Customer Reviews

Closer

5 star:		(122)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Why buy "Closer" ?

(1) It's the best album from Joy Division - one of the best bands of the post-punk (end of 70s - beginning of 80s) and one of the most influential - you have a whole universe of musicians who'll recognize the impact of Joy Division in their music

(2) You'll never forget it - once you listen (with your full attention) the songs and the ambience will never leave you; you can enjoy the album or hate it, but it will have a major impact

What is "Closer" ?

Joy Division started in 1977, as Warsaw, and quickly improved its sound (with the help of producer Martin Hannet from Factory Records) to its impressive debut album "Unknown Pleasures" (1979). Powerful songs were released only in EPs ("Transmission", "Atmosphere"), and "Closer"'s release was scheduled to happen just after Joy Division's 1st US gig - a trip that did not happen due to the suicide of Ian Curtis in 18 May 1980. The posterior release of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (EP) and "Closer" was seen as a 'final message' from Ian. Ok, but even without knowing Ian's background and personal life, you can enjoy the strenght of the lyrics, the atmosphere created by the music and the beauty of all this together.

Here is a rapid review of the songs, but a quick note: the original release (in vinyl) has no particular order for the sides (no A/B); songs 1-5 were in one of the sides, 6-9 in the other.

1. Atrocity Exhibition: Deriving its title from a J.G. Ballard book, it 's a powerful song that sets the tone for the whole album (4 songs last more than 5 min), and the line "This is the way - step inside" speaks by itself

2. Isolation: In this song you can see again a common pattern: each instrument starts at a different time, each going its own way, then, when they're all together, a new pattern emerges, which will support Ian's voice; this song's eletronic front will make you sing together with Ian "But if you could just see the beauty ..."

3. Passover: This song starts playing with the slowing down of the beat, setting a tone of desperation that goes on through the next 2 songs; the guitar makes a poignant appearance

4. Colony: The acceleration of the rhythm in this song will make you anxious, just to meet ...

5. Means To An End, A: This song will mess you up ... the speed changes, the beat, and the lyrics ... sparse, but setting a sense of defeat: "I put my trust in you" ...

6. Heart And Soul: Now we start a new journey ... the keyboard comes back to the front, the beat starts cutting through, the voice changes and now you have the impression of someone looking at things from far away, already detached from it ... it's simple and beautiful

7. Twenty Four Hours: Now the speed and the urgency come back, but for no purpose at all ... everything is lost

8. The Eternal: You never heard anything like it ... slow, compelling ... you feel like you're in a dream ... or a funeral procession ... again an instrument comes cutting through, now the piano ...

9. Decades: The closing of the album, a judgement of the past, with a powerful beat and keyboard, wonderful voice effects, it will leave a final and lasting impression on you, together with the question: "Where have they been ?"

My favourites are 1,2,6,8,9 ... you'll have yours ... as soon as buy it, which of course you must ... then tell others about it ... I listened to it in 1986 ... and still think the best album ... ever ... no other album even tries to follow it, it would not work; it's a product of an English group in 1980 in an independent label, although its beauty is not dated and stands unmatched now and forever.

Joy Division formed in 1977 and released its first album in 1979; this album was recorded and released in 1980. It sounds no more like a rushed album than it sounds like a young band's second album. Veteran artists spent years recording albums that aren't half as good.

People will argue from now until eternity whether it was Joy Division, Bauhaus, or Siouxsie and the Banshees who first turned punk on its side to create goth, but by 1980 the movement was clearly visible, and this, Joy Division's crowning achievement, may be the first great goth record.

Joy Division singer Ian Curtis was a David Bowie fan, and, because of the content of the lyrics and because Curtis had committed suicide by the time this album was released, Closer is generally regarded as the story of a rock 'n' roll suicide.

The album tells a story well. The only question is whether it is Curtis' own story -- we'll never know for certain.

The album starts off with a horrifying picture of Joy Division's act. "For entertainment they watch his body twist. Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist,'" the epileptic Curtis sings in "Atrocity Exhibition." Curtis, whose act imitated seizures, occasionally had seizures onstage and the audience usually thought it was part of the act. The ineffective treatment of Curtis' epilepsy and the resulting depression is a constant theme throughout his work, but especially here.

Songs such as "Isolation," "A Means to an End," and "Heart and Soul" paint a picture of ever-growing bleakness, a story of broken dreams, love lost, and blurred vision. It peaks with "Twenty Four hours":

So this is permanent, love's shattered pride / What once was innocence, turned on its side / A cloud hangs over me, marks every move / Deep in the memory, of what once was love

Oh how I realized how I wanted time / Put into perspective, tried so hard to find / Just for one moment, I thought I'd found my way / Destiny unfolded, I watched it slip away

A song of dreams lost to destiny, hinting at what was to come, leading right into a pair of slow, gentle, requiem-like songs: "The Eternal" and "Decades." The lyrics to "The Eternal" suggest Curtis may have been envisioning his own funeral, while "Decades" suggests someone looking back over a life that ended in disappointment all too soon.

