Joy Division
only released two albums but their influence on the
post-punk scene and beyond has been immeasurable. This is
a site for Joy Division fans with listings for all
releases, concerts, books, memorabilia etc
Everything on
this site is Copyright Mark Price (and associates) 1998 -
2025 unless otherwise stated. We are normally sympathetic to
the use of short extracts for non commercial use on
application but such permission is not implied.
Discography- our ever expanding list of Joy
Division CDs, LPs and singles. With advice on
what to buy.
Listings
added for Different Colors Different
Shades 2LP and Different Shades LP.
Different Shades is actually LP1 of
Different Colours Different Shades just to
keep things interesting
Rob
Gretton’s first job as manager of Joy
Division was to commission Steve McGarry
to design a record sleeve for An Ideal For
Living 12”. McGarry also designed a
set of 12 badges. Produced by Better
Badges, black on white versions were
printed, with a small number of white on
black versions for the band members.
a single-sided 10inch disc centre with square
label inscribed in unknown hand in blue
felt-tip pen, FACT 10+1 33 1/3 for John from
Joy Division and Factory Records 'New Dawn
Fades' from 'Unknown Pleasures', details also
etched into run-off groove, personalised
engraved message from George 'Porky' Peckham
to centre, reading Porky to Peel, Hello/Keep
it up John, you're doin a grand job, in plain
white, die-cut paper sleeve with John Peel's
annotations
Footnotes
Possibly unique, this acetate recording of the
Side 1 track from the band's debut album,
Unknown Pleasures, was probably sent to John
Peel as a pre-release demo.
John Peel played this track in his show on
19th May 1980, in tribute to Ian Curtis who
had committed suicide the previous day and
also on 19th May 1981, on the first
anniversary of the singer's death.
"An
original passport photo with image of Ian
Curtis, taken just weeks before his untimely
death in May 1980. With full signature (with
middle initial) in blue ink to the reverse by
Ian Curtis. Measures 4 x 5.5cm. Provenance:
signed and given by Ian Curtis to then road
manager Terry Mason for purposes of providing
a copy to US immigration in order to obtain a
visa for the planned US tour.
Further information supplied by the vendor:
The last known photo of Ian Curtis
"Taken on the morning of Thursday 15th May
1980, at the Photo Me booth in Woolworths
Macclesfield, in preparation for the US Tour.
The band, Rob and the crew all needed to
provide 2 x passport photos, signed on the
reverse complete with any middle initials. I
was due to travel to the US Embassy in
Grosvenor Square the next day and I already
had everyone else, Ian’s were the last to be
collected. I drove over with Barney and Rob
Gretton. Ian was in fine form and overly
generous, we really thought that he had got
his head around his domestic situation, and
was making plans for the future. He gave
Barney some albums, his skinny Levis and his
winkle picker boots, he gave me his Ideal for
Living cover – for some reason I had missed
out on a cover, despite having been there
folding them, Ian was offering me his #2
Sordide Sentimental, but Rob stopped him. And
then the major reason for the journey, Ian
handed me the two duly signed passport photos
for the US Embassy, and gave me the remaining
copy, saying ‘you keep this you never know
when you might need it’, with Rob joking,
‘it’s your tip for going to the embassy’.
Three photos, shouldn’t there be a fourth?
There was, but obviously it was the first
flash that always caught you off guard and Ian
didn’t want anyone see that one, and Ian had
already binned it, I was given three.
The next day I caught the early train down to
London, queued at the Embassy and waited for
the passports to be stamped, before the
Embassy closed its gates. I collected the
passports, rang Rob to tell him we had Visas
(around that time there had been a spate of UK
bands missing the start of their North
American tours due to Visa delays) and then
got the train back to Manchester.
Bizarrely just across aisle on the train there
was a group of ‘booties’ Royal Marine
Commandos with a table full of cans talking
about a fellow marine who was being held in
Belgium on a charge of murder - Stevie Murphy,
the same Stevie Murphy who I had been in
Junior school with. Small world!
I didn’t join in with the booties, I just sat
back in my seat, I just sat believing there
was nothing to go wrong now we had the visas
and on Monday morning we were to fly out to
America…
In the 41 years since the photo, no one has
made any claim to a later photo of Ian and so
with a 99.999% probability this is the last
photo of Ian."
Peter
Hook will be cutting the ribbon on a new
Ian Curtis mural in Macclesfield this
Saturday. Manchester artist Akse is
creating the artwork based on a photograph
by Kevin Cummins.
Details:
Mill Street, near the bus station,
Macclesfield at 13.00h on Saturday 26 March.
Listings
added for several 2021 bootlegs, Asylum
Doors, Live in Guildford, A Buzz in
Guildford, Paris - Live Transmission,
Exercise One, Unknown Pleasures Live,
Transmission 12", and 1980 Box Set.
Click images for listings.
