Terrific Tuesdays: Joy Division

Yes, it's utterly cliche to claim Joy Division your favorite band. It seems as though ever since post-punk really became a genre (rather than an era or niche of artists who comprised the genre in the late-70s and early-80s), Joy Division has been continually hailed as the best band of the bunch. Manchester aside, Joy Division apparently wins on all counts.

And yes, too, it's deserved. There's no doubt in my mind that Joy Division was a seminal and awesomely important and significant quartet. The band encapsulated so, so much ... the forebearers of an electronic age of music; early gothic rockers; trend-setters to the utmost. And with the genius producer, Martin Hannett, behind all their work, the iconic Ian Curtis and his suicide, and the grand Factory Records behind every move, the band could do no wrong neither when they were still together nor in historical retrospect.

It seems fitting to me to write about Joy Division now after Tony Wilson's unfortunate death. The visionary label founder, talent scout, and stunningly driven innovator should not have left this world so early (he was only 57). Never will he nor Joy Division (nor anything he touched, for that matter!) be forsaken, abandoned, or forgotten.

Below are two versions of "Passover," one of my favorite tunes, and absolutely one of the best Joy Division songs lyrically. The first is a recently uncovered mix from Martin Hannett's Personal Mixes while the second is the one that appears on the album.
I really like the new mix ... it's sluggish, more reserved and distant, yet with more daunting force and strain on every drum beat, each bass pluck, all syllables uttered by Curtis ...

Joy Division - Passover (Martin Hannett's Personal Mix)
Joy Division - Passover