The glimmer of hope that opened up "Unknown Pleasures," ("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?") extinguished, this album abruptly completes the journey.

Many buy Joy Division's compilation album "Substance," hoping for a greatest hits-type collection to compile all of Joy Division's essentials. It's a mistake. True, neither of Joy Division's radio-friendly singles are on this album, nor are "Dead Souls" and "In A Lonely Place," the obscure tracks made famous by their cover versions in the "Crow" movies. In spite of this, "Closer" is *the* essential Joy Division album, period.

The presiding reason I hate so much of so-called popular music is its lack of honesty. If you have the misfortune of listening to a song by Celine Dion then you will have learnt absolutely nothing about her(or your) emotional life. You would have been better off listening to the vacuum cleaner or the washing machine. With Joy Division all you get is honesty - searing, disturbing honesty, that gives a sense of the capabilities of music. This album is a great work of art. If you like this, maybe you would appreciate Public Enemy, or John Coltrane, or some of the song cycles by Schubert, however unlikely these recommendations may sound - or even the films of Andrei Tarkovsky and Carl Dreyer, or Samuel Beckett's prose or that of John Hawkes. You've got to take great art where you can find it.

Perhaps I can give a slightly different opinion on Closer since I'm a musician and profoundly influenced by Joy Division, both lyrically and musically, even though my music is quite different. I was born two years after Ian died, so I didn't get to experience the initial excitement of this band, but I have enjoyed the band immensely ever since I discovered them.

Let me preface this review by the following statements: if you're checking Joy Division out because of the Interpol comparisions, forget about this album and this band. If you must inquire, then forget about Interpol once you have entered. Joy Division were post-punk pioneers, not some fashionable New York lads intent on using another band's sound and vocals for their own benefit. As another reviewer put it, their music is as a close to 'holy' as you can get, and therefore it will never be duplicated or rearranged no matter how hard bands like Interpol try.

The first time you listen to this album, whether its your introduction to Joy Divsion or the next step after Unknown Pleasure, you might find it a bit confusing and/or intense. My advice: keep listening and listening and listening to it. After awhile Closer becomes this unstoppable musical force that infects your everyday thoughts. You find yourself humming the melodies and singing the lyrics to yourself. Then, you find that Closer has tapped into something so visceral inside you that there is no escaping its grasp. What once was just another band quickly evolves into an obssession, because you realize that the music and lyrics speak to you in ways that no other band was really ever capable of. Be aware, however, that Ian Curtis' lyrics are essentially philosophical/existential thoughts in the guise of poetry; and if you are happy with your false sense of reality, don't read into his lyrics. I had the misfortune of experiencing my own existential doubts when I discovered Joy Division, and Curtis' lyrics kind of added further questions to that struggle.

In my opinion, Closer is superior to Unknown Pleasures. The musical terrain is sparse in comparison, but it seems to add to the album's overal emotion. 'Atrocity Exhibition' has some of the greatest post-punk drumming I have ever heard. The lyrics reveal the inner thoughts of Ian, and his vocals kind of reminded me of Jim Morrison. 'Isolation,' in my opinion, is a good indicator of the direction the band was heading: a sound that would be further refined under New Order. Great Kraftwerk-esque synth work, jagged dance-inspired drumming, and rolling basslines courtesy of Hooky. 'Passover' is really dominated by Ian Curtis' lyrics and vocals, with the instrumentation rather minimalist in nature. We have the angular and dirgy-sounding guitars of Bernie filling the silence in between Ian's vocals, and a surprisingly standard drum beat from Stephen Morris. The instrumentation picks up again in the following song 'Colony'. Great drumming again from Morris as usual. A very unique song in my opinion--you want to dance, but in a kind of mathematical or robotic way. 'A Means to an End' is about the closest Joy Division come to serving up straight ahead UK punk rock; as if the band wanted to reimagine punk rock with a slower tempo and a pre-industrial music edge to it. After this song, the album seems to shift into a more atmospheric/psychedelic realm. 'Heart & Soul' is hands down one of the best songs on the album. The synths swell, the drum beat is monotonous but always interesting. Hooky's bass dominates the verse and sort of takes the back seat in the chorus to the guitars and synths. And once again, Bernie's shimmering guitar work punctuates the silence in between Ian's verses, along with the synths. 'Twenty-Four Hours' is my favorite song and one of the strongest tracks. I'm not even going to attempt to describe it because this song is beyond ALL description, lyrically and musically. Trust me on this one. 'The Eternal' is proto-goth music, in my opinion. With funereal piano, synths, and drumming it seems to point toward the future of industrial-goth (i.e., NIN), and just embodies the tragedy of Ian Curtis. The last song on the record, 'Decades,' is as strong an elbum ender as you will ever find. Pulsating synths and Hooky's rolling bass dominate this song, with Bernie's guitar work buried in the mix, serving as a compliment to the bass. Lyrically-speaking, this is my favorite Joy Division song by far. It is so haunting that its intensity can only be rivaled by major literary works.

