To celebrate the 35th anniversary of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, Rhino have announced the re-issue of four iconic Joy Division releases on heavyweight 180-gram vinyl. The studio albums UNKNOWN PLEASURES (1979) and CLOSER (1980) will be available on June 26th. They will be followed on July 24th by STILL (1981) and an expanded version of SUBSTANCE (1988), both available as a double-LP set.
Each design replicates the original in painstaking detail, including the gatefold covers used for STILL and SUBSTANCE. The music heard on the albums was remastered in 2007 when Rhino introduced expanded versions of the albums. The lone exception is SUBSTANCE, which features audio remastered in 2010 for the +- singles box and for the first time on vinyl, the expanded track list from the original CD release, plus two additional songs: “As You Said” and the Pennine version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” In addition to the vinyl format, Rhino will also release this expanded version of SUBSTANCE as a 19-track CD, available on July 24th. Pre-order SUBSTANCE on iTunes now.
Joy Division recorded two albums before singer Ian Curtis tragically took his own life in 1980. But what the Manchester quartet lacked in longevity, it more than made up for in quality. The band’s only two studio albums were ground-breaking and helped shape the sound and mood of the alternative music that followed in the band’s wake.
Ian Curtis (guitar/vocals), Bernard Sumner (keyboard), Peter Hook (bass), and Stephen Morris (drums) released their debut, UNKNOWN PLEASURES, in 1979. By the end of the year, the album’s atmospheric sound had won over fans and critics with tracks like “She’s Lost Control” and “Day of the Lords.” CLOSER, the group’s second album, arrived the following year and its dark and melancholy tones continued to earn rave reviews for songs like “Isolation” and “Heart and Soul.”
The compilations STILL and SUBSTANCE fill in the missing pieces of the band’s history with non-album singles (“Transmission” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart”), unreleased studio tracks (“Something Must Break” and “Ice Age”), and choice live recordings (“Disorder” and the only performance of “Ceremony.”)