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Rating: After the terrible death of Ian Curtis in May 1980, Factory released the absolute masterpiece of Joy Division (Closer) leaving out two great tracks: "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Atmosphere" published in the same year in the maxi single format (12" 45 rpm). It's this single I mentioned that I want to talk about.
The single indeed contains the side A track which is "Atmosphere", a slow piece characterized by the moving voice of Ian Curtis. An unforgettable song and my favorite of the group alongside "Decades" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart". Like many others, the track is characterized by a dark lyric: it repeats don't go... don't go. The video, shot if I'm not mistaken in 1988 by Anton Corbijn (a director who this year released the film "Control" about Curtis's life and a famous photographer of U2's Joshua Tree) is a film equally mystical, strange hooded men with white and black robes move with importance, and at the end of the video, they carry away a large painting featuring poor Ian Curtis.
The second side contains the track "She's Lost Control" already previously published on "Unknown Pleasures" remixed and extended. The song is another great classic that opens with an iconic bass line that pulses throughout the piece. "She's Lost Control" is dedicated to a friend of Ian who also suffered from epilepsy and tells of the moment when she lost control and died in a Manchester clinic due to frequent epileptic seizures.
The record comes with a beautiful white cover featuring a splendid photo of a swamp and trees during winter taken by Charles Meecham, very somber and fitting for the track "Atmosphere", which as mentioned is the side A of the Maxi single.
I decided to talk about this maxi single to complete the discography of Joy Division, waiting for someone else to review the maxi single "Love Will Tear Us Apart". I think it’s better to publish reviews of this type than about albums like "Closer" which have had dozens of reviews. For more information about the band visit Wikipedia, or better yet read the book "Così lontano, così vicino" by Ian's wife Deborah Curtis, very intense and reveals the lesser-known sides of the singer's life, unfortunately for us readers and alas for Deborah, we don’t know much about the state of mind in Curtis's final months of life as he masked everything, and secondly, he had cut ties