Reflections on Still

I'd like to hear what first generation fans thought of Still when it was first released. The first time I heard it was about six years ago, and in some respects I still can't make up my mind in how I feel about this compilation, compared to the other stuff in JD's catalogue. In some ways, it is the 'darkest' JD record, though historical issues might be influencing that interpretation, as much as I'd like to say I'm just judging it for the musical content.

Brilliant! The very bee's knees. The power, the fight, the spirit! We were "Living in The Ice Age" Thatcher in Britain, Regan in America. The rise of the pernicious cult of Freedman's economics and the bastardisation of Adam Smith's writings. Thatchers "There's no such thing as society. Only Individuals." "We could go on as though nothing was wrong/Apart from these days we remain all alone":~"Transmission" and from "Novelty" (other side of Transmission) "Can't stand on your own in these times\Against all the odds\You'll just fall behind like all the other sods." Sheer tactical grace!

I read that Ian Curtis voted Tory though.

Zorglub wrote: I read that Ian Curtis voted Tory though.

you too would have voted Tory in 1979 if YOU lived through Labour's term prior to the election.

back to the question - I looked forward to it eagerly and love it immensly.

lovely Stuff!

I thought it was great, just like another bootleg, of which I had quite a few by September 81. I liked the way factory had taken the piss out of the likes of Le Terme and Gruftgesaegene by having a mix of studio and live tracks, with incorrect track listings as well. A real mish mash of stuff you couldn't get hold of, and the album title was pure genius!

Obviously it also had the effect of purging the back catalogue, all the outtakes were now out in the public domain, and those who hadn't been one of the lucky 1578 could now get to hear Dead Souls in all its majesty.

I wonder if Ice Age is another song about his marriage a la LWTUA "No smile on your lips"? Sounds pretty drastic if so...

seals wrote: I wonder if Ice Age is another song about his marriage a la LWTUA "No smile on your lips"? Sounds pretty drastic if so...

Well he wrote it in 1978, when one would have hoped he was still getting his leg over!

They should re-release the *full* Birmingham gig though, including the complete version of Ceremony and the omitted Twenty Four Hours.

mrgreen71 wrote: They should re-release the *full* Birmingham gig though, including the complete version of Ceremony and the omitted Twenty Four Hours.

24 Hours is on the vinyl, it just wasn't listed on the tracklisting! It's also on some of the CD versions.

oldmonkey wrote:

seals wrote: I wonder if Ice Age is another song about his marriage a la LWTUA "No smile on your lips"? Sounds pretty drastic if so...

Well he wrote it in 1978, when one would have hoped he was still getting his leg over!

nah, he did'nt meet Annik until the following year

All their CD releases need an overhaul. Still in particular would benefit from having 24 Hours added for the first time. Also maybe they could cross mix the complete audience version of Ceremony with what they have from the desk and improve on that too.

Also Movement needs the intro of Senses restoring.

The version of Ceremony on here is so tantalizing....it's almost fate that this was the only time where a possible JD recording of it could emerge, and it screwed up. I don't include the version on the Heart and Soul boxset because the quality is so awful!

Other than that, yep a great gig. Could do without Sister Ray though.....

I think this is a great gig, enhanced by the full version of Ceremony and 24 Hours. Decades and Isolation sound amazing.
I also love Something Must Break, the finished version that appears on Still, think it's a great tune

oldmonkey wrote:

mrgreen71 wrote: They should re-release the *full* Birmingham gig though, including the complete version of Ceremony and the omitted Twenty Four Hours.

24 Hours is on the vinyl, it just wasn't listed on the tracklisting! It's also on some of the CD versions.

I know, but it's definitely not on *most* of the regular cd versions :)

FrogChorus wrote: I think this is a great gig, enhanced by the full version of Ceremony and 24 Hours. Decades and Isolation sound amazing.
I also love Something Must Break, the finished version that appears on Still, think it's a great tune

Never heard that version of Decades called "sound amazing" before! Don't the out-of-tune synth sounds put you off?

oldmonkey wrote: I thought it was great, just like another bootleg, of which I had quite a few by September 81. I liked the way factory had taken the piss out of the likes of Le Terme and Gruftgesaegene by having a mix of studio and live tracks, with incorrect track listings as well. A real mish mash of stuff you couldn't get hold of, and the album title was pure genius!

Obviously it also had the effect of purging the back catalogue, all the outtakes were now out in the public domain, and those who hadn't been one of the lucky 1578 could now get to hear Dead Souls in all its majesty.

