By Laserangel

The career of Joy Division started off promisingly, but their music was not particularly inspiring. If you listen to their first EP 'An Ideal for Living' you will hear the sound of just about any generic punk band of the time, albeit with perhaps a slightly more refined sound and with more intriguing lyrics to what was the norm. But Joy Division started to develop into something special at an alarming rate. At the time they were not actually signed to the Factory label, as they were bound to a contract with RCA. In 1978 they went into the studio and actually recorded an 11 track album for RCA, but it was never released (although tracks from these sessions eventually did see the light of day on the Heart and Soul box set). The reason? The group were moving so fast and evolving so rapidly that it was obsolete by the time it was finished. The quality of the new songs that Ian and the band were writing constantly was improving so much that this aborted album no longer represented the group's best efforts.

Soon after, they signed to Tony Wilson's Factory label, and they went into the studio with producer Martin Hannett to record another album, which eventually became 'Unknown Pleasures'. It was essentially at this point that Joy Division as we remember them were born, because in my opinion Martin Hannett was just as responsible for crafting the band's familiar austere, icy sound as any person actually in the band. He could be described as the fifth member of Joy Division, in fact.

The album starts with 'Disorder', and fans of the band that Joy Division spawned, New Order, will instantly recognise the highly distinctive bass-playing style of Peter Hook. Here he deploys one of his trademark melodic basslines alongside percussion that sounds as if it is being played in a large empty room with its slightly echoing effect. The music sounds frantic and urgent, an effect which is augmented by Bernard Sumner's distinctive, insistent guitar line. All this is overlaid with bizarre whooshing sounds of uncertain provenance which only add to the beautiful intensity of the track. Ian sings in his wonderful baritone 'I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand/ Could these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man?'. For all of Joy Division's notorious miserablism, these opening lines are surprising full of aspiration and optimism, hinting at a hoped-for better future. The frenzied mood conjured up by the music is exacerbated by the lines 'Its getting faster, moving faster now, its getting out of hand...Lights are flashing cars are crashing, getting frequent now'. We cannot be sure, but could this be a reference to Ian's epilepsy which manifested itself more frequently from this point in his life onwards?

After such an upbeat start to the album, the next track is a slower, more ponderous affair. 'Day of the Lords' is one of the most chilling songs in the Joy Division canon, and also possibly one of the most gothic both in its lyric and music. Musically it suggests darkness from the very start, not only is the tempo a lot slower but Hook ditches the melodic bassline of the first track and plays his bass slower, and lower-pitched. The atmosphere of gloom is intensified by chiselling, staccato slabs of guitar. Ian sings possibly the most harrowing lyrics yet heard in a Joy Division song, his rich and sonorous voice informing us, 'This is the room, the start of it all/ No portrait so fine, only sheets on the wall/ I've seen the nights filled with bloodsport and pain/ And the bodies obtained, the bodies obtained'. Just what does he mean here? Why are there sheets on the wall? We will never know, and frankly that is a good thing. By not knowing the meaning of the nightmarish images he is conjuring up, the song becomes more disturbing. 'Where will it end?' he asks in the chorus, and as the song progresses the question becomes more urgent as his voice becomes more anguished and he practically screams at us, suggesting some interminable private horror.

'Candidate' is a more austere and sparse track in comparison, with Ian's vocal performance far more restrained, as is the music which is mainly composed of a prominent drumbeat and bassline. However, the lyrics are just as bleak as the previous track: 'No longer the pleasure, I've since lost the heart...Its creeping up slowly, that last fatal hour'.

Insight is my personal favourite track on the album. It starts off with what sounds like a large metal door creaking shut and being locked. Then a hypnotic repetitious guitar line starts, which is overlaid by an electronic disco-like sound. Indeed, it is probably this track that points most to the electronic dalliances of the second album, 'Closer', and of course the electro of New Order. It is almost like a Krautrock track with its incessant, unchanging minimalism. Ian's voice is once again restrained but here it sounds very fragile. The theme of the song is once again bleak and cheerless, as the opening lines are 'Guess your dreams always end, they don't rise up just descend, but I don't care anymore, I've lost the will to want more'. It is as if Ian is resigned to the fact that life will just offer vexation and disappointment at every juncture. But as he says on several occasions throughout the song 'I remember when we were young', as if reminiscing back to a happier, more naive time when life was full of possibilities and the future was bright. Is the eponymous 'insight' simply the realisation that in life dreams do indeed 'always end' and 'don't rise up just descend?' However, despite his resignation, Ian repeatedly informs us that 'I'm not afraid anymore'. But as he says it with more intensity and with greater frequency towards the end of the track I get the impression that he is not only trying to convince us, but he is also trying to convince himself, almost like a process of auto-suggestion.

