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recommendations for particular remaster(s) of Joy Division

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21 Feb 2018, 11:32

Hey folks,

After the wonderful surprise (for me) as to the quality of the 2015-era digital remasters of some of the NO catalogue (Movement in particular, but also P,C&L), I realised that my personal Joy Division files are really old rips I made from my copy of Heart And Soul, and I could probably do better.

Well, I have the Recycle collection which sounds great (and fixes the pitching on those two tracks etc)

But I wondered whether any of the various remasters that have occurred for Unknown Pleasures and Closer are worth tracking down, given my experiences with the NO ones. And if so which ones? I bought my vinyl Unknown Pleasures copy in 2007 but didn't get a download code at the time, I think there's a 2007 era remaster. but have there been more recent ones? I see a 2010 remaster of Substance. Can anyone recommend a particular reissue worth seeking out?

Thanks!

21 Feb 2018, 20:54 · edited 21 Feb 2018, 20:55

The 2007 Collector's Editions of the Joy Division albums are still the most recent; they are fine and still sound pretty good to my ears. No idea what the codes in the reissue vinyl leads to but if I were looking for the best sounding source of an album I'd never go to MP3 which is typically all Warners offered on the those reissues.

They missed out Substance at the time in 2007 but that got the remaster treatment in 2010 from Frank Arkwright who also did the most recent NO remasters. Initially the Substance tracks were put out (split) as the "+ -" box set in 2010 but the Substance reissue from two years ago (based on that 2010 remaster) collected them all together.

Joy Division were probably a dream to remaster because for the most part Hannett's production sounds so immense. By comparison it's probably no surprise that some of the tinny, digitised-to-f*ck NO material of the mid-80s fared worse when they tried to revamp their sound in 2008 for the famously ill-fated and cheaply done Collector's Editions. Arkwright's 2015 efforts were much better so... more of that, please.

Hope that helps.

22 Feb 2018, 08:38

The +/- Singles CD boxset (which is still available) also has recent remasters (post 2007) of Isolation and Heart & Soul.

25 Feb 2018, 10:34

NotAMod wrote: or the famously ill-fated and cheaply done Collector's Editions.

They were reportedly terrible. The strange thing is that Hooky was personally involved and even said he was proud of them - odd when you consider how passionate and committed he is in the Light. I didn't bother cos (a) the reviews were so bad, (b) there are only so many times you can go over the same story, and (b) I never pick up on enough difference in remasters, unlike radical remixes. I remember listening to Owen Morris' Electronic in 94 and I couldn't hear much new - certainly not enuff to warrant purchase.

25 Feb 2018, 11:13

Yeah i didn't bother with those collectors editions back in 2008 either.Too many bad reviews, nothing on them i didn't already have and spent my money on more rewarding things.I can sometimes appreciate and hear a vast improvement in a remaster.Bought a few remasters on vinyl a couple years back of the likes of the Low Life and Republic.The vinyl sound alone was massive improvement and the download codes for the mp3s were pretty good.On the other hand i listened to Kraftwerk's 2009 remaster of their 1991 release The Mix and i couldn't tell the difference which was surprising as you'd assume Kraftwerk and/or their people would be wizards at remastering.