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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"You should hear our version of Louie Louie!" - Ian Curtis,
By
This review is from: Still (Audio CD)
Still is one of those records which is like a pack of cigarettes - you'll only ever try it for the first time in your teens, and you won't like it much at first, but there's something about it which will make you persevere. And one day (still in your teens, most likely) you'll stand back and think, 'by George, this is one holy record!'. More to the point, you'll think Joy Division were one holy band, which they were. (I should point out to any happyclappers who may be reading, that this is holy only to the gods of Rock 'N' Roll - Cat Stevens this is NOT). While it is an odd patchwork of out-takes, b-sides and live material, Still gives a better view of what Joy Division were than either of their studio albums (though their singles, notably, which never appeared on albums, were generally far better recorded and available on CD). I bought Still (as a teenager, of course) before I bought the others, so perhaps it conditioned me, but I still like it the most. The first half (originally one LP of a double album) is largely out-takes; some, like 'Exercise One' and 'Walked in Line' are close relatives to the three minute punk rock song to which the band grew up, although the subject matter (when you can decipher it) is always more cerebral than anything the Pistols or the Stranglers ever mustered. The fact that Curtis's vocals are so often buried adds to the band's mystique - there are no lyric sheets, his voice sounds portentous, and the lyrics you can make out are pretty good, so you figure the rest must be worth perservering with. The second half is a live recording of band's last outing, at Birmingham University, before Curtis' sad suicide. The band has a terrific live sound; you realise here how essential Peter Hook's bass was to the Joy Division sound. Hook provides the melody, underpinned by Steve Morris' drums, while Bernard Sumner's guitar really only adds stinging and swirling textures. This wasn't the way the punk bands (or any other rock 'n' roll band for that matter) ever worked. Curtis' vocals live are much stronger and more audible(except in ceremony where the clot on the mixing desk forgot to push up the faders until half way into the song!) than on the albums and the band sounds more cohesive than it ever did in the studio (despite a couple of howler errors - Sumner missing completely a critical chord in 'New Dawn Fades'). Joy Division really made me wonder. How a bunch of school leavers from Macclesfield could come up with music which sounded so different to anything else, and so important, is something I've never quite understood. To cap it off the mystique there's the inscrutabe cover. No band photos, no names, just the product. Naysayers will complain that Joy Division were a humourless and moribund lot, but that misses the point. This is beautiful, haunted music. If you want fun, buy a Spice Girls CD. For a journey into the Heart of Darkness, 'Still' is as good a place as any to buy your ticket.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still is two great Joy Division Albums in one,
By
This review is from: Still (Audio CD)
On many levels I would say that "Still" is the best Joy Division Album available. I know you purists out there will derride me for this but eventhough it is a hack job of unreleased tracks and a less than perfectly recorded concert it provides a deeper glimpse into the band their styles and and their work at large than any other JD album. I highly recommend this album as the FIRST JD album a person should choose. I want to break my commentary into two parts each part of the album, the unreleased tracks and the live concert recording, are essentially different albums on one CD.
The unreleased tracks which make up of the first half of the album are all for the most part great songs and while I have hear the argument that they don't flow together well, I have never been able to notice that. In fact I would argue the exact opposite. In comparison to Substance (the other Hack-job album) and Unkown Pleaseures. The first half of the album flows nicely. Ice Age, Sound of Music and Walked in a line inthemselves are great enough songs to be the marquis tracks of an album inthemselves. I surmise that it was Ian Curtis's suicide that caused these tracks to never get release on a studio album. The other tracks on this half of the album are equally good. Exercise one makes a great opening track with its long building intro and Glass somewhat of a filler song is a great follower to Ice Age. The second half is a great live album but this is the part that took much mor time to get into. I have quite a few JB bootlegs and they are all ok. In fact while the recording is perfect this is one of the cleanest live recording you can get these days. However, the transition from studo to live tracks, bothered me first. In the several hundred times I have listend to this album I have gotten over it. The versions of Warsaw and New Dawn Fades are aruably better than the studio versions and hearing JD play The Velvet Underground's Sister Ray is really fun. They do a good job with it. Overall this half of the album is Great too... It just might take the modern youth of the world, who are so used to hearing perfect recordings, a little time to get into. Overall, this is a great album and it is in my top 20 of all time. If you are a JD Fan and you don't own it I implore you to make the purchase now. If you are not yet exposed to JD or just getting familiar with them get this album. It will help you appreciate why they were such a great and inspiring band. I hope you like it too! -- Ted Murena
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joy Division's odds and ends with live performances,
By Jimbo Jones (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Still (Audio CD)
This album was released after Ian Curtis died in 1980. The album consists of tracks left over there were never released on any of their albums at the time (until heart and soul was released). This album is split in two parts the first 9 tracks make up the stidio outtakes and tracks 10-20 were all live and are not available elsewhere at least not to my knowledge. I quite liked the cover of Velvet Underground's Sister Ray and at the end Ian declares "you should hear are version of Louie Louie". This contains what I think is the only known live recording of Ceremony performed by Joy Division before they became New Order and recorded the song. This is just my own opinion but I still think that this is "STILL" essential to purchase and the live tracks are worth the price alone.
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