'New Dawn Fades' is possibly one of the most intense vocal performances on the album, and the track most indicative of the torment and anguish evident on 'Closer'. It starts off with a huge-sounding guitar melody and a rumbling bass. The 'new dawn' of the title is described, 'A change of speed, a change of style, a change of scene, with no regrets'. But the prospects offered by this new dawn have turned sour, as 'over each mistakes were made, I took the blame...a loaded gun wont set you free, So you say'. This is the only reference to suicide on the album, and maybe can be read as a pointer to the disturbed state of mind Ian possessed later. As the track progresses, Ian's voice becomes more emotionally tortured, as he seems to pour his soul into the delivery of the line 'Oh I've walked on water run through fire, cant seem to feel it anymore!'. The theme is similar to the theme of the previous track, as the new dawn fades and hope is crushed, prospects slipping from his grasp - 'Me, seeing me this time, hoping for something else' is the final line.

'She's Lost Control' is one of their better-known tracks, and deservedly so (although I do prefer the 12-inch version which is quite different to the version on the album). It sounds very ahead of its time with its non-human, otherwordly electronically enhanced percussion, and a nagging, infectious bassline. Ian tells the story of a woman who loses control of herself and 'is clinging to the nearest passer-by' 'And seized up kicking on the floor'. Apparently this track is inspired by a woman who used to come regularly into the place where Ian worked, looking for work. She had epileptic fits regularly, and they became worse and worse. One day she stopped coming in, and Ian assumed she had found herself a job, but he later discovered that she had had a fit and died. It seems that Ian empathises with this woman, he can identify with her not just because of his own epilepsy but also because in modern society we all have the capacity to 'lose control' and 'She' acts as a metaphor for this. The music gets more and more frenzied and vehement towards the end of the track and this stands in contrast with the vocals which remain unusually emotionless and deadpan throughout. The effect of this combined with the subject matter is unsettling.

'Wilderness' seems to have a less personal theme than most of the other songs on this album. My own interpretation of it is that the lyrics refer to people in history who have invaded other cultures and civilisations and killed, pillaged and destroyed all in the name of Christianity. The best example of this is the Spanish conquistadors who invaded the Aztecs in the Middle Ages and practically destroyed their culture in the name of Christ. Ian tells us that he 'travelled far and wide through many different times' and he asks himself 'what did you see there?'. He then proceeds to tell us what he saw on his travels: 'all knowledge destroyed', 'the saints with their toys', 'prisons of the cross', 'the blood of Christ in their skins', 'the one-sided trials'. Of course, I am taking a literal interpretation of the lyrics here, but the injustice and atrocities they describe could also act as a metaphor for a more personal theme which we don't know about.

The final track, 'I Remember Nothing', is the most atmospheric and chilling track on the record. The intro signals that the listener must be prepared for a gloomy listening experience as a haunting wash of sound ushers in a slow drumbeat. Suddenly the listener is startled by the sound of glass breaking and other unsettling noises. 'We were strangers for way too long...me in my own world with you there beside, the gaps are enormous, we stare from each side' he sings. Could this be referring to his marriage and his wife who was becoming increasingly estranged? Or is it more general than that? We will never know, we can only make probably mis-informed guesses at what Ian is referring to in his lyrics. Indeed, it is my view that often the lyrics are not meant to make any particular narrative sense but are merely intended to conjure up a series of images of despair and pain. An example of this is this song is 'violent, more violent his hand cracks the chair, moves on reaction then slumps in despair, Trapped in a cage and surrendered too soon'. As if to emphasise that a major theme of the album is the crushing of human spirit and the breaking of the fragile hopes that we may have, the final sound on the album is the sound of equally fragile glass being smashed.

This is one of the greatest debut albums ever. The whole record has a very haunting and atmospheric sound. It often sounds cold and otherwordly, with unnerving noises of uncertain origin creeping up on you when you least expect it. This style is mainly the work of the producer Martin Hannett, and as I mentioned before he played a vital role in how this record turned out. With a different producer, 'Unknown Pleasures' would have sounded very, very different. That's not to take anything away from the actual band members, who play their instruments very skilfully. And Ian Curtis' lyrics are beautiful, sad, challenging and harrowing throughout. For a listening experience that will stay with you for a long time, this album is essential.