Joy Division - 'Closer' (Factory)

Closer is probably Joy Division's great statement, a masterpiece if such a title must be awarded, though it's a hard record to grasp. I've listened to this enough times to recognise any second of it, if heard somewhere, yet I probably couldn't hum a single melody in an empty, soundless room. Maybe Closer is a bit schizophrenic, often quickly shifting between different ideas, sometimes juxtaposing moods in an unsettling way. Some songs harken back to the Warsaw days, all grit and gristle ('A Means to an End'), and others are cool, icy post-disco misery ('Isolation'). 'Atrocity Exhibition' starts things off as one of the most challenging works in the Joy Division oeuvre, and it's almost like if Talking Heads had Lee Ranaldo guesting on guitar. The industrial scrapes and howls fit the inspiration (a brilliantly experimental JG Ballard pseudo-novel that is a far more extreme vision of technology and irony gone awry than anything offered here) and the track really separates Closer from the record which came before it. But the overwhelming feeling is that of stasis, that of being trapped in suspension, which makes Curtis's suicide all the more affecting. (This was released posthumously, just, I think). This isn't just repetition or monotony, but the feeling of trying to go somewhere and never making any progress. That feeling is all over this record but probably the most evident in 'The Eternal', whose haunting piano tinkles are pretty fucking harrowing. 'Heart and Soul', 'Decades' and 'A Means to an End' are other highlights, but really it's all pretty solid. The use of synths are again carefully chosen; on 'Decades' the pressing feeling perfectly conjures the Teutonic sensibility that goes in hand with the fascist overtones Joy Division were occasionally accused of wearing. I don't absolve them of this transgression but it fucking works to sell the misery, because if your worldview is bleak and hopeless, then creeping fascism is just the icing on the cake (take a look at a newspaper today for current examples). 

A Certain Ratio - 'To Each...' (Factory)

Source: Ross, of course, 22 May 2002 for a couple bucks.

Another gatefold, though I'm not so down with the paintings (by Ann); Peter Christopherson
is credited with 'Cover co-ordination' so hooray for that. These moody Mancunians went to New Jersey to record this and maybe this setting is what pumped a little American disco life into their veins. The bass and clattery drums drive the songs, which to be honest lack a bit in the songwriting department. Things get a bit Seinfeld and there's some porn guitar, but the vocals remind you that this is a record from a Manchester band in 1980. Always gotta love the slight fascist overtones on these things, both in the band name and the weird photo of uniformed men surrounded by red borders (Sleazy's co-ordination again!). This is a great record to listen to if you live in the North, wear mostly black, and have your own club night where you don't play anything made after 1981 except for 'Da Da Da' by Trio. Certainly the long Kraftwerky moments are to be appreciated but you don't know for sure because they aren't as direct as you'd like. A Certain Ratio are probably one of the most interesting 'big' bands from this era but I never completely clicked with them- maybe it's too funky or maybe this was just a consolation prize cause I don't have any Crispy Ambulance albums.