Still (Joy Division album)

Still
Compilation album by Joy Division
Released 8 October 1981
Recorded 1978–1980
Genre Post-punk[1]
Length 83:25
Label Factory - FACT40
Producer Martin Hannett
Joy Division compilations chronology
Still
(1981)		 Substance
(1988)Substance1988
Joy Division chronology
Closer
(1980) Closer1980		 Still
(1981) Still1981		 The Peel Sessions
(1986) The Peel Sessions1986

Still is a compilation album by Joy Division, consisting of previously released and unreleased studio material and a live recording of Joy Division's last concert, performed at Birmingham University. It was released on 8 October 1981, through record label Factory, and was intended to combat the trade in bootlegs, and to give fans access to recordings that were not widely available at the time.

Background

The album includes the only time the group ever performed the song "Ceremony" live, which later became a New Order single. Another song featured is a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray", recorded at The Moonlight Club in London on 2 April 1980.

Still is a point of contention among some of the group's fans, because of the unbalanced recording of the High Hall performance. This is not aided by the fact that the engineer that night mixed the vocals far too low for the first half of "Ceremony", making Ian Curtis inaudible and thus marring one of only three recordings the band made of the song. Recent CD reissues of the album on London Records have replaced this live version with another known recording, a 1980 rehearsal that originally surfaced on the Heart and Soul box set. An audience recording of the live version, while of lower fidelity, has all of Curtis' vocals and has circulated as a bootleg since 1980. A further point of contention is the omission of the track "Twenty Four Hours" from all subsequent CD reissues of this album; this was said to be due to time constraints. As a result, "Twenty Four Hours" only appears on some cassette and vinyl versions of Still and has yet to be released officially on CD.

Release

Originally planned for release in August, Still was eventually released on 8 October 1981. It reached No. 5 in the UK upon its release[2] and peaked at No. 3 in New Zealand in February 1982.

The CD version of the album was released in March 1990. A number of the studio recordings have "added post production", including overdubs by the surviving members of the band.

Still, along with Closer and Unknown Pleasures, was remastered and re-issued on 17 September 2007. The remaster was packaged with a bonus disc of live recordings from the Town Hall, High Wycombe on 20 February 1980.[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
BBC Music(mixed)[4]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
Pitchfork8.4/10[6]
Q[7]

Joshua Klein of Pitchfork called the album "a ragged, enigmatic coda; an uneven odds-and-ends collection of lost tracks that fills in some gaps in Joy Division's history and legacy".[6] BBC Music called it "a partly frustrating compilation".[4]

Track listing

All tracks written by Joy Division (Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner), except "Sister Ray", written by John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Lou Reed and Maureen Tucker.

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Exercise One" (recorded in April 1979 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport during sessions for Unknown Pleasures)3:06
2."Ice Age" (recorded in October–November 1979 at Cargo Studios, Rochdale during sessions for the Licht und Blindheit single)2:24
3."The Sound of Music" (recorded in January 1980 at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham during sessions for the "Love Will Tear Us Apart" single)3:55
4."Glass" (recorded in October 1978 at Cargo Studios, Rochdale; originally released on A Factory Sample)3:56
5."The Only Mistake" (recorded in April 1979 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport during sessions for Unknown Pleasures)4:17
Side B
No.TitleLength
6."Walked in Line" (recorded in April 1979 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport during sessions for Unknown Pleasures)2:47
7."The Kill" (recorded in April 1979 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport during sessions for Unknown Pleasures)2:15
8."Something Must Break" (recorded in July 1979 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport during sessions for the "Transmission" single)2:48
9."Dead Souls" (recorded in October–November 1979 at Cargo Studios, Rochdale during sessions for the Licht und Blindheit single)4:53
10."Sister Ray" (The Velvet Underground cover; recorded live at the Moonlight Club, London on 2 April 1980)7:36
Side C
No.TitleLength
11."Ceremony" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)3:50
12."Shadowplay" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)3:57
13."Means to an End" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)4:01
14."Passover" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)5:10
15."New Dawn Fades" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)4:01
16."Twenty Four Hours" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980; extra track on some vinyl and cassette versions only)4:26
Side D
No.TitleLength
17."Transmission" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)3:40
18."Disorder" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)3:24
19."Isolation" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)3:05
20."Decades" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)5:47
21."Digital" (recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980)3:52
2007 CD remaster bonus disc (live at High Wycombe Town Hall)
No.TitleLength
1."The Sound of Music" (recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)4:19
2."A Means to an End" (recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)3:57
3."Colony" (recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)4:06
4."Twenty Four Hours" (recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)4:20
5."Isolation" (recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)2:49
6."Love Will Tear Us Apart" (recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)3:14
7."Disorder" (recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)3:13
8."Atrocity Exhibition" (recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)5:58
9."Isolation" (sound check; recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)3:00
10."The Eternal" (sound check; recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)3:36
11."Ice Age" (sound check; recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)3:16
12."Disorder" (sound check; recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)3:14
13."The Sound of Music" (sound check; recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)4:05
14."A Means to an End" (sound check; recorded live at High Wycombe Town Hall on 20 February 1980)3:45

Personnel

Technical

References

  1. 1 2 Raggett, Ned. "Still – Joy Division | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  2. ↑ "Joy Division | Artist | Official Charts". theofficialcharts.com. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Joy Division Concert: 20th February 1980: Town Hall, High Wycombe". joydiv.org. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  4. 1 2 Jones, Chris (14 September 2007). "BBC – Music – Review of Joy Division – Still". BBC Online. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  5. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). "Joy Division". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. pp. 509–11. ISBN 0857125958.
  6. 1 2 Klein, Joshua (29 October 2007). "Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures / Closer / Still | Album Reviews | Pitchfork". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  7. ↑ Lynskey, Dorian (October 2007). "[Still review]". Q (255).
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