I totally second that Sir, my thougth at the time (and still is). Kind regards to all. D.

oldmonkey wrote:

FrogChorus wrote: I think this is a great gig, enhanced by the full version of Ceremony and 24 Hours. Decades and Isolation sound amazing.
I also love Something Must Break, the finished version that appears on Still, think it's a great tune

Never heard that version of Decades called "sound amazing" before! Don't the out-of-tune synth sounds put you off?

No,I still love it, the deliberately discordant synth sounds help make the track. Joy Division, for me, were/are a beautiful noise! A distraction from the distractions.

Loved it then, particularly my hessian sleeve, and still love it now. For me it draws a line under Joy Division's work. Nothing more to be said.

Considering it is basically a collection of 'out-takes' it is a very strong album.

Andrew Latham wrote: Loved it then, particularly my hessian sleeve, and still love it now. For me it draws a line under Joy Division's work. Nothing more to be said.

lucky sod. Mine was a cheapass Portugese pressing in a crappy cardboard sleeve. Not a bad compilation though.

it was one of the more important finds in my retrospective hunting down of JD stuff

Gillian Fanciers Association wrote:

Andrew Latham wrote: Loved it then, particularly my hessian sleeve, and still love it now. For me it draws a line under Joy Division's work. Nothing more to be said.

lucky sod. Mine was a cheapass Portugese pressing in a crappy cardboard sleeve. Not a bad compilation though.

what you never even managed to get the australian pressing.

I also got the cd version a couple of years back. i barely listen to it. one of these days i may get around to using ceremony of it as part of my not yet existant ceremony compilation.

24 Hours is on the vinyl, it just wasn't listed on the tracklisting! It's also on some of the CD versions.

which CD versions have 24 Hours?

johnny james wrote:

24 Hours is on the vinyl, it just wasn't listed on the tracklisting! It's also on some of the CD versions.

which CD versions have 24 Hours?

Was it not on the Japanese 2xCD version then? My mistake!

Thought I'd missed some obscure variation that actually had it featured.

I too thought the double Japanese one would have it, but after getting hold of one I found that it also has it missing despite the extra space on the disc.

Probably my favorite JD release. The guitar sound on 'Disorder' is one of the greatest thngs I have ever heard in my life. JD always worked better for me as a live band than a studio one which is why I like Still, the BBC sessions, etc..over UP or Closer.

As a document, the live section takes a lot of beating. That night at Brum Uni saw the closing of a chapter, although no-one knew it then. Curtis had already tried to take his life some weeks before and had been ill during and after gigs (the Bury riot springs to mind). The poignancy of his voice and the words he sings - particularly in New Dawn Fades and Passover - is just sping-tingling.

I was only considering the lyric to Passover today. Observe the superb craft of the words:

"Moving along in our God-given waysSafety is sat by the fireSanctuary from these feverish smilesLeft with a mark on the door..."

or Twenty-Four Hours:

"Oh how I realised how I wanted time Put into perspective, tried so hard to find Just for one moment I thought I'd found my way Destiny unfolded - I watched it slip away"

It's almost unbearably sad and yet I feel uplifted by it too which is part of my paradoxic faith in JD. I've always considered to their studio albums and live work to be two halves of the same coin: different but always related. The input of Hannett cannot be underestimated.

This was the first JD album I bought. I was in Austin visiting a friend and that day, before I had bought the album, I had seen the f w/ the circle symbol on the back of someone's car. We were on our way to the mall and I went into the music store, sifting through the cd's....and I went looking for some band/artist in the j section...(I remember listening to new order on the radio growing up, and became a fan again in late 2002, and listening to the cranes, knowing that they were influenced by jd, i guess, sort of,) and so, i saw that symbol on the front of the cd in that mess of a record store, turned over the cd....bought it, and loved it ever since....i was more into the sound, especially the bass guitar....the words eventually grabbed my attention, even though I sometimes can't understand what the hell he's saying, but i guess thats the beauty of it all.

Still was my first JD album too - got it soon after it came out. A friend of mine had Closer and listening to it converted me. Thought it was amazing. I can listen to Sound Of Music, The Only Mistake, The Kill, Something Must Break and Dead Soul (my favourite JD track) and never grow tired of them. Even after 25 years when any of those songs end I want to put it on again - immediately!

I think Decades is wonderfully sad too with the breaking down synth just adding to the whole sound - Ian Curtis had to be helped offstage during this.

Then he comes back on and does Digital at the end - what a way to go out!

Wish I could track down an mp3 of 24 hours. I only have it in vinyl.

That guitar sound in the first riff of the live Shadowplay on Still is my single finest JD moment ever - unbelievable power and venom in that one chord!