Closer

This review is for the customer who wondered if there was any big audio upgrade in the latest (and double) CD of 'Closer'. I am aware that it was quite a while ago, when you added your comment to one of the customer reviews. You may well have bought the thing by now.
I shall leave the emotional impressions and memories to others on this occasion. Your reviews are all valid, but Robespierre's question needs answering.
I HAVE just bought the 2CD 'Closer'(cheaply and second-hand). Until I bought the 'Heart And Soul' box around 2000, I had not owned any Joy Division on CD (I am fifty. I bought the original LPs/singles). The box set was just getting less expensive. I think it was given a cheaper reissue at about this time, so the price on the 1997 version took a dip as well. It was this one I bought.
I have just done a side-by-side comparison between the latest 'Closer' and the box set rendition of the same album. Quite revealing, but not for the right reasons. Though a medium-quality hi-fi (using speakers) I find no detectable differences. On headphones (a decent Sennheiser set) I notice maybe a TINY low end boost, very subtle indeed, as it does not change the general sound. This is of course a good thing. There has been no attempt to turn up the volume on this new version. The levels on meters are nigh-on identical. Most pleasingly, the new mastering has not fallen into that 'compress everything' mentality that has blighted many recent remasters (Rolling Stones label Universal remasters - no thanks - I completed my collection with second-hand 90's Virgin remasters). Do however turn the volume down a bit before playing the live disc (or don't). It is LOUD in that way most modern CDs are. Fair play though. As a cassette recording it has no real dynamic range.
One star off for not realeasing the live disc separately, as with 'Preston' and the great 'Les Bains-Douches' CD.
It would seem that the late 90s/2000 Joy Division remasters were done well enough that no major changes have been made. Do not bother, unless you are after the ULU concert disc. Turn up your bass control a tiny bit, if you wish to replicate the only noticeable difference. You won't notice much. Their records were never very bassy anyway.

When i first listened to this album, i spent days with songs like Atrocity Exhibition and Heart And Soul playing on repeat. The music is so well crafted, the lyrics are unbelievable and ian curtis' delivers the whole thing off in a way that is impossible for you not to feel emotionally charged. The change from their early days is evident and i personally feel that it is a change for the better. Sumner's use of synthesizers is atmospheric and Hook's bass playing gets beyond playing chords. The drumming from Morris is tight and gives each song a greater edge. Hell i love all the albums but this is just pure genius... not just by Curtis but by the whole band

The best album of the 80s by far.

This is probably my favourite album ever made. It's simply beautiful. Recorded shortly before Ian Curtis' suicide in May 1980 - and ironically turning him into an icon to this day - it features the best work Joy Division ever made in this form. New Order, much as they tried, never quite measured up, even twenty-six years later.

Greatly assisted by the genius of Martin Hannett and his breathtaking production, the band are on fine, fatalistic form. Ian Curtis is at his lyrical best, especially on the closer, 'Decades,' but the real star here is Bernard Sumner. Always an underrated guitar player, (check out the messy solos on early Warsaw tune 'Failures') on this album he unleashes screeches, stabs of pure noise and wiry single note lines over the top of Peter Hook's ever-chiming bass. He also does a sterling job sitting at the keyboard, playing the album out with his wistful yet heartbreaking line in 'Decades' closing passage.

This is an extraordinary, exceptional album that's simultaneously depressing due to its circumstance and uplifting due to its beauty. Any New Order fan, or indeed any fan of music, is missing out if they don't purchase this astonishing, chilling example of why Ian Curtis is still missed.