Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
misleading product info, 2 Oct 2007
I got my copy of the Joy Division box set today - and was at first bewildered, then angered. The packaging has been reduced to plain sleeves with no product info, no track listing or artwork whatsoever! The set is however advertised on Amazon as (and I cite) "All three titles are presented in their original packaging" which is clearly misleading.
While I understand the "total redux" concept employed by the makers, the patently incorrect product info will anger many - and lead to quite a few boxes being returned! I for my part will hang on to this - but only for profitable resale at some later date.
If you are looking - as I was - for facsimile vinyl copies of the original Factory Records editions, then don`t fall for this (very expensive) set - you will need to get the individual releases!
Why, finally, even the sticker on the box`s shrink wrap reads "all in original artwork" is absolutely beyond me, as this is clearly untrue.
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38 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unspoilt By Label Copy, 23 Sep 2007
The manufacturer's representation of this product has been, I feel, misleading. The picture shows a grey box with the edges of three records fanned out behind it. On the face of it, one might imagine that this is a collection of the newly remastered albums available separately, and that we are being invited to pay double their retail price because this set is a) limited, and b) in a nice box. And while, yes, that is in a sense true, we are also paying for something else, something you won't read about on Amazon's description, but something that makes this set oh-so-special.
That something is this: the Joy Division box set is 'unspoilt by label copy'.
To be honest, when I read this (at other online stores) I wasn't really sure of the implications. At first glance, it seemed like a concession to the fact that these were originally released on Factory Records, and therefore any reference to the current owners - London Records - would be omitted. Which sounded good. But then, I thought, maybe it wasn't this after all. For what exactly is 'label copy'? Well, that's text relating to the contents of whatever has been labelled. Fine. Avoiding the more obvious (and seemingly ludicrous) conclusion, I wondered if this implied that the sleeves weren't strewn with endless interviews and essays attempting to contextualise the original releases. Fair enough, I thought, that stuff is okay for CDs, and maybe even the individual versions of the vinyl re-releases, but not for this super-duper expensive box set. Oh no, at this price it's authenticity we're after.
Wrong.
As I opened the box and incredulously described its contents to my partner, she murmured, "Emperor's New Clothes." She had a point. You see, in this context, Unspoilt By Label Copy means Unspoilt By Any Text, Or Indeed Any Artwork Whatsoever.
Should I have realised this? Maybe so, but then would it have hurt anyone to come right out and say exactly what was on offer? Why didn't the blurb read: "These records are labelled 'All New Artwork' which means they are missing all the original artwork and typography to be replaced by...nothing. Save for a few small details on the actual disc labels that nod towards the arrangement of the original information (a line here, two lines there), the labels and sleeves, inside and out, are completely and utterly blank."?
There is, however, an information sheet included, which titles the set, 'Joy Division In Memory', perhaps as in 'you have to remember what tracks are on what disc from your old copies, 'cos these new sleeves won't remind you at all'.
I'm being facetious, of course. This is an excellent set. The presentation is faultless. (No, really!)
Despite how New Order are traditionally announced onstage, Joy Division really only exist in memory, and this specific reincarnation of their seminal output works to reflect this fact. Its essentially different form emphasises the newness of the remastering process. It does not feign authenticity, but situates itself clearly in the present, only glancing over its shoulder. A bit like the chunkier - read: compressed - mixes in evidence. (Well, what else did anyone expect?) Peter Saville and his cohorts are playing with the preconceptions of Joy Division's older fans, and out of this process, something new and different is born.
Delivered of markings, the texture of the paper - closely matched to the original stock - is brought to the fore.
Opening the box, with its thick hessian of black and white thread, we are presented with the cross-hatched, gloss black of Unknown Pleasures, the smooth, matte white of Closer, and the recycled grey of Still. This is primary memory - pure sensation. On a black information sheet hidden at the back, barely visible type offers the absolute minimum of information, but even that is perhaps unnecessary, given the intended audience.* Even though the result is something quite different from what is generally implied by the photo and the rest of the text, the blurb is correct in describing this as 'a highly collectable work of art'.
This set exists as the final extreme of an experiment Saville and Joy Division began all those years ago, one that saw many refinements through New Order's output, namely the reduction of information on record sleeves. It was a secret code between the band and its fans, a special record shop thrill that existed only for the Joy Division / New Order clique. By this essential difference, you could spot a New Order record a mile off. Perhaps that situation doesn't translate well to the more prosaic online world, but more effort could have been made. By explaining this design choice in context of its history, London could have been clearer about what was on offer, and still made it sound cool.
So, what about the individual remastered vinyl albums, the ones that, together, only cost about half the price of this box set? Given that the limited box splashes out on the correct paper stock, one might presume that the standard remastered vinyl copies - the ones 'spoilt' by label copy - are printed are on suitably standard cardboard and paper. But this is not so. Indeed, the individual editions are perfect. They use the same stock as those in the box set, and Still even has its hardcover and ribbon. Furthermore, despite being sullied by their photos of tombs, or by their depictions of radio waves born of collapsed stars, or indeed by their fancy-schmancy lettering, they are all virtually free of any reference to London. Attached to the shrink-wrap, there's a mention on the barcode sticker, and alongside Joy Division's traditionally oblique run-off groove scrawlings, there's a new, anonymous serial number scratched in. Other than that: nothing. It's all Factory-this and Factory-that. Great stuff.
So, in conclusion, this box set complements both the original albums and their remastered incarnations and also stands alone as a beautiful piece of design, but if you wanted a complete modern facsimile of the originals, you might be a little disappointed.
*A small point, but as this information sheet aims for an essentialist approach, for example, eschewing the usually predominant Factory catalogue numbers, why does it follow the suit of the Still label copy where a track name was omitted for sake of visual symmetry? The audibly present 24 Hours goes unmentioned on the sheet, even though the song titles are merely listed and not distinctly arranged.
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See all 10 tracks on this disc
![Unknown Pleasures [VINYL]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51B4SPuQX8L._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Vinyl Box Set: Unknown Pleasures/Closer/Still - Remastered [VINYL]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EoHH2GR4L._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Closer [VINYL]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41n-L6yYrfL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
