Joy Division - Closer [Collector's Edition]

Formed in the wake of the punk explosion in England, Joy Division became the first band in the post-punk movement by later emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s. Though the group's raw initial sides fit the bill for any punk band, Joy Division later incorporated synthesizers (taboo in the low-tech world of '70s punk) and more haunting melodies, emphasized by the isolated, tortured lyrics of its lead vocalist, Ian Curtis. While the British punk movement shocked the world during the late '70s, Joy Division's quiet storm of musical restraint and emotive power proved to be just as important to independent music in the 1980s.

[Rhino's 2007 reissue contains the album in remastered form on the first disc. A second disc features 12 songs from the band's February 8, 1980 gig at the University of London Union. Anton Corbijn's photos, Peter Saville's design, and Paul Morley's liner notes -- interspersed with oral history from the band -- make up the booklet.]


Disc 1
01. Atrocity Exhibition
02. Isolation
03. Passover
04. Colony
05. A Means to an End
06. Heart and Soul
07. Twenty Four Hours
08. The Eternal
09. Decades

Disc 2 (Live 8 February 1980)
01. Dead Souls
02. Glass
03. A Means to an End
04. Twenty Four Hours
05. Passover
06. Insight
07. Colony
08. These Days
09. Love Will Tear Us Apart
10. Isolation
11. The Eternal
12. Digital