Joy Division - Closer

 

New Order were one of my favourite bands in the late 1980s/early 1990s but that wasn't always the case. I hadn't really paid too much attention to them until 1986 when "Shellshock" got some air-play on late night radio stations, and after "True Faith" was released in 1987, I decided to buy the "Substance 1987" compilation album.

Fortunately, I liked that album and then randomly started the process of buying up the New Order back catalogue. Back in the day, I had already purchased the Joy Division single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" shortly after it had been released, but that was mostly down to it having been in the charts for several weeks but without any radio play. Out of curiosity, I purchased the single and quite liked it, but not enough to invest in any other Joy Division record.

Having subsequently heard "Ceremony" and "Atmosphere" I decided to buy the "Closer" album, and the sticker shows it cost me £5.69 from Our Price records. Although I liked the "Faith" album by The Cure, "Closer" was too depressing even for me, and I think I only played the LP three or four times. I thought I had wasted my money.

"Closer" had been released only two months after singer/song-writer Ian Curtis had committed suicide, after which the surviving members of the band formed New Order, with the addition of keyboard player Gillian Gilbert.

Looking at the album sleeve I can honestly say I have no recollection of any of the 9 tracks, so this could be a very interesting experience !

Side One opens with the six minute long "Atrocity Exhibition" which has the same single funky bass riff hypnotically repeated over a tribal drumbeat. The screeching guitar creates a chaotic sound which is mostly just distorted noise and succeeds in conjuring up the image of an atrocity. However, it all somehow works and it is a tremendous song. "This is the way, step inside".

"Isolation" is the shortest track on the album at just under three minutes long. A relatively cheerful dance track beat with a synth-pop keyboard riff which wouldn't be out of place on an early Depeche Mode song. In many ways it is similar to some of the music on the subsequent first two New Order albums.

The pace changes with the slow and ponderous "Passover". The guitar is reminiscent of that on The Cure's "Pornography" but the song is driven by the bass and drums. The drum fade out ending reminded me a little of "Other Voices" from the Cure's "Faith" album.

"Colony" has a heavy bass and thumping drumming, and what is now referred to as a post-punk guitar riff. However, it is mostly forgettable and easily the worst track on the album.

"A Means To An End" has an almost toe tapping, catchy bass line and guitar. "I put my trust in you !"

The Side Two opener "Heart And Soul" has a menacing bass line clashing with the controlled drum beat, and perhaps the most haunting vocal on the album, sounding uncannily like Jim Morrison from The Doors.

"Twenty Four Hours" has a mournful vocal and bass line before leading into a raging guitar. Again, the playing reminded me in parts of The Cure circa 1981/82. There is also an early New Order song with a similar change up to the frantic guitar, although I can't for the life of me remember which one !

"The Eternal" is an extremely bleak, funeral procession. A plodding bass intro leads into some solemn piano. It's apparently Robert Smith's favourite Joy Division song and clearly had an influence on the "Faith" album. It probably should have been the last song on the album though.

The album closes with the synth dominated "Decades" but has the most depressing vocal on "Closer", which is some accolade. The music is quite beautiful but the vocal makes it extremely dark, and it's practically a requiem. The synth chords hint at those on "Every Little Count" on New Order's "Brotherhood" album

Having played "Closer" again, I was a little surprised as to why I originally disliked it so much, given my musical tastes at the time. Admittedly it can be a hard listen, with depressing vocals and lyrics, and an austere, foreboding sound. I can see why one critic subsequently described it as "a suicide note put to music". 

However, I thought "Atrocity Exhibition" and "Isolation" were really good, and I enjoyed much of the music, particularly a lot of the bass lines. Many of the songs were good in parts, and this might be an unpopular opinion, spoiled by the singing. However, I now think this is an excellent LP.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Atrocity Exhibition
2. Isolation
3. Passover
4. Colony
5. A Means To An End

Side Two :

1. Heart and Soul
2. Twenty Four Hours
3. The Eternal
4. Decades

Released 1980
UK Chart Position : 6

Holly Johnson - Blast

 

I never liked Frankie Goes To Hollywood, finding most of their music to be unlistenable and their over-the-top, in your face image and posturing to be off-putting. 

The one exception to this was the ballad "Power Of Love", which I thought was tremendous, and contained some poetic lyrics. "I'll protect you from the Hooded Claw, keep the vampires from your door. When the chips are down, I'll be around with my death defying love for you. Envy will hurt itself". 

