JOY DIVISION レコード& CD

Review: A highly collectible splatter 12" vinyl of this Martin Hannett-produced session groundbreaking gothic/post-punk band, Joy Division. Includes the band's best known composition 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' and a superb non-album B-side in 'Leaders Of Men', plus an extended mix of the A-side. Most music fans and their mothers will have had the former track firmly implanted into their grey matter by now, but it's the B-side that really gets the true-heads going, channelling a massive, cortex-cracking sound that is closer to punk than post. Boy, did Joy Division have a toothy side.

Review: Some songs are just eternal, no matter how many times you've heard them, and often those same songs are the ones which you never get round to owning on vinyl. It's an easy trap to fall into with Joy Division's most celebrated moment, given the ubiquity of the song, but don't underestimate how special it is to stick on when you need it most. Cleopatra continue their series of seminal songs pressed onto splatter vinyl with this all-time classic, backed up by another non-album essential from Ian Curtis and co, "Leader Of Men'.

Review: It's hard to untangle this hopelessly sad anthem from the equally tragic death of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, but if we had to put a bet on it we'd say it would still be hailed as the masterpiece it is now without those unfortunate events. Coming, as it did, after the two albums from the band, it's the perfect half way house between their powerful, guitar-powered sound and the futuristic synthesiser waves that informed New Order not long after. Plus, it's a heartbreakingly brilliant song with lyrics that have spoken to subsequent generations without fail.