32 Years of Joy Division...

I kinda forgot to make a post about it...10 days ago was the 32nd anniversary of the great Ian Curtis' passing. God rest his soul. I think our good friend Darkman said it best:

"When May 18th rolls around every year, it’s impossible not to think about how tragic this day is in Joy Division’s short but brilliant history. Few others have achieved as much in such a short amount of time. Today thousands of Joy Division fans will take to their blogs, Twitter, and Facebook accounts, and post personalized massages honoring Ian."

To honor Ian's memory, my good friend FageOner posted a version the legendary Paradiso, Amsterdam 1-11-1980 gig onto his website.

http://toanend.blogspot.com/2012/05/your-hopes-your-dreams-your-paradise.html

This version is his remaster of the VARA Radio Station Soundboard Recording of the gig, otherwise known as the single best quality Joy Division gig recording of all time. Seriously, you won't find a better quality JD gig anywhere. It is a straight up 10/10! Once again, Darkman said it best:



"...Fage wanted to do something special today for all the fans who follow his blog, to make sure he did his part in celebrating Ian’s memory. A few years ago, some fans were able to get copies of Joy Division’s performance at the Paradiso directly from the Dutch Radio. I was able to get a copy (all those years ago), and provided it for this post. As the Analog Loyalist pointed out in the Joy Division Recycle, this is the finest live JD recording when it comes to sonics. Fage has put a lot of hard work in mastering the raw radio station recording, and the result is staggering.

Interestingly, there was about 35 people at the gig. The performance was also broken up into 2 sets. As Joy Division unleashed their fury on the Dutch fans, the concert was recorded by Omroepvereniging VARA for broadcast on Dutch public radio.

R.I.P Ian Curtis……don’t walk away, in silence….."

So, there you have it. All of guys, please enjoy. : )

Wallflower

FULL Lyceum Ballroom gig and High Hall Birmingham Remasters are Now Available!

If you've been following my good friend FageOner's blog, you'll see that he made two new posts relatively recently. Here are the links:

http://toanend.blogspot.com/2012/04/lyceum.html

http://toanend.blogspot.com/2012/05/birmingham.html


The first link goes to a page where you can get two different recordings and the soundcheck of the Lyceum Ballroom (February 29, 1980) gigs in FULL, while the other page leads you to where you can get a full "best ever" version of the High Hall University in Birmingham concert (JD's very last gig, performed on May 2, 1980).

Both gigs have been provided by Mr. Darkman and given to FageOner, whom remastered them all heavily before release. Both of them are amongst my favorite JD concerts of all time, and the recording quality I highly recommend from both of them, so I say get 'em while they're still hot, I say! :)

*Disregard the link in front of these photos. Reason I chose this photo is because it's a collage of pictures taken from the Lyceum Ballroom performance. Ian is playing the keyboard in some of them!


A little info about Lyceum Ballroom: There are five recordings of this legendary concert.

1. The H&S box set tape source (which is arguably the best quality/source out of all of them)
2. The Duncan recording (drum-heavy but on par with the H&S source)*
3. A soundboard recording (which as far as we know only included "These Days")
4. "Komackino" bootleg audience recording (below average quality)
5. "No More Ceremonies" audience recording bootleg (bad quality)*
*The soundcheck to the Lyceum gig was only recorded by the sources I listed as #2 and #5.

The two recordings Fage has provided are the "Komackino" and "No More Ceremonies" versions, which I listed as #4 and #5 on this list, whilst the soundcheck is from Duncan's version. The soundcheck is in amazing quality, but the other two...aren't, exactly. I'm not complaining, though; at least the source #4 is finally available in full. Before, it was just the "No More Ceremonies" version, but now, we have the slightly better other version. Unfortunately, we still have yet to see releases of the full "H&S box set tape" and "Duncan" versions.


A little info about the Birmingham gig: Before, Darkman has this recording available on his own blog:

http://autosuggestion-darkman.blogspot.com/

He took the post down, though, in anticipation for an UPDATED version of the remastered gig. He told me that he had initially released the recording prematurely - before he and Fage felt that it was finished. Eventually, Fage finished it and then released it on his blog.

Other than that, you should all know about what the gig includes and what not. Fage's post has all the rest of the info you'd need to know.


Like I said, I hope ya'll enjoy. I have yet to enjoy the Birmingham gig myself because I had to wipe my computer a while ago and am still re-updating it, but once that's done I can listen to it. Nevertheless, I can't recommend both this and the Lyceum Ballroom recordings enough.

Props, respect, and special thanks to Darkman, FageOner, and everyone else involved in their projects. : )

Cheers, Wallflower