FAC 23.

Ian Curtis' Memorial Stone, Macclesfield Cemetery.

After a couple of posts, I thought I should I would let you inside my head a little bit more, let you know the music that has the biggest effect on me. I'd say I have maybe two or three artists who I would describe as 'my favourite.' being Bon Iver, Death Cab For Cutie, and Joy Division.

Other 'favourite' artists would be, Joni Mitchell, City and Colour, John Martyn and Radiohead.

But of all of them, Joy Division stand out the most. With such a short career, only two studio albums (Unknown Pleasures and Closer) all of their work for me is outstanding. I'm also a huge fan of 'Factory Productions' as a whole and have read several books and seen various films on Factory as a whole. From the gigs they put on, the Hacienda nightclub, the odd way in which they work the catalogue numbers and of course the record label itself, the two men who started it Alan Erasmus and the late Tony Wilson, started Factory on the same idea, they wanted to spread the music they loved.

Despite both being businessmen in the record industry, they worked hard to put the music they loved out, and as a proper independent label should, they had as much band involvement as possible. To the extent that when New Order realeased 'Blue Monday' they were so keen to have the artwork and record sleeve exactly how they wanted it, that the final product of the record and sleeve infact cost more than they could sell it at, therefore despite being one of the highest selling records in UK history, Factory never made a penny off it.

I consider Joy Division's debut album 'Unknown Pleasures' to be my 'favourite' album of all time, and I was lucky enough that this May I was in Manchester for one night, and with Manchester (technically Salford) being the home of Joy Division, I had high hopes to pick myself up a copy of 'Unknown Pleasures' on vinyl. So the afternoon before we headed home, I dragged my two friends about second hand record shops in Manchester, to try find it. After 5 shops, we headed for the car, when I passed another, so I decided one last attempt. After looking in the racks, no luck, so I asked behind the counter and the guy told me they had just had a delivery and he would check. He came back with two, one an American re-release from the mid-80s, the other a UK first edition from it's release in 1979, one of only 10,000 released. I'd struck gold. After chatting to the guy running the shop for a while, he realised I was a big fan and how desperate I was to pick up a copy on vinyl, so he sold it to me for £20 as I was such a big fan, even though he could sell it to any old Manchester lad who's Dad told him about Joy Division a couple week's earlier, for around £100 if he'd wanted to. I value my copy with my life and how the record shop worker acted as one music lover to another.

I also had went to the newly opened FAC251 the night before, which is a new club opened by Peter Hook of Joy Division/New Order in Manchester, and I did hear Blue Monday '88 get played, which to me was pretty special being a Factory obsessed Glasgow boy in Manchester.

So to bring me to the song. Despite being a bit of a Joy Division geek, my 'favourite' song isn't something obscure or unusual like 'Ceremony' which was New Order's, the band the remaining members of Joy Division formed after Ian Curtis' death in 1980, first release in 1981, but infact was the last song written by Joy Division before Curtis' suicide. There does exist several recordings of Ceremony from sound-checks, live recordings and also a rehearsal.


My 'favourite' song is the one they're famous for, the one we all know....'Love Will Tear Us Apart.'

The song to me just stands out. After reading so much about the band, the company and the amazing biography of Ian Curtis written by his widow Deborah, called 'Touching from a Distance,' the lyrics to the song give a real insight into Ian's head and thinking at the time. A lot of which does not become apparent until after his death, when we can reflect on what he is saying and it is almost clear that something is seriously wrong with the writer. It will always be a song that I will never get old of hearing.

A real compliment to the song, is the amount of people who have covered it. People who share my view that this is truly an amazing song, and want to show there appreciation by having their own take on it. Some of the covers are excellent, such as the Nouvelle Vague and Jose Gonzalez, but I must admit, I really do not appreciate the Fall Out Boy cover!

The cover I love the most however, is this one, it's also the one I head most recently. It's by Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, a Norwegian duo. They perform a beautiful cover of the song, and really make it their own, the magic to all good covers. It's this version I post for you. I have also posted the lyrics to have a look at. My favourite lyrics of the whole song, being the last verse. Even if you know the song, this cover is really something special.





When the routine bites hard
And ambitions are low
And the resentment rides high
But emotions won't grow
And we're changing our ways
Taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again.

Why is the bedroom so cold
Turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed
Our respect run so dry?
Yet there's still this appeal
That we've kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again.

Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings exposed
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold
Is it something so good
Just can't function no more?
When love, love will tear us apart again.