JOY DIVISION - SUBSTANCE

Oh Joy Division, how I truly love and hate you.

I love you because you write songs that encapsulate so many moods at once - isolation, excitement, fear, worry, joyfulness.

I hate you because some of your songs sound like Ian Curtis singing 4 octaves too low while the rest of the band plays crap that's way too atmospheric and plodding to be enjoyed by anyone other than those that are clinically depressed.

So that's why I kinda like "Substance" - it's a compilation focusing mainly on the singles and none of that boring crap that stunk up chunks of "Unknown Lesions" and "Closer (to Me, by the Cure)".

It starts off with "Warsaw", their first little single thing - Ian sounds like a snotty little Mick Jagger-type repeating "3-1-G!" (where the label would get their name from), then "Leaders of Men" - WHAT? This doesn't even sound like Ian! Where's the synths?! Who cares?! Then "Digital", where Ian hit puberty, discovered his lower voice, developed epilepsy, and did silly dances - but it's a great song! Oh, crap, I lied - there IS slow boring crap - just listen to "Autosuggestion" - 6 minutes of ;< span>>hippidy doops. Oooh! But then there's "Transmission" - DANCE DANCE DANCE TO THE RADIO!!! Too bad this song ain't on the radio, but then again, if it was, I'd crash my car doing my Ian Curtis dancing impression.

I really feel bad - there's 4 other people in the band - Peter Hook on high-register bass, drummer Stephen Morris, guitar/synth MAN Bernard Sumner, and Martin Hannett on cocaine and recordings. And they can play their instruments!

Then, "She's Lost Control" in a different recording from "Unknown Erasers", then some pop thing called "Incubation", the "classic" "Dead Souls", pre-dating U2 ambient pop song "Atmosphere" which is actually kinda nice (in the parts without vocals), then "Love Will Tear Us Apart" - which despite all of it's hype, is actually worth it. The CD version has a whopping 7 more tracks - but to be honest, I don't really listen to them - it's silly to try to put more songs like this on a close to perfect (for Joy Division, anyway) album. But they aren't terrible, and might be worth your time - Me, I'll stick to crying while listening to "Atmosphere"...

OVERALL RATING - Dave Riley's weird eyebrows.
KEY TRACKS - "Digital", "Love Will Tear Us Apart", "Transmission"