JOY DIVISION レコード& CD

Review: Everyone's favourite Mancunian miserablists Joy Division were masters of murky melancholy and this bootleg record proves it alongside their more well known studio long players. Let The Movie Begin was originally released in 2005 and features 26 tracks in all including tunes lifted from The Ideal bootleg, as well as some live and alternative versions later on and no fewer than 12 interviews with Ian Curtis, the late great lead singer of the band. It's raw and mired in lo-fi grit and grime as a bootleg, but deffo worth having for fans.

Review: It would wind up being one of the last dates Joy Division played in the UK before the tragic suicide of Ian Curtis laid waste to the band's promise of a huge future, resulting in the formulation of successor outfit New Order. Taking place on 8th February 1980, within months the dulcet-toned frontman would no longer be with us, but this recording - along with a host more - audibly proves the lasting legacy of Manchester's finest post punk group still sounds exceptional today.

Of course we know what to expect by now. Most of us have both Unknown Pleasures and Closer on the shelf or the hard drive, if not also debut 1978 EP, An Ideal for Living. But that doesn't detract from the powerhouse of atmosphere that the outfit always created, whether on studio or concert recordings. In our opinion, this is up there with the best examples of the latter.

Review: What is left to be written about the debut Joy Division album that hasn't been written already? Well, not much except to say if you've never heard it, you must. This is the more raw of the two studio albums, powered mainly by the foundations laid down by bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. But although the rudimentary electronic experimentalism of its successor Closer are missing - with the possible exception of 'She's Lost Control' - Martin Hannett's production job creates an uneasy world of magical reverbs and echoes that lure in the listener. From its iconic, Peter Saville sleeve to classic songs like 'Shadowplay' and 'Interzone' - which started life as a cover of Nolan Porter's Northern Soul cult hit 'Keep On Keeping On' - this is the template that effectively launched a thousand bands, from indie and post punk to goth and beyond.