Closer is a July
1980 (see
1980 in music) album by
Joy Division. It was their second album, after
Unknown Pleasures[?], and their last before the band became
New Order after the
suicide of their singer
Ian Curtis. The album was supposed to come out on
8 May of 1980, but ended up arriving in stores in July, only just after Curtis' suicide by hanging, shortly before the band was to leave for a North American tour. The album hit the Top Ten in the
United Kingdom. The
producer was
Martin Hannett, and the record was originally released on the
Factory Records label.
The album cover was designed by Martyn Atkins and Peter Saville, with photography from Bernard Pierre Wolf. The cemetery on the cover is Staglieno Cemetery in
Genova, Italy[?].
Joy Division was partially inspired by the Gothic rock tradition, exemplified by bands like The Cure and Siouxsie & the Banshees. The song "Isolation", with its sunny pop-tune and angst-ridden, macabre lyrics, shows the relationship between Joy Division's hardcore punk origin, Gothic rock influences, as well as showing a rare synth pop influence in Joy Division's work.
Personnel
Track listing
- Atrocity Exhibition
- Isolation
- Passover
- Colony
- A Means to an End
- Heart and Soul
- Twenty Four Hours
- The Eternal
- Decades
(The Track Listing is from the CD Release. This album was originally released on LP and cassette.)
External links
Closer is also the name of a 2002 album by
Better Than Ezra; see
Closer (Better Than Ezra album)[?].
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