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I've been wondering whether or not to get this box...Is there anything one would be missing if one already owns all the JD albums? What is the live material like?? Anything not available on Preston, Les Bains Douches or Still??
How good is the version of "Ceremony" with Ian on vocals?? I've heard the IALP with Ian singing but never Ceremony...
anyone care to share wisdom???? :)
Michelle it's definately worth getting
The Ceremony version is brilliant
Plenty of live stuff not on the stuff you mentioned, such as the RCA demo's, Genetic demo's, Piccadilly Radio session, Out-takes from various sessions and live stuff from The Factory Hulme 13-7-79, YMCA London 2-8-79, Winter Gardens Bournemouth 5-4-80 & 2-11-79 & Lyceum London 29-2-80 the quality isn't fantastic but it's still well worth having - I strongly urge you to get it:)
Hope that's helped you.
You can't be a Joy Division fan and not have this box. For a while I thought: I already own the albums, how good can one disc of live material be?
And then I actually heard the live stuff - it's revelatory. Certain songs - Autosuggestion and The Eternal, especially - sound completely different from the studio versions, and are absolutely incredible. The Factory concert (first 10 tracks) is over-the-top aggressive, the Lyceum concert (last 5 tracks) has these incredible, 'hollow' acoustics. The performances are all extremely dense - you'll get many listens out of them.
Is buying a 4-CD box set for one disc worth the money? YES. This is no rip-off at all.
While this thread is up I may as well mention something I noticed about the box set.. At first you think: the previous CDs - Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Substance, and Still - are now supplanted. But then you look closer..
Any true fan will own UP and Closer, simply for the cover art. And Substance? Listen closely to the first 4 tracks of disc 3 - the sound quality is noticeably inferior, making Substance necessary for decent versions of the 'Ideal for Living' songs. And Still is still necessary - even if you don't care about 'Sister Ray' or the Birmingham concert, you'd need Still for the overdubbed version of 'Walked in Line'.
All in all, the box set is simply one more thing to buy - it replaces nothing.
It's a buy in my book... I was kind of balking at it for a while, but caught it on sale and haven't regretted it at all.
The live CD (I think it is #3) is the first JD CD I grab lately, and I think that they are the better live tracks than the 2 previous releases.
The 4th CD also is worth the price of admission...
Ceremony is something else to hear...
The first 2 CD's are the studio albums and the EP and single releases, which, to this ear sound better (digitally enhanced maybe)than the previous releases. Since I didn't want any overlap on my MP3 player I basically dumped out the old studio stuff, added the new stuff and renamed the 4 CD's so I have a clue what is on them. This may sound hazy, but I don't have my MP3 player with me, but I'd be willing to share with you what I came up with.
Bottom line...a great gift for yourself for the holidays..and as they say "no collection is complete"
Hope this helps
Jim
I made the *dumbass* move of getting rid of Substance, UP and Closer when I got the box set (god how I miss the artwork), but I passed them on to my coz, so at least I was spreading the love....Get the box set, It'll make your week
I think the Joy Division rehearsal of Ceremony is actually superior to the New Order 'Substance' version, but it seems like most people think otherwise ...?
Really?? That's cool to know...I love the Still version of Ceremony even though it sounds like the reccording starts in the middle of the song...
In what way is it superior?? anywhere online where it could be downloaded???
How about that in the Substance archives Sebastian??? or would that be considered Joy Division not New Order.... too close to call in my book.....
The JD rehearsal is on the box set (disc 3, penultimate track), so it's a legitimate release which I doubt the webmasters would want to put up here (assuming they were offering MP3s anymore anyway)...
I usually listen to the drums quite a bit in the songs, and if you listen to the JD Ceremony rehearsal, Steve is in top form. The rhythm is essentially like a symphony, with several different segments of very different drumming, and all of it has this really taut sound. If Steve were an athlete, that would be his 'peak physical condition' moment...
By contrast, the New Order Ceremony sounds a bit more sentimental, which is just less interesting to me (but I can imagine others liking it)...
I stand corrected on my previous post, I have disc 3 and 4 confused...
but i'm listening to it right now as i type...the live disc puts the other two live ones a distant 2nd and 3rd in my book.
Looks like your a big JD fan Michele, you will enjoy this when you get it very much so
Jim
Listened to the JD Ceremony on Disc 3, if you could make out what Ian is singing it'd be a perfect release in and of itself. There's little difference (to my ears) b/w Ceremony on disc 3 and the NO Subs one, it's better than I thought originally when I first got the set
