total eleven) recordings from these sessions have been released officially (see above). Because all four songs from the "Ideal for Living" e.p. are rerecorded here (in, I think, inferior versions), that puts the burden of value of this cd on a mere four remaining songs.And they're pretty damn cool: a crisp (vocals all intelligible) "Walked in a Line," a slower "Transmission," a fiestier "Novelty," and a solid "Ice Age." The well-known recordings of these songs date from a year to two years later, so these are quite distinctive. If you're a fanatic, you want everything on this cd. If you're simply a big fan, these four tracks are worth checking out."

Buy it, Love it, Be it

Daniel M. Goss | 12/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I owned this album for two decades as a bootleg tape that got passed around the Berkeley punk scene in the early eighties, and it never failed to become the favorite music of anyone I turned on to it. Joy Division always seems to sound better (to me) at their rawest, and the lower sound quality adds an edge of doom not found on the sanctioned version (of course this could just be that it reminds me of scratchy records). Either way, if you're a fan of "Closer" or New Order, I'm pretty sure you won't dig this. If you were immediately hypnotized by "Unknown Pleasures" like I was at fifteen, this is essential."