Joy Division - Best of Joy Division

Artist: Joy Division
Title: Best of Joy Division
Label: Rhino / Wea
UPC: 081227993085
Price: $11.98

Joy Division - Best of Joy Division Track Listing

1 - Digital
2 - Disorder
3 - Shadowplay
4 - New Dawn Fades
5 - Transmission
6 - Atmosphere
7 - Dead Souls
8 - She's Lost Control
9 - Love Will Tear Us Apart
10 - These Days
11 - Twenty Four Hours
12 - Heart and Soul
13 - Incubation
14 - Isolation

About Joy Division - Best of Joy Division

Joy Division, The Best of Joy Division

Joy Division - Best of Joy Division Reviews

Average Rating: 4.0

Rating: 5
Being a lifelong lover of music ranging from all styles of rock to blues to bluegrass I was amazed to hear Ian Curtis and Joy Division's music and wondered how I had never heard it before.

I happened to catch a late night viewing of the semi-biographical movie "Control" a few months back and the music amazed me. After viewing a number of their performances on YouTube I was hooked.

As I listen to this "Best Of" release I hear bits of punk, techno and Goth mixed in with David Bowie and The Doors. It is outstanding.

The lyrics and music are haunting and my only regret is I took so long to happen upon it. A solid 5 stars.

Rating: 3
Buy Closer and Unknown Pleasures instead. The tracks are not well organized. Some of them are singles thrown in with album tracks, and there is no real continuity. Most important, it's not as high quality as the albums. Particularly She's Lost Control - 12in version sounds tinny and weak compared to Unknown Pleasures version. Spend the money for the albums, def worth the extra.

Rating: 3
My thoughts on this can pretty much be summed up by my review of 'Permanent'; although it contains some of the best music of its time, I don't really recommend buying this album. It contains nothing that serious fans wouldn't already have, since there's no new material here. And those people new to Joy Division are better off getting 'Substance' as a starting point, then the studio albums. So who's this supposed to be for?

The track listing here is better than 'Permanent', at least: 'Disorder' and 'New Dawn Fades' are clearly stronger cuts than 'Day Of The Lords' and 'Passover', and 'Digital' is a quality inclusion as well. But once again there is nothing from 'An Ideal For Living', or any of the band's other early work. The band's punk roots are an important part of Joy Division's sound, so it's a pity that 'Novelty' and 'Warsaw' at the very least couldn't be included. And 'Incubation'???? When was this one of the greatest Joy Division songs?? Virtually anything else from 'Unknown Pleasures' or 'Closer' is more worthy than that one.

Yes, all the really essential singles are inlcuded: 'Transmission', 'She's Lost Control', 'Atmosphere', 'Dead Souls', 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. And apart from 'Incubation' everything else that's here deserves to be. But Joy Division had so many great songs that a Greatest Hits type album doesn't work for them.....there are just too many important songs that are missing.

In short: brilliant music, but pointless album.

Rating: 5
This album, released in 2008, will serve little purpose for someone who is already a big Joy Division fan. For those people, you can stop reading my review now, as this is geared towards a different audience.

It is however a solid collection for somebody with little or no exposure to the band, and for these people it is a "must have". I bought this on a whim because (a) It was reasonably priced and (b) Many of my favourite groups at the time were unfavourably regarded as Joy Division clones (and I wanted to make my own comparison). This CD for me did not disappoint as an introduction to one of the greatest bands of all-time.

The obvious starting point was the undeniable classic "Love Will Tear Us Apart", as it was on so many Best Song Ever lists. After a week or so of repeating listenings, it made an impact on me like only a few songs previously had so I decided to explore the rest of the album which proved to be just as good. Songs like "Dead Souls", "Atmosphere", "Digital" and "Twenty Four Hours" are a few more personal highlights but everything on this album is a classic worth listening to.

I subsequently bought Substance to get the 9 additional songs that weren't included on this album and one thing that makes this album better is the sound quality, which wasn't as good on Substance. Also, six songs from this Best Of (Disorder, Shadowplay, New Dawn Fades, Twenty Four Hours, Heart & Soul and Isolation) do not appear on Substance so the two albums are good companions to one another if this is all the Joy Division you want in your collection. If still not satisfied, do what I did and purchase the Heart and Soul Box Set for a more complete look at Joy Division's work.

The only disappointment arising from this endeavour was discovering that several of my favourite bands (i.e. Editors, The Killers, White Lies, etc.) just didn't seem as good anymore when stacked up against them.

This CD for me turned Joy Division from a group I had only heard about to one of my favourite groups of all-time and for that, I can't not offer a glowing recommendation.

Rating: 5
this is what all the hype was all those years ago
still sounds great
suicide is such awaste