As I said, Closer surpasses Unknown Pleasures lyrically and musically. Although its almost impossible to not look at Closer as the last will and testament of Ian Curtis, try to re-imagine it as the record that pointed to the future of this incredible band. I know its hard to do considering the circumstances of the record, but really try to see it that way. The musical genius of Joy Division wasn't even close to being fully realized. What if Ian had lived and evolved as the others did through New Order? It would have been truly amazing.

this chilling, powerful and beautiful masterpiece begins with the tribal beat of "atrocity exhibition" as the lead singer beckons you, dares you, "this is the way, step inside." By the time i had discovered this album in 1980, that same ringmaster had already succumbed to whatever demons lurked in his psyche and hanged himself. yet, it is impossible to tear yourself away from Ian Curtis' vision, disturbing as it may be. leading off with the almost danceable "isolation" and sinking, track by track to the inevitable end, "closer" is truly a work of art. without Joy Division, there would be no Tool,no Nine Inch Nails or Orgy, etc. For a long time i couldn't listen to "the eternal," the song paints a disturbing picture of a funeral march. On the final track, "decades," Ian Curtis delivers probably the most telling line on the album "we're inside now, our hearts lost forever." "Closer" was Joy Division's greatest work. Writer Charles Shaar Murray compared their sound to "Awful things carved out of black marble." Still, looking into the abyss never sounded so good.

A haunting & strange album, Joy Division's second album is, like the first, not at all one for pop fans. Even some of their singles, like 'She's Lost Control' and the gorgeous 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' had catchy elements within them, but on their studio albums, Joy Division seems as if they were effectively extinguishing anything remotely commercial or catching. Is that negative? NO. Not here. These songs are amongst the bleakest & most helplessly despairing ever, their discordant synth realm can only be compared to the darkest parts of Bowie's 'Low' and '"Heroes"' album, Iggy Pop's 'The Idiot' (actually as much a Bowie album as an Iggy), and to the classic Gary Numan albums. But 'Closer' seems even more hopeless. Like Nirvana's 'In Utero', it is an album made just before the suicide of the band's lead figure, & it is all here. The scenery is dystopian, if there ever was such a place, & the songs toss despair & hollowness across the room. Hearing this album is not a journey one should take if one was either already heartbroken, or so happy, that it would be a shame to lose one's joy. But still the album is well worth the price, for though self-destructively dark & gloomy, the songs are also brilliant, with 'Atrocity Exhibition', 'A Means To An End', 'Twenty Four Hours', 'The Eternal' and 'Decades' being creations of pure genius. But a dark genius it is. A very dark one...

... in some places perhaps too dark, but that's just me. Anyway I'm giving everything 5 stars and that's a bad habit. With 4 stars I mean = brilliant, excellent, perfect (with 5 being divine from now on)

So much has been said of this album and, most surely, that having stood the test of time as it has, it's all true. 'Closer' is, most assuredly, one of the truly great albums of all time. Each track is a sonnet of hopelessness and despair, tragedy and remorse, emptiness and loss, set to some of the darkest melodies and most stark rhythms ever recorded. All of this, of course, is only made more haunting by the tragedy which beset lead singer, Ian Curtis, shortly before its release.

From the album's brutal and ferocious, percussive opening in "Atrocity Exhibition" - which immediately sets the tone of a dark and hopeless existence - to its end with "Decades" - with its implied release from this world, 'Closer' depicts a tortured life without future, which awaits its salvation.

'Closer' sets itself apart as one of the most perfect albums (or, as I like to consider it, compositions) of our time. One that should be considered a "complete work," rather than a collection of 9 individual songs. If you have never heard of Joy Division, or if you are new to their work, you may have trouble registering the true weight of this album at first listen or, conversely, it may overwhelm you. Perhaps, a listen to their first LP - 'Unknown Pleasures' - would provide a better introduction to the gravity of their work. Then, block out an hour's time, turn off the lights, and without interruption, listen to the entirety of this album.

