[Link removed 20 November 2012] (63 MB)
She's Lost Control
Factory Records US Facus 2
Produced by Martin Hannett
August 1980
Tracklisting:
01 She's Lost Control (12" Version)
02 Atmosphere
03 Twenty Four Hours (Live from the High Hall, Birmingham 2 May 1980)
04 She's Lost Control (Full Mix)
05 These Days (Live from the Lyceum, London 29 February 1980)
06 Sister Ray (Live from the Moonlight Club, London 2 April 1980)
1, 2 from Nippon Columbia Japan CD Substance COCY-9332
3 from Factory Records LP Still FACT 40, original 1981 pressing
4 from Factory Records CD Martin Factory FACD325
5 a blend of a previously unreleased soundboard recording and Duncan Haysom's audience master recording
6 a blend of the Still version (same as 1-2) and a low-generation audience recording
Thanks to Mr. Anonymous for his unparalleled talents in creating the matrix mixes for tracks 5 and 6, without whom...
Here are the notes from Mr. A.L., who is doing the mastering:
This was the most fun of all the Joy Division Recycle bundles to put together, and it's my favorite to listen to as well.
Since I know you're all reading the tracklist, I want to immediately step in to head off any further sourcing questions. First, no, we don't have the Birmingham recording of Twenty Four Hours in any other source than the original vinyl. Second, These Days is the only track we have - that is usable in any fashion - from the previously-unknown soundboard recording. Third, we do not have any idea if other soundboard tracks exist anywhere for the Moonlight gig from which Sister Ray was taken.
There is no further information known or that can be divulged about the soundboard source for the Lyceum track.
Onward.
Perhaps only the late Tony Wilson knows why Factory asked the band, already at Strawberry Studios, Stockport in March 1980 to re-record Love Will Tear Us Apart, to also record a new version of their already-a-classic She's Lost Control. The story goes that it was intended to launch the band in the US dance clubs, and while we'll never know if it would have worked due to intervening events, it did give the world a new, fresh interpretation of the track. And the story also goes that Martin Hannett used this track to audition some new production techniques he'd been working on.
Two distinct variants (due either to perversity or poor master reel labeling, nobody knows for certain) eventually were issued. The original, what we are calling the 12" Version, is what was released August 1980 in the US and one month later in the UK as FACUS2. The alternate Full Mix - and it's definitely a different mix, more in a moment - first appeared on UK copies of 1988's Substance, while US copies retained the earlier 12" Version. The Full Mix also appeared on 1991's Martin compilation, issued by Factory to memorialize the late Martin Hannett, which is where I sourced the version presented here. 1997's Heart And Soul featured the Full MIx as well, though several other compilation or soundtrack records post-1997 featured the earlier version.
They are definitely different mixes: the 12" Version is more claustrophobic and dense than the Full Mix, it has a longer keyboard/synth part (essentially, it comes in earlier in the mix), and the entire track fades out prematurely. The Full Mix has a different mix of acoustic/electric guitars, as well as some of the underlying electronic sounds/effects.
Finally, all known releases up to now of the 12" Version suffered from tape dropouts during the first 0:20 of the song. These have all now been repaired.
Twenty Four Hours was taken from a mint 1981 UK pressing of the Still LP (though not from the Hessian bound version). Professionally cleaned up and mastered for this release, you will not find a better sounding version unless you're sitting on the soundboard 1/4" master reel. It's a shame this track hasn't been restored and released officially, because it's as good a performance as you'll find of this song, and in this "get it all out" day and age there have been plenty of opportunities for Warners to do so.
These Days from the Lyceum, London 29 February 1980 is from a never-before-heard soundboard recording, artfully blended with Duncan Haysom's audience master recording of the same gig. We commissioned the "matrix" mix because the soundboard recording was too sterile, lacking of any energy or emotion, or depth. It's as raw a soundboard recording as you will ever find for this band, and it, in and of itself, was not appropriate for release. Believe us when we say the version here is leaps and bounds better, in all ways, than the raw soundboard version.
Sister Ray from the Moonlight Club, West Hampstead, London 2 April 1980 was blended with a low-generation audience recording of the same gig, for the same reasons as These Days. It betters, in all ways, the version found on Still.
As a side note, in the mastering of this package it was discovered that (as you've probably by now come to expect) both versions of She's Lost Control were mastered at the incorrect pitch. This time it's a bit flat (slow), so watch The Power Of Independent Trucking for the repitched variants.
I really didn't know about New Order's previous incarnation as Joy Division until Substance was released in 1988 - now I suddenly had an entirely new catalog to explore. I picked up an import copy of the cassette because I never went anywhere without my Walkman and I liked that the artwork was different to the US version - the printing was richer, and the typography was laid out differently. Actually, I can put it down to one tiny element that I preferred - I was a graphic design student at University at the time, and I loved that the barcode was centered on the spine of the UK cassette. That was a design detail I would borrow for years after when I was designing packages for local bands. Anyway, the cassette was my portable version, but I also bought the US edition of the CD to listen to at home. Years later it finally occurred to me that I'd been listening to two different mixes of She's Lost Control, but at the time it was more of a sub-subconscious thing, like "doesn't this song fade at the end?" I could never quite put a finger on it, but I must have started to associate that odd sensation with the song in general because it made a lasting impression. It's just about my favorite Joy Division song - but only this re-recording. I don't actually like the version on Unknown Pleasures (heresy! LOL).
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