JOY DIVISION - Unknown Pleasures/Closer/Still (2CD Collector's Editions) / OST - Control

           

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with some Joy Division. On the eve of this holiday comes both the soundtrack to Anton Corbijn's new film, Control, and a trio of collector's edition reissues. Unknown Pleasures and Closer, the two proper studio albums by the band, remain iconic touchstones of an at-the-time unheard of style of bleak, cutting songcraft. The half studio/half live Still is a slightly more uneven listen, but still contains stellar highlights, including "Dead Souls" and an early live version of "Ceremony", which became New Order's first single. As for the bonus material, each edition comes with a complete live set. The live sound quality is erratic and primitive, but it suits the band's twitchy, acidic performances perfectly, especially that of their darkly charismatic singer, Ian Curtis. Curtis himself is the main focus of Corbijn's Control, and the soundtrack sets the mood well. This collection won't provide much in the way of surprises for diehards (and some of the surprises, like the Killers' cover of "Shadowplay", may not be seen as a wise idea by all), but the cast themselves do a bang up job on "Transmission" and the rest of the soundtrack is a solid catalogue of influences and pivotal Joy Division/New Order tunes.