You should buy this album if you like the simplicity and emotion of punk, but don't need every song to thrash. You do *not* have to be miserable to enjoy this album.

Yes, the songs on here are musically simple - none of them were virtuosos, but they were serious beginners. If you never got punk you won't like this album. You also won't like this album if you like punk's musical simplicity but only in the context of buzzsaw guitars. This is the sound of a band of beginning but energetic musicians making powerful, emotionally stirring music.

There are more keyboards (piano and synth) on this album than on Uknown Pleasures.
A few highlights: "Atrocity Exhibition" is probably the most fractured song they ever did, with great drumming. "Isolation" has a definite synth-pop feel, but with punk's thrust in the bass and drums. "The Eternal" is a gorgeous piano based song.

The lyrics are actually fairly good, and abstract enough that one does not have to dwell on Ian's suicide while listening.

P.S.
Obviously, you should not romanticize suicide. This album was the work of a *band* with a great chemistry (plus a great producer) not one tortured soul.
Ian was a deeply confused, isolated man who died far too young. Read Deborah Curtis's Touching from a Distance if you want to get an idea of what the man was like. To give the devil his due, he was a pretty good lyricist, and his death certainly shouldn't detract from the GROUP's accomplishment on this album.

"Unknown Pleasures" was Joy Division using a slight punky aggression to convey their emotion of loneliness. That album was angry, pissed even, but on "Closer," this aggression is boiled down to vapidness, a reclusion of emotion, that almost seems like it is crying for help. Truth be told, this is to many singer/songwriter Ian Curtis' suicide note, with songs called: "A Means to an End," "The Eternal," and "Heart and Soul," making that conclusion seem not too far off from the truth. In a way, hearing this, is like a horrifying gunshot when surrounded in absolute darkness, or is as hopeless as a tear in the rain, and what more, it's a fascinating look at a man's battle cry to those who betrayed him, and no matter how morbid it seems, Curtis' heart and soul went into it, and created not just a good album, a great album, or even just a masterpiece, but an emotional ride into the depths of a soul, that is isolated, and ticked off.

"Closer" feels distant and off kilter, there is nothing about this album that is "mainstream." It lacks hooks, melody, and has a sense of restraint. Started with the song, Atrocity Exhibition, with Stephen Morris simple, tap-tap-tap, battle drum, that would go on in the rest of the album, amiss the subtle instrumentals. Aside from the slightly adrenaline-charged seventh song, Twenty-Four Hours, the music is part of an almost psychological deprivation experiment, creating glumness in the listener's heart. On Exhibition, the song makes social comments on survival of the fittest: "In arenas we kill for a prize," sings the somber piece, and earlier this track speaks of society's want to be entertained through others peoples' misfortunes, a sad sentiment indeed.

Before Ian Curtis killed himself, he suffered from epilepsy (something that Curtis sang about in, She's Lost Control, off of "Unknown Pleasures," even before having it himself.) Many also believed that Ian hanged himself due to a broken heart; and this sense of love lost bleeds through "Closer." Every song has a lingering sensation of paradise taken away: in the form of deflated hopes, damaged dreams, and begotten aspirations. The music may often overlap the words, but Curtis' sentiment is clear: he is not taken his depression lightly, as each song is just devoid of compassion, but at the same time is passionate, and reanimated in the musical ingenuities of drummer Morris, guitarist Bernard Albrecht, and bassist Peter Hook.

What else can be said about an album as important and talked about as this one, that has not already been written before, while still doing the album justice; let's just say: hear this, and then get the rest of their catalogue, as it will change how you look at music-- forever. Also, remember this album is how the memory of Curtis will live on, through our very belief in its power, him, life, and the affect of love. As "Closer" is possibly the most heartbreaking album of human emotion ever made, and in that way, it is the best music ever recorded. Period.

***** (Out of 5)

When Ian Curtis hanged himself on the eve of Joy Division embarking on their first US tour, he effectively extinguished the flame of the 70s in much the same manner that Kent State and Altamont concluded and silenced the 60s, robbing all momentum that had been gained. Consider Joy Division's wholly original synthesis of the power of punk with the pulse of disco as its musical framework injected with visionary lyrics and then consider that, since punk and disco so drastically changed the musical landscape in the mid-70s, now 30 years ago, there have been no new musical forms other than rap. Ian Curtis strived for beauty and love and understanding but was too often confronted with horror and despair. He lacked a common language and felt too deeply. Ian Curtis allowed us to take an intense journey from a comfortable distance by exposing his soul to us. Heart and Soul - one will burn. Closer is one of the ten greatest rock albums of all time.