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Closer |  | Artist: Joy Division
Label: London
Category: Music
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £2.99
as of 24/11/2009 21:30 GMT details
You Save: £7.00 (70%)
New (38) Used (2) from £2.99
Seller: bva1518
Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 2941
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 639842821926
EAN: 0639842821926
ASIN: B00002DE4E
Release Date: April 12, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Heart And Soul | | • | Twenty Four Hours | | • | Eternal | | • | Decades | | • | Atrocity Exhibition | | • | Isolation | | • | Passover | | • | Colony | | • | Means To An End |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
In retrospect, ICloser/I, the second and final album by this Mancunian band, seems to point straight at singer Ian Curtis's suicide, which happened a few months before it was released. The band's reverberating mesh of minor-key lines and Curtis's bass voice are gloomy enough on their own, and attention to the words reveals references to blacker-than-black stories by JG Ballard and Joseph Conrad; the void and its terrors were splitting Curtis apart from the inside. "I put my trust in you," he sings, and his voice leaves no doubt that that trust has been betrayed. But the music, grim and powerful as it is, points to the direction the surviving members took as New Order, incorporating the mechanical gravity of club rhythms. I--Douglas Wolk/I
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 41
Easily one of my favourites. April 13, 2006
dynamitekid156 (Notts)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is probably my favourite album ever made. It's simply beautiful. Recorded shortly before Ian Curtis' suicide in May 1980 - and ironically turning him into an icon to this day - it features the best work Joy Division ever made in this form. New Order, much as they tried, never quite measured up, even twenty-six years later.
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br /Greatly assisted by the genius of Martin Hannett and his breathtaking production, the band are on fine, fatalistic form. Ian Curtis is at his lyrical best, especially on the closer, 'Decades,' but the real star here is Bernard Sumner. Always an underrated guitar player, (check out the messy solos on early Warsaw tune 'Failures') on this album he unleashes screeches, stabs of pure noise and wiry single note lines over the top of Peter Hook's ever-chiming bass. He also does a sterling job sitting at the keyboard, playing the album out with his wistful yet heartbreaking line in 'Decades' closing passage.
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br /This is an extraordinary, exceptional album that's simultaneously depressing due to its circumstance and uplifting due to its beauty. Any New Order fan, or indeed any fan of music, is missing out if they don't purchase this astonishing, chilling example of why Ian Curtis is still missed.
Pure, beautiful horror January 3, 2000
clarketj@yahoo.co.uk (Stroud, England)
27 out of 29 found this review helpful
Despite their primitive sound, Joy Division were always perfect. They created bleak, austere slices of suffering that reflected a band utterly committed to a post-punk aesthetic of artistic salvation. Closer, their finest forty-five minutes, is simultaneously depressing and uplifting, creating an emotional no-man's land that leaves you feeling empty but enlightened.pThe music works by creating simple and nagging melodic lines that dig into your subconscious and remain there like splinters. Each note and drum strike is played with absolute conviction as Ian Curtis half-sings/half-talks over the top with his tales of loneliness and suffering, tempered by a belief in salvation (If you could just see the beauty/There's things I could never describe).pSome of the band's best songs are here. 'Isolation' manages to sound positive despite its theme of dejection. 'Heart and Soul' is hauntingly beautiful. 'Decades' closes the album perfectly with its glassy keyboard line and solemn vocal delivery. Each song acts as a hymn - a religious exorcism of darkness that leaves nothing but a stark white light in its wake.pIt's difficult to find a time to actually 'enjoy' Joy Division, but there's a poetry, purity, beauty and sadness to 'Closer' that is incredibly compelling. Overlook at your peril.
Still Perfection September 10, 2001
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
When i first listened to this album, i spent days with songs like Atrocity Exhibition and Heart And Soul playing on repeat. The music is so well crafted, the lyrics are unbelievable and ian curtis' delivers the whole thing off in a way that is impossible for you not to feel emotionally charged. The change from their early days is evident and i personally feel that it is a change for the better. Sumner's use of synthesizers is atmospheric and Hook's bass playing gets beyond playing chords. The drumming from Morris is tight and gives each song a greater edge. Hell i love all the albums but this is just pure genius... not just by Curtis but by the whole bandpThe best album of the 80s by far.
These pleasures and waiting distractions. February 19, 2006
View from nowhere (UK)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is astoundingly beautiful album. Without knowing anything about Ian Curtis, it gives an insight into his mind before his suicide. The subject matter is bleak but more meaningful than any processed sanitized pop records. It begins with atrocity Exhibition and a drum roll which mimics a machine gun firing. Ian Curtis recoiling at the horror of war. The music is often slow and melodic, however this fits the themes and mood of the lyrics perfectly. Ian Curtis voice acutely articulates his despair and although maybe not conventionally brilliant singer it#8217;s perfect for the atmosphere of the album. Any illusions to higher human goals and aspirations are striped away as he mockingly sings #8216;God in his wisdom took you by the hand, God in his wisdom made you understand#8217;. The big questions are asked #8216;existence what does it matter?#8217; without seeming overblown or pretentious. Most people have only heard of #8216;Love will tear us apart#8217;, but this is truly their masterpiece and shouldn#8217;t be ignored.
A WORK OF GENIUS - STILL YET TO BE BEAT ! August 24, 2002
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
Yes indeed my fellow Amazon friends - perhaps a bold statement to make given that the album in now well past 20 years since release and a lot has passed thro' the music industry in that time - how i wish the last 2 decades would have revealed another Joy Division - but then again , such was the unique item that is Joy Division nothing or no one else could have come close !pIf you have read my all time top 20 list (1977-2002) you will see that this album is my no.1 choice - (Unknown Pleasures being no.2 !) - here we have a collection of songs that contain such lyrical genius it still remains doubtfull to me that we will never witness anything like it again - whilst the songs err on the side of darkness (some would say neo-depressive) it shows the bold statement Ian Curtis the group were prepared to make about all things concerning life death and possibly how we perceive are own immortality ?p" 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 "pfinal verse of "24 hours" - one of the many outstanding tracks on the album.pevery track on this album will ring out a past , present or possible future time event that the listener can readily relate too , it's observations the lyrical description thereof will haunt but by the same token pleasure you as you are carried thro' the swathe of emotions it delivers - tracks vary in musical accomplishment from the upbeat a rocky 24 hours colony , to the pop sound of isolation , thro to the ethereal decades the eternal - overall the album IMO is fitting testament to the best indie act that the UK has ever seen - there was only one Joy Division , i'm glad to say i seen them - all i have left are memories and 2 of the best albums ever made !
Showing reviews 1-5 of 41
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