Closer

This is a difficult album to rate I feel knowing how the state of mind that Ian was in. Yes, it’s very sad but with the underlying musicality there is also joy and light. I guess maybe the Smiths adopted some of this style. Anyway, it is a great album but it is a hard listen and not something that maybe I would go back to regularly.

Obviously birthed a lot of sons. Not really my thing but there's some things here that grab me.

6/10… gothic rock / new wave / *1980

I always thought I didn't like Joy Division, but I guess they've grown on me because I didn't mind this. Music has evolved, I guess, and so have I.

Not as listenable as I wanted it to be...

#MaccPride I feel like my enjoyment of this music is hampered by Ian Curtis' droning voice. The music is actually quite interesting sometimes (emphasis on sometimes, not always), but him going blah blah blah just means I'm not too interested alas. Liked the final song!

This is one of those classic early 80s records that have a super distinct sound. When you hear it, you know exactly when this was produced and recorded. But that doesn't mean it's great, because it is decidedly not. There are other records around this time which are much better. Still, it was a trip to hear this sound again, as it was right when I first started listening to music. The band is actually pretty good, but the lead holds them back, leaving this a touch underwhelming.

Like a lot of people here it seems, I've always preferred Unknown Pleasures but there's no doubt that this is a great work.

Pretty good listen for me having enjoyed some of their work before, but preferring New Order. I'll go 4 stars here

The vocals here are so bad they overshadow anything interesting the rest of the band might have been doing. This album gave me a headache on a Friday. Instant 1 star for that.

Dark, atmospheric and innovative

3.5/5

Some really cool sounds, i think i need some more time with this band to really appreciate them on their own terms rather than proto-other bands i like

I know this band has huge influence on many bands I like but they don't touch me with this album, quite boring, maybe I need to give it another try...

Enjoyed it, but I think I like the first album more.

I'm someone who likes music for the music, not as the backing for poetry.

Nearly a DNF. Could not groove with Curtis’ voice. Instrumentation was fine but a bit dark and moody. (Feature, not a bug, I get it.)

Not their best.

3,5

Classic joy division

Bit crazy

I enjoy the Joy Division. Creative and edgy back in the day.

This album was a difficult listen back in 1980 and the passage of time hasn’t made it much easier. Knowing how desperately ill lead singer Ian Curtis was during the recording and then hearing lines like “Gotta find some therapy … gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late” hits home in a way that very few songs do. Perhaps he could have been helped, but there are too many ‘what ifs’ to answer. The sound of this album defined the 80s for me, being the antithesis of plastic pop for yuppies. Without this album we wouldn’t have had so much of the music that exploded from the Manchester scene throughout that decade and beyond. As with Bowie’s Blackstar, this deserves to be listened to properly and not shuffled or playlisted.

great sounding album

Ticks all the boxes - Moody but you can bop to it - Vulnerable vocals - Jangly effects-laden guitars - Bass so forward in the mix it’s punches you in the ear - Production that lets everything breathe The actual songs aren’t half bad too.

Good, but not really my thing...

Liked it very much

A solid 4

Ich find's eher nervig, ist nicht meins

Ne das ist es nicht... Hat auch nicht besonders viel Joy in der Musik

The era when you didn't need to be able to sing to be a singer

Not enjoyable

Ugly beauty. There's so much great Punky post rock stuff here. Massively atmospheric. The bass playing is really fantastic throughout. The production choices mean that it's dark and scratchy and Punky and kind of live - it's definitely part of the whole thing that I love but it does make it quite a tough listen in parts. I found I really had to give it my att rather than being able to just appreciate it while doing the washing up.

Big fan of the dramatic sounds Fave track: The Eternal

I put the time in to try and understand Joy Division, and now I think I'm starting to get it. This is the reason the heart beats, this is the reason to do the list. 3.5/5

Just meh

I've always thought that this is one of those bands that only really got big because their lead singer died... It's definitely unique and interesting, just not very enjoyable to listen to.

Seminal, yes. Dated, maybe. Sad boi bangers, definitely.