Out
now: The TJM Story, How to make it big in
the music business by Anthony Davidson -
Tony Davidson, owner of the rehearsal room
where Joy Division and artists on his own
TJM Records rehearsed and featured in the
video for Love Will Tear Us Apart has
written his memoirs. All proceeds got to
the Lou Macari
homeless foundation.
Imperial
Hotel Blackpool listing updated with the
poster, which was designed by Larry
Cassidy of Section 25 who promoted the
gig. Thanks to Section 25, Karl Whiting,
and @SynecdocheHK
"I went to see JD after the Iggy Pop gig at the
Apollo. I had to walk and bumped into another chap
who was doing the same. Support for Iggy that
night was the Psychedelic Furs and they were
already at the New Osborne when we arrived. Just
in time to see JD come on stage after paying my
£1.25 on the door. Hard to recall the set but I'm
pretty sure Dead Souls was in there (first song?)
as I still remember "They keep calling me" ringing
out as it was my first JD gig".
Tony Nuttall was Ian's best
friend growing up and he's kindly allowed
us to share this photo taken in
Hurdsfield, Macclesfield in 1961/62.
Tony, his sisters, and Ian on the right.
Thanks also to Joy
Division Day by Day on Facebook
Boris Terlet bought this poster
at a Brussels' record store last week. The
problem is the band's European dates are
well documented and La Gare, Lauwe,
Belgium wasn't one of them.
It's dated Friday 15th September
with an entrance fee in French and Belgian
Francs equating to roughly £5.
The 15th fell on a Friday in
1978, 1989, 1995 and 2000 and the poster
can't be after that as French and Belgian
Francs were replaced by the Euro.
So,
what are the possibilities?
A planned gig on a 1980 Europen
tour? Steven Brown of Tuxedomoon once
stated they had plans to do a European
tour with Joy Division in Summer / Autumn
1980. However, the 15th wasn't a Friday in
1980. Also Ian Curtis died in May that
year so it's unlikely that posters would
be printed before then with a firm date,
ticket price and starting time.
A
tribute night?
Maybe. The price is about right but the
poster doesn't state this.
A
fake? There's money in
fake posters for gigs that actually took
place but not so much for ones that
clearly didn't.
Update
31 August 2022: This is a poster for a
Joy Division tribute concert at La Gare
Belgium in 1995
Bruce Crawford's photo of
Stockport fly posters, including Buzzcocks
and Joy Division at Manchester Apollo,
nicely sums up the spirit of 1979.
18
Oct
Unseen photos
surface
More unseen photos of Ian Curtis
have surfaced. Venue and date unknown. If
you recognise these please get in touch
15
Oct
Unknown
Photographers
Every now and then photos surface
without any information about the
photographer. If you know who took these
photos at Futurama and the Town Hall High
Wycombe, please get in touch.
Futurama Festival 8 September 1979 Update: Photographer is Peter
Bodenburg
JOY DIVISION: THE VOX PHANTOM VI
SPECIAL GUITAR OWNED BY IAN CURTIS AND
PLAYED IN THE VIDEO FOR "LOVE WILL TEAR US
APARt"
1967,
British-made, serial no.76634 stamped on
the neckplate, pentagonal mahogany body
finished in white with Jennings' Bigsby
B5-type tremolo, Tune-o-matic roller
bridge, three pickups with six push-button
controls, including the misprinted
'Replat' for 'Repeat', and five rotary
controls, original strap buttons, back
with cavity for PP3 battery conversion,
laminated scratchplate, one-piece maple
neck with zero-fretted rosewood
fingerboard and original frets, dot
markers, headstock with Phantom VI Special
decal, chrome truss rod cover and
non-original Schaller machineheads, in
hard rectangular, plush-lined case,
accompanied by a copy of 12" single for
the 40th anniversary of "Love Will Tear Us
Apart" on vinyl, and a letter of
provenance from Ian's daughter Natalie
Curtis, CITES license no.592982/010
Provenance:
Owned and played by Joy Division frontman,
singer-songwriter Ian Curtis (b.1956-d.1980).
Used by fellow band-mate Bernard Sumner
following Ian's death, and later gifted to
Ian's daughter Natalie Curtis, in circa 2002.
Closer 40th Anniversary Edition
to be released 17 July on crystal clear
vinyl. Transmission, Atmosphere and Love
Will Tear Us Apart singles will also be
reissued with remastered audio. The
complete bundle is available for pre-order
at £39.99
Bootleg listings added for Asylum
Doors, Twenty Four Hours, Live at Malvern
Winter Gardens, April 5th 1980, and All
Love Lost. Click images for more info:
Listings added for the 2019
Europa and Eindhoven bootlegs. These were
extremely limited editions featuring
essentially the same records but Europa
was pressed on different vinyl colours
and Eindoven was black vinyl with a
free CD and postcard / photo inserts. The
CD was also released separately.
11
Apr
One LP two titles
Listings added for the 2014
Ceremony and Live bootleg LPs. These are
the same record in two different sleeves:
