As the members of New Order continue to fight, Joy Division reissue plans are full steam ahead to cash in on celebrate the release of Control, the Anton Corbijn-directed Ian Curtis biopic based on wife Deborah Curtis’ memoir, Touching from a Distance. A collection including both Joy Division studio full lengths, Unknown Pleasures and Closer, will be expanded and released on CD and vinyl formats on September 10 along with Still, the band’s posthumous LP of studio out-takes and rarities. Live recordings from four of the band’s shows in Manchester, London, High Wycombe and West Hampstead will also be included in the set with each of the four shows ostensibly capturing the band at pivotal stages in its brief history. Joy Division’s defining single, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, will also be re-released on CD and 7″ one week later on the 17th.
Joy Division reissue campaign to coincide with release of Control
Posted August 8th, 2007 by eric
Tags: news
12 responses so far ↓
1 k // Aug 8, 2007 at 11:56 am
How very sad and embarrassing.
2 logan // Aug 8, 2007 at 6:20 pm
“sad and embarrassing” indeed.
3 Sean Dodson // Sep 13, 2007 at 7:03 pm
How is it sad and embarrassing? The band have every right to reissue old albums, and plenty of people will be keen to buy them.
4 K // Sep 13, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Raping and pillaging a back catalog on a regular basis for a band that only had 2 official records is sad and embarrassing. See also: Tupac, Elliot Smith, Jeff Buckley, and Nirvana. The current Joy Division “discography” would probably make Ian Curtis shit his pants in disbelief.
5 Sean Dodson // Sep 14, 2007 at 10:46 am
Hmmmm … raping and pillaging, not sure really. Rereleasing a back catalogue and a list of rarities which are probably better than the bootlegs that are available. Can’t see your point really? No one is being coerced, the original band get more royalties; new people converted by the film get to own work. Curtis’ widow gets a nice little earner too. Where’s the harm in all that?
6 K // Sep 14, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Sean, they’ve been flogging Ian’s dead body for nigh 3 decades now. The records have been re-re-released. Did you watch the Documentary?
7 Logan Young // Sep 14, 2007 at 3:46 pm
i’m off two minds about this one. yes, they’ve been beating a dead, epileptic horse for quite some time now. even martin hannet’s in on it:
http://www.normanrecords.com/records/89708
i think it’s the re-to-the-fourth-power releasing of all of the catalog – both studio proper and otherwise – that’s the ethical dilemma. and yet, if more people are turned on to them that’s fucking great.
8 Sean Dodson // Sep 14, 2007 at 7:54 pm
sure, they’re flogging it. But are u arguing that nobody should ever release another Joy Division record ever again? And if so, how would u package it?
9 K // Sep 15, 2007 at 1:25 am
I don’t know exactly what I’m arguing. I think I just find the flogging sad. I love JD, I just think re-re-re-re-releasing their records and more live discs, etc. dilutes things and comes across as a desperate attempt to continue to cash in on Ian.
Anyone unfamiliar with Joy Division who sees Control and wants to hear more JD should have no trouble tracking down a copy of Closer, Still, Permanent, Unknown Pleasures, Heart&Soul, Preston, et al., without requiring re-releases and more live records.
10 Logan Young // Sep 18, 2007 at 1:18 am
the only reason to release something that’s already there – and brilliant at that – is for the extras. if we find warsaw’s cover of “that’s alright (mama)” then we should probably release that. otherwise, it amounts to exactly what kerry said 8 comments ago – “sad and embarrassing.” hopefully, “control” will spur some confused, depressed, pock-mocked 15-year-old to go out and buy “unknown pleasures”…just as an ex-girlfriend’s break-up mix tape inspired me to do the same. if i believed in god, i would just pray that “Yogan Loung” doesn’t find it in a new, deluxe, director’s cut, commentary by joe levy, re-issue at target.
11 Joy Division vinyl box set can be yours for...$200?, Drawer B // Sep 18, 2007 at 4:43 pm
[…] doing his signature dance? What exactly does one find inside this artfully drab packaging? The ethics of reissuing and repackaging the same old shit aside, how did Rhino come up with a $200 price tag […]
12 Twyla // Dec 27, 2008 at 10:09 pm
It is a JOY to actual hear about this band which I never heard of before, thanks for the re releases…