I’m not quite sure I get why Joy Division gets as much love as they do. This record isn’t really bad or anything, but it isn’t revolutionizing music for me either. I do now understand Interpol better though. Overall, I like the record ok, but I stress “ok” cause there really are a few points in the record that are hard to qualify as anything but next level dogshit. 7/10

My favourite band of all time

ok

I think it’s somewhere around a 3.5 I think that the legacy Curtis left is palpable and this band eventually grew as a result. It’s great gothic music, but it’s not as great as UP in my opinion. It’s good and I have no complaints. Very moody, very dark and a window to Curtis’ mind

Sombre and monotonous. Reminds me of Interpol but not as good. Though I give them credit for coming much earlier (1980).

I’m always a little bit “do I like Joy Division? Or do I just like all the bands they influenced?”

This list has made it clear how rare it is to be innovative and still listen-able, trail blazing but still timeless. This just reinforced my love for these guys, even if it's not quite as classic as Unknown Pleasures.

my fav

Joy Division’s final album, before the remaining members started over as New Order. What works best for me on 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 is Ian Curtis’ voice. His low, sometimes almost detached delivery fits the cold, uneasy atmosphere remarkably well. He can sound distant without sounding indifferent, and that makes the quieter moments particularly unsettling. I don’t connect with every song, but the combination of voice and music keeps me interested. The darkness feels convincing rather than put on, with Curtis sounding less like someone describing it than someone caught in the middle of it. Not an album that completely wins me over, but his presence makes a real difference.

Stark, depressing, excellent! 4

I like “alternative” rock as much as the next guy, but this was a touch too emo for me.

After the first song it’s either discordant or boring, as it does not sound like the band and the singer were in the same room recording. This is what music should not sound like.

So many bands I like, love this band, and yet I have never heard a song i really love.

i really like the eternal but the rest of the album just didn’t match that for me

I wanted to like this more. The instrumentals are creative and compelling, but I can't get over the off-pitch voice. I realize this is surely intentional, and while it is unsettling (again, intentionally), but I just don't enjoy it very much.

The final album from Joy Division is riveting in its darkness and a snapshot of Ian Curtis in his final movements to death. However - and this may change soon - it’s not Unknown Pleasures. Maybe one day this will stand out to me on a further level, but for now, I have the much stronger tie to the first album. Closer is an album that deserves to be discussed and discovered none the less (8/10, 4/5 on this scale)

I appreciate the craft but its quite a tough listen.

Dark, brooding, deeply influential and ultimately great

I'm on a run of 5/5s, and this is an easy one for me. I'm pretty shocked by the amount of negative reviews. I prefer Unknown Pleasures, but Closer probably has more depth to it. The production is superb, with little hints of what was to come with New Order.

Don't know if you can contextualize this album without Unknown Pleasures on one side and New Order on the other. Well, maybe you can, but I can't. This feels like an unfinished product: bolder, bigger, better than Unknown Pleasures but also less complete, less focused, more scattered. The old world (and ian curtis) is dying, the new order struggles to be born. We have the same driving beats, the same dark, semi-gothic drive, but some of it is going to that new order dance, some of it is stuck in punkier roots, and some of it is going to where Joy Division would've ended up if, y'know. So do I like it? Yeah. Do I like it as much as Unknown Pleasures? I dunno. At times yes, at times no. I guess this is the more critical darling, but Joy Division's best work, in my opinion, is Love Will Tear Us Apart. So the trajectory is there, I guess. But difficult.

Joy Division is just a really good band who made two really good albums. They have atmosphere like no other. It really puts you in a certain fucking upbeat depressive mood that I really enjoy. Godspeed to Joy Division.

The vocals give me confidence. I should song in public more often. If this guy can do it unembarrassed and without irony, I can too. Is there a solid rhythm section out there willing to play awesome music behind my mediocre-at-best singing? I can ruin your shit a little less than this. Let's get it going! For me, the instrumentation is really good on this album; the droning and hypnotic feel of it is most of what I like, but the wannabe Jim Morrison who's Ben Steining into the microphone just kills it for me. "I put my trust in you, Bueller. Bueller? My wife says about clothes that you can wear a risque top or a risque bottom, but not both at the same time. Along those lines, I think you get one kind of droning in music: vocals or instruments. As a compliment, this music would fit perfectly into a Robert Rodriguez film. This wasn't unlistenable, but it was unenjoyable. ⭐⭐

I didn't think there could be an album this bad.

