[Link removed 20 November 2012] (49 MB)
Joy Division
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Factory Records Fac 23
Produced by Martin Hannett
April 1980
Tracklisting:
01 Love Will Tear Us Apart
02 These Days
03 Love Will Tear Us Apart (Pennine/alternate version)
04 The Sound Of Music
05 Love Will Tear Us Apart (1995 Don Gehman Radio Mix)
06 Love Will Tear Us Apart (1995 Arthur Baker Remix)
1, 2 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
3 sourced from 1988 Factory Records CD single Atmosphere Facd213
4 sourced from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Still COCY-9331
5, 6 sourced from 1995 London/PolyGram Canada CD single Love Will Tear Us Apart 422 850 129-2
Thanks to Josef, Ken, Craigie, and Dave for sleuthing and scanning assistance.
Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:
Ask any random stranger on the street to name a Joy Division track, and if they actually come up with an answer, it's usually this single.
Not much I need to add, though for punters who think the jaunty music is the band's signature style based on this song alone, obviously they've not done enough digging into the catalog. An utterly incongruous match between such jolly, Radio 1-esque music and one of Ian's bleaker lyrical contributions - perhaps that's why it works so well?
Track 1 was largely recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport in February/March 1980 with the vocals tightened up during the March 1980 Closer sessions at London's Britannia Row Studios. Ian famously modeled his vocals after Frank Sinatra, per Tony Wilson's suggestion. Tracks 2, 3 and 4 were recorded in January 1980 at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham, and because the band never agreed on the quality of this original LWTUA interpretation, re-recorded it as per Track 1.
Track 2 was recently discovered to be not pitched correctly, so please keep an eye on The Power Of Independent Trucking for a repitched variant (giving it much more of a sonorous depth than the too-fast common version).
Tracks 5 and 6, largely disposable, came about during the first wave of JD renaissance retro fashion in 1995, upon the release of Debbie Curtis' "Touching From A Distance" and the first London-era JD compilation, the useless Permanent. Neither interpretation strengthens the song though Gehman (known for his work with John Cougar Mellencamp and R.E.M.) does bring up the acoustic elements a bit (too much?), and Baker's effort does give the track a bit of a dance feel.
Minor EQ and volume adjustments only.
I actually like Arthur Baker's remix a lot, and will occasionally close out one of my DJ sets with it. Another remix which was commissioned (but rejected) at the time is by Trouser Enthusiasts (Ian Masterson). I find it laughably inappropriate, but if you want to hear it, download this (192 kbps MP3, 10MB).
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