Around the same time there were two other songs with the same title, but the one by the Frankies was a lot better than those by Huey Lewis and the News and Jennifer Rush !

When Frankie Goes To Hollywood split up and singer Holly Johnson went solo I didn't expect much. However, his first two singles, "Love Train" and "Americanos" were unexpectedly good, so much to my surprise I decided to get the album. Probably after it had reached number 1 in the album charts !

My memory is that whilst there were a couple of Frankie Goes To Hollywood style songs I didn't like, overall I enjoyed what a thought to be a collection of mostly catchy pop songs.

Looking at the track listing now, I can only remember three of the four singles, with "Atomic City" completely erased from memory, apart from that I didn't like it........

The opening track "Atomic City" is over 6 minutes long and is overblown Frankie Goes To Hollywood disco/dance pop. Co-written with Dan Hartman of "Instant Replay" fame, it is the only song not solely written by Johnson. There are lots of synths, horns, funky bass and Johnson's trademark haw hawww vocals. "We've got no ozone, we got radiation. See the air pollution from the power station". I still don't like it.

In contrast, "Heaven's Here" is a jaunty, toe-tapping pop song, with a soft vocal and a glorious uplifting chorus. It's a fantastic song and should have been a huge hit, but wasn't. The fade out is a little annoying as the song deserves a big finish !

"Americanos" is a fantastic, happy singalong number, but underneath it is a critique of the American way of life. There are jazzy bouncing horns, sax, girly backing vocals and so many great lyrics "There's a place where a kid without a cent he can grow up to be president", "Americanos, blue jeans and chinos, Coke, Pepsi and Oreos, "Satellite stations across the nation, that's cable TV for you and me", and "Everything's organized from crime to leisure time", with "leisure" sung in an American accent for emphasis !

"Deep In Love" has a funky bass and brass, with a catchy melody for the chorus. It is perhaps the best of the non-single tracks.

"S.U.C.C.E.S.S" has a few notes of Beethoven's 12th at the start before becoming a fairly bland disco dance pop number.

"Love Train" is another song with an uplifting melody, a great vocal and ooh ooh ooh backing vocals. The guitar solo is played by Brian May.  The line "you're a work of art, you're a Trevi Fountain" was educational as I had never heard of the Trevi Fountain before, so I made a point of seeing it when I eventually got to visit Rome. The promotional video for "Love Train" clearly inspired The Smashing Pumpkins.

"Got It Made" starts with some standard electro synth pop beat but the verse has a decent melody, and there is a short guitar solo. "We've got it made, we've got it, straight from the hands of the Marquis de Sade"

"Love Will Come" is a slower number. Again, there is a bold brass intro but the verse is musically fairly sparse with a liquid bass and drums to the fore, but the brass returns for the rising chorus. The guitar break could have come from New Order circa mid 1980s, but overall the song is more in the style of ABC.

There is more brass on the 1980s "Perfume" which is reminiscent of Prince, especially with some of the vocals, but it is the weakest track on "Blast".

"Feel Good" has gentle swirling synths to begin with before becoming a slow ballad. The instrumental break could be from The Cure. It is quite nice but without being anything truely memorable.

I had forgotten just how good "Heaven's Here" was and "Americano" and "Love Train" remain classics. I also liked "Feel Good", "Deep In Love", "Got It Made" and "Love Will Come", leaving just three tracks I wouldn't be bothered about never hearing again. 

So overall, "Blast" is a pretty decent album. 

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Atomic City
2. Heaven's Here
3. Americanos
4. Deep In Love
5. S.U.C.C.E.S.S

Side Two :

1. Love Train
2. Got It Made
3. Love Will Come
4. Perfume
5. Feel Good

Released 1989
UK Chart Position : 1

 Singles :

Love Train ( No 4 - 1989 )
Americanos ( No 4 - 1989 )
Atomic City ( No 18 - 1989 )
Heaven's Here ( No 62 - 1989 )

 

The Jam - Sound Affects

After the success of "Setting Sons", The Jam achieved their first UK number one hit single with the non-album track "Going Underground". This success was repeated with "Start !", the lead-off single from their next album "Sound Affects", which was released a couple of months ahead of the LP.

Frankly, I didn't like "Start !" as it was very similar, especially the bass and guitar lines, to The Beatles' "Taxman", which was one my least favourite songs by the Fab 4.

I didn't buy the album when it was released, but I thought "That's Entertainment" was a great song so bought the single. Eventually I got around to be buying the album, with the stickers on the cover showing it had been reduced from £3.49 to £2.49 in W H Smiths. 