Listened to this years ago and it didn’t hit, but today….god damn this is a masterpiece. The influence Closer had on bands like Radiohead, the cure, NIN etc is undeniable. It’s the upside down of conventional music, a minimalist post punk electronic record where the bass plays the lead and the synths (a newish concept for the time if I am not mistaken) tuned to sound like an ancient organ built but the Druid/aliens who did stone hedge and percussion that lays the foundation for everything Radiohead produced post OKC. I assumed this would be a 3 based on past experience but we’re gonna give this a 5.

In one word, Closer could be described as swamp-like. The restrained and mostly relaxed mood borders with bleakness. The vocals only add up to this effect. For instance, Heart and Soul starts as a promising track but ends up featuring lack of development. In the first half of the album, the distorted sounds are overused which at times ruins the effect of their style, which is undoubtedly present throughout Closer. A Means to an End, Twenty Four Hours and Decades are the leading tracks. They tend to feature some kind of distinct melody, while other compositions feel like sticking to just unsuccessfully trying to come up with one. Perhaps their outher albums are more compelling. P.S. Great track titles on this one.

I’ve never been a fan of the droning, depressing songs of this era and genre. And yet I recognize this band’s influence and appreciate what they did when they reformed as New Order without Ian (?) Curtis. I think he was probably the part I didn’t like. So do they get 4 stars for potential and influence or 3 because I don’t really want to listen to this again. 3.5 is my real rating, as if it matters.

*Closer* is an outstanding album, eerie and off-kilter at times, persistent and relentless at others.

If I was Ian Curtis I would have killed myself, too. Shite music that you can’t possibly criticise because otherwise you demonstrate that you just don’t understand it, it’s not just a phase, mum! I hate you!

Bad vocals over disjointed noise

Doesn't sound too different to my ears. Not my cup of tea.

I know that this one is widely accepted and other stuff, by I can't say that there is something amazing in this album, maybe except

Not a great singer; seemed like he wasn’t able to hit notes well or consistently. Music itself was ok if a little on the boring side. 2.5/5

I have always anticipated Joy Division as avarage punk, but this was something else. Very delicate, very post.

A little moody at the end, it’s not Unknown Pleasures, it doesn’t feature Love Will Tear Us Apart. So, not five stars.

I modsætning til Unknown Pleasures blev den her bedre frem for dårligere gennem albummet. Og det var ikke fordi, den startede dårligt.

Was never into Joy Division at the time, just too bleak. Still don’t really get it. 2

Unfortunately this was Joy Division’s last album, released just before Ian Curtis’s untimely passing. It’s incredible to think how this band’s influence not only left a mark back then but saw a whole new resurgence in the early 2000s, reshaping the musical landscape and fueling the rise of indie rock. I may not listen to them as often now, but my respect for their cultural and musical impact runs deep.

Jag har egentligen aldrig köpt in mig på JD, vilket man kanske kan tro att jag borde. Låtarna är helt enkelt för dåliga tror jag. Dom släppte ju ett par riktigt fina popsinglar (Love will tear us apart och Transmission) men albumen är jättetråkiga och är stendöda för mig. Ljudmässigt låter dom dessutom inte alls särskilt bra, att jämföra med hur t ex Cure eller OMD lät vid samma tidpunkt. Dom lyckas skapa det där minimalistiskt ödliga mycket på ett mer apititligt och intressant vis. Jag hittar egentligen inga riktigt bra låtar här, bäst gillar jag avslutande syntiga "Decades" som påminner mig om just OMD. "Heart and soul" och "A means to an end" kan jag också tänka mig att lyssna på igen, men resten är verkligen stendött. Myten JD står ivägen för det undermåliga som faktiskt spelas, på samma sätt som för The Doors. Jag väljer vilket New Order allbum som helst före detta Inte nära ettan men rätt svag tvåa

Myten om Joy Division är måhända större än deras musik. Allt är inte fantastiskt. Inledande Atrocity expedition och Colony är till exempel två rätt tålamodsprövande spår som aldrig växer ut. Men så finns det också underbara maniska verk, vackra och hårda på samma gång, som Isolation, A means to an end, Heart and soul, 24 Hours. Closer och Cures Seventeen seconds lever lite i samma speciella universum. Det är - kanske inte dansant - men rytmiskt medryckande.

Egentligen ett i grunden rätt trist och enformigt album. Det finns dock något i det malande soundet som biter sig fast på en. Som tex i Isolation och Twenty four hours. Räcker till trean men absolut inte mer.

