Joy Division - Heart & Soul
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Free Music Notes for Heart & Soul
Free Music Review: The Box Set We Should Have Seen for New Order
Hit: 5 Stars
This is as close as you can get to the definitive Joy Division collection. The live material is just as good, with all of the concert recordings coming from the soundboard. This is a welcome change from years of scratchy vinyl audience-recorded bootlegs. The best part of this box set has to be the studio demos of two songs never properly released by Joy Division due to Ian's untimely death - 'Ceremony' and 'In A Lonely Place.'
Although 'Ceremony' was performed at the last live JD venue in Birmingham and found on the Still double LP release, this studio version includes audible lyrics for the first verse. We can't hear Ian in the Still version until the second verse due to soundboard problems. I was disappointed that Peter Hook cuts off 'In A Lonely Place' just as Ian started singing the version that contains, "Hangman looks 'round while he waits; cord stretches tight then in breaks." The official word on this is that during the original demo, the quality of the recording deteriorated after that verse. If that was the case, I'm sure the band would have recorded a second demo after they heard the playback.
After witnessing this release, I was expecting a similar release for New Order, but unfortunately, the New Order box set excludes many early rarities, like Homage, Haystack, and original 1980 recordings sans Gillian Gilbert.
Overall, Heart and Soul is a must have for the avid Joy Division aficionado.
Free Music Review: What more could you want in a box set?
Hit: 5 Stars
The premise of HEART AND SOUL is simple: take nearly everything ever recorded by Joy Division, add some alternate versions and live tracks, and put them on 4 CDs.Granted, this is only possible because Joy Division's career was cut short by the suicide of singer/lyricist Ian Curtis, but that doesn't make HEART AND SOUL any less monumental. This is one of the few box sets that one might even consider purchasing as an introduction to a band. Of course, there are very few people (and I'm one of them) who would be willing to pay for a high priced box set when their only previous exposure is "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and perhaps NIN's cover of "Dead Souls," but I digress.
This box set is essential for any fan of Joy Division, even those who have already purchased all their previous albums (UNKNOWN PLEASURES, CLOSER, SUBSTANCE, and STILL), because of the aforementioned unreleased tracks, as well as the stunning booklet, which includes not only the standard band history and and waxing peotic, but all of Joy Division's lyrics, as well as a complete discography and sessionography, making it an invaluable resource to fans.
In short, if you've heard enough Joy Division songs to know that you like them, then it's worth your money to get HEART AND SOUL and discover that you love them.
Free Music Review: The Best Punk/Post Punk/New Wave Band
Hit: 5 Stars
Of all the bands to come out of the punk era and its aftermath, I would view Joy Division as the best and, possibly, the most influential. From the perspective of uniqueness, nobody sounds quite like Ian Curtis, whose voice is characterized by a largely monotone self-expression of his longing and despair, or Peter Hook who, with his haunting and propulsive yet melodic sound, is the best bass player of the past 25 years for my money. As another reviewer has touched upon, I would approach listening to this music as a cathartic act to be taken in small doses. It cannot be denied that much that lies within these discs is depressing to varying extents. However, there is also a sense of poetic beauty in songs like "Atmosphere," "Heart and Soul," and "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
Unlike their contemporaries, Joy Division also infused a degree of intellectualism and deconstructionism into their music, thanks to Curtis's literary sense and the band's production sensibilities. Deciphering the lyrics on some songs conjures up abstract paintings, emotional trauma, and metaphors of infamous historical events. This box set aptly encapsulates the enigma that is Joy Division, a rock band for the ages.
Free Music Review: Love & Fear
Hit: 5 Stars
When Joy Division released their first recordings - I heard things about them that gave me hope. When I heard the recordings themselves, the hope that I had turned into strength. The music of Joy Division took me out of myself (like any great music will do for a person) and helped me to dream ... but it also gave me insight that as it turned out brought me a great deal of pain.Years later my life has changed quite a bit - and of course upon seeing that this compilation was released - I was thoughtful before diving into this quagmire again. As it turns out - I was given the record as a gift. And WHAT a gift it is.
The music is still the same, solid and true. The booklet that comes with the set is full of information - but most importantly it contains the lyrics. And the lyrics are poetry - mature and transcendant, but also spare and delicate.
If you are interested in seeing another side of what music can be, and possibly another side of who you - or someone that you know is, order this now. But...BE CAREFUL!
Free Music Review: Soul On Ice
Hit: 5 Stars
Joy Division was poised to take the UK post-punk movement to incredible heights until the suicide by singer Ian Curtis in 1980. The band had established itself in two years as a major force in Europe and were set to delve into a U.S. market that was just hearing the final vestiges of punk rock.
The multi-CD set is a definitive history of the group. The first two disks emphasize the music from Unknown Pleasures and Closer, and offers a mix of singles, outtakes and demos. The third disk has the band reaching a wider audience through the BBC and Peel Sessions, including a nice mix of previously unreleased outtakes.
The fourth disk is the gem, as the 17 live tracks captures Curtis as artist/performer, singing with passion the lyrics that ultimately ripped his soul apart.
Curtis was not only the heart and soul of Joy Division, but was thrust into the lead of a burgeoning musical revolution. It was truly a masterpiece while it lasted.