User talk:Ceoil/Unknown

"Unknown Pleasures contrasts the message of decay and bemused acceptance of life's paradoxes with the energy and excitement of a band set loose in a studio for the first time. The tension of originality constrained by inadequate instrumental skills — simple synthesizers and guitar set against the Peter Hook/Stephen Morris rhythm section's more obvious punk roots — gives the record a powerfully immediate air; Hannett glazes the chilling, despondent music (including the classic "She's Lost Control") with a Teutonic sheen, fusing medium and message into a dark, holistic brilliance. The grim songs are punctuated by the sounds of ambulance sirens and breaking glass, picturing a world speeding towards incomprehensible chaos. Very highly recommended."

Reception

Unknown Pleasures reached #1 in the UK charts in August 1980 in the aftermath of Ian Curtis's death and also peaked at #1 in New Zealand during June 1981.

In 2000 Q magazine placed Unknown Pleasures at number 19 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Pitchfork Media placed 9th out of the its 100 Greatest Albums of the 1970s while the 2007 re-release received the rare accolade of 10/10. In his 1995 book, "The Alternative Music Almanac", Alan Cross placed the album in the #8 spot on the list of '10 Classic Alternative Albums'.

Album cover

The front cover image comes from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, and was originally drawn with black lines on a white background. It presents exactly 100 successive pulses from the first pulsar discovered, PSR B1919+21 (often referred to in the context of this album by its older name, CP 1919). The cover design is credited to Joy Division, Peter Saville and Chris Mathan. The back cover of the album contains no track listings, leaving a blank table where one would expect the listings to be.

The original LP release contained no track information on the labels, nor the traditional "side one" and "side two" designations. The ostensible "side one" was labeled Outside and displayed a reproduction of the image on the album cover, while the other side was labeled Inside and displayed the same image with the colors reversed (black-on-white). Track information and album credits appeared on the inner sleeve only.

Groove Notations

European pressing: Near the inner groove of the Outside is etched in script: "This is the way" and the Inside has "Step inside". Both lines are taken from the song "Atrocity Exhibition", which was released on the follow up Closer album, a year later.
US pressing: The Inside reads "I've been looking for a guide", an altered version of the opening line of the song "Disorder".

Reissues

The album, along with Closer and Still were remastered and re-released in 2007. The remaster came packaged with a bonus live disc, recorded at The Factory, Manchester, on July 13, 1979.