Verkligen trist. Gillar inte sången alls. Inga låtar som griper tag i mig. Svag tvåa.

I will never get over how young they were.

I can see why people were drawn to this. Interesting post-punk and gothic influenced music that reminds me of Talking Heads, very strongly. Great synth sound and intriguing lyrics. This is a really good album with a sound that gripped me and wouldn't let me and made me want to explore them better. Heart and Soul is a bit unsteady and off-key, possibly intentionally so, but I'm not enjoying it. It picks back up from there, with more songs that benefit from the vocal styling. It lost me on the last couple of songs but still well above average.

Postpunk

This was A Means to an End.

7/10

I'm not a Joy Division fan, but I respect this album too much to give it a 3.

This is cool but just not really for me. This is what I imagine real goth girls listen to.

Man, I liked Unknown Pleasures but this sucks. They took everything interesting out of what they made and just turned in to shoe gazing (not the genre, just the idea) mumbling with repetitive nonsense over it. Plus it still has Ian Curtis's horrible singing on it, including at least one song (I dont' remember which one) in which he's not only bad in the usual way, but he's entirely out of tune. Not good.

Tough listen. Really feels like a suicide note. There are times when the songs work, I do like the dissonance of Isolation. But songs like Colony don’t really feel like music? Like it doesn’t feel like a song to me just sounds.

It's fine I guess, I just don't really like it. Not really a Joy Division guy I guess.

Bit of whiplash after getting Sister Sledge yesterday When the generator gave me Unknown Pleasures I gave it four stars and found it didn't quite register with me as much as it did when I was younger. Closer still does. And one reason why it still hits home is because of its sequencing: it starts with the deeply uninviting invitation of Atrocity Exhibition and then gradually withdraws into the distance. There is a brief flicker of failed resistance in Twenty Four Hours, then it sinks into the utter despair of The Eternal and Decades. Yes, we know the history, but it would still be a masterfully gloomy album without it.

Great songs

3.5

A very dark and gloomy album, but quite cool still. 4.5 stars

I don't like this as well as their debut -- a lot of the post-punk style is replaced by a synth-heavy darkwave sound, which I think works against it. Still, there's a couple of cool tunes here -- "Atrocity Exhibition" and "Twenty Four Hours" are the highlights for me. But, ultimately, I miss the more driving punky sound of their debut. 3 stars.

One of my favourite lyrical albums. Just one massive graceful amazing closing howl-weep of despair. Has the slightest edge over their debut by being more of a warped, barbed, whirlwind emotional odyssey that really does open the tearful floodgates by the end. Some deliberately very ugly musical choices particularly on the first side but it all does unfold oh so majestically on the second side. Overall this is the Majora’s Mask to Unknown Pleasures’ Ocarina Of Time as that one is more of a neutral, straightforward classic of its genre ie post-punk whereas this one goes to much darker, heavier, tortured places. Here are the young badgers, the weight on their badger shoulders Here are the young badgers, well where have they been? We knocked on the badger doors of Hell's darker chamber Pushed to the badger limit, we dragged ourselves in Watched from the badger wings as the scenes were replaying We saw our badger selves now as we never had seen Portrayal of the trauma and badger degeneration The badger sorrows we suffered and never were free Where have they badgered? Where have they badgered? Where have they badgered? Where have they badgered? Weary inside, now our badger heart's lost forever Can't replace the fear, or the thrill of the badger chase Each badger ritual showed up the door for our badger wanderings Open then shut, then slammed in our badger face Where have they badgered? Where have they badgered? Where have they badgered? Where have they badgered?

Enjoyed the beat, but that was it. Just not my style at all.

I wish I liked this album more. It's good, but I haven't been in the mood for it. I'll need to keep listening to it.

It’s…fine. Post punk really isn’t my thing and I want to say this is the third or fourth day in a row, which is now tiring. I’ve listened to this album a good amount during the past few years, but it still hasn’t ever grabbed me. Will I ask someone to change it? No not really. Will I be glad it’s playing? Nah.

I think I just need to accept that I like New Order more than Joy Division. Decades is a really good song. The rest is kind of whatever.

I like Unknown Pleasures more, but this is a pretty solid set of songs. The production could be a lot better though… everything sounds very muddy throughout. 3.5/5