At the time I was disappointed with the album, with a much softer, less rockier sound than "Setting Sons", and whereas there wasn't a bad song on "Setting Sons", there were a few tracks on "Sound Affects" in addition to "Start !" I didn't like, and I felt there was a shortage of killer songs. In particular, I wasn't fond of "Set The House Ablaze", "Music For The Last Couple" and "Scrape Away". On the positive side, I thought That's Entertainment" was brilliant, and "But I'm Different Now" and "Boy Around Town" were good. A couple of the others were in the category of nice but not outstanding.

I subsequently read an interview with Paul Weller where he said the album was intended to be a crossover between The Beatles' "Revolver" and Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall". Whilst I can see it is heavily influenced by "Revolver" I can't say I see anything that might have come from "Off The Wall". Indeed, I would say there are the usual Kinks/The Who 1960s influences here, and the more experimental sounds are reminiscent of perhaps XTC, or even Devo !

Side One begins with "Pretty Green", which was apparently the record label executives' choice for the first single, but were apparently persuaded to release "Start !" instead. It is a nice song but not particularly outstanding. It has a bass intro, and then crisp drums, after which the far from catchy "I've got a pocket of pretty green" refrain comes in. The song does have a pleasing middle-eight though which leads into a decent Beatles style guitar ( or is it sitar ? ) solo from their Maharishi period.

"Monday" is a slow, dreamlike slab of 1960's pop which might have been in the Kinks play-book. Like many Jam songs it has a prominent bass and strong harmonies but perhaps more unusually there is some piano in lower down in the mix. The bass at times made me think of XTC's "Senses Working Overtime", which admittedly came after this ! Lyrically the song is about a shy lad who dreams of seeing a girl at work again after the weekend.

"But I'm Different Now" changes the mood. It's short, less than 2 minutes of raw, two chord energy, and has a great ending. It could easily have been on one of the first two albums. "So glad that you're my girl"

"Set The House Ablaze" in contrast is over 5 minutes long, with Ruts "Babylon's Burning" style guitar, whistles, and the vocal so low in mix at times it is hard to hear the lyrics. It's the angriest song on Sound Affects and better than I remembered it to be !

"Start !" still sounds like "Taxman" but with attitude. I still don't like it much and I'm surprised there was no law suit, especially as there have been so many less obvious claims in recent years. Perhaps George Harrison was reluctant as he was being sued around the same time for "My Sweet Lord" sounding like "He's So Fine" ?

The acoustic ballad "That's Entertainment" remains a classic, with the poetry of depressing urban squalor with just a faint hint of optimism towards the end. I love the acoustic guitar, bass, harmonies and the very understated percussion.

Side Two starts with "Dream Time" which has some backward pseudo psychedelic sounds to start before launching into a standard rocker that would not be out of place on "All Mod Cons". It has a great 60s hook. "I saw the lights and the pretty girls and I thought to myself what a pretty world. But there's something else here that puts me off, and I'm so scared dear, my love comes in frozen packs bought in a supermarket".

"Man In The Corner Shop" is pretty but musically lightweight.  It is very The Beatles, and has plenty of sing along la la la's alongside the jangly guitar. "They know that god created all men equal".

The first minute of "Music For The Last Couple" is essentially a collection of noises before the bass and guitar riffs come in after about a minute. It's a instrumental apart from the line "I think of boats and trains, and all those things that make you want to get away" which gets repeated a few times. Musically it reminds me of XTC circa 1979.

"Boy About Town" is bouncy pop song with a horn arrangement that hints at the later soul influences sounds on "The Gift". It has a gimmicky vocal ending but I like it ! The drumming on this song is also really good.

I had to listen to "Scrape Away" several times and gradually started to appreciate it a little. It has some funky bass playing and excellent drumming. The guitar sounds like it belongs in a 60s or 70s detective/crime series but overall it is another song that sounds more like XTC than The Beatles. For me, it remains the low point of the album.

Listening again to "Sound Affects" it has risen in my estimation. It's still not as good as "Setting Sons" thought !

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Pretty Green
2. Monday
3. But I'm Different Now
4. Set The House Ablaze
5. Start !
6. That's Entertainment

Side Two :

1. Dream Time
2. Man In The Corner Shop
3. Music For The Last Couple
4. Boy About Town
5. Scrape Away

Released 1980
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

Start ( No 1 - 1980 )
That's Entertainment ( No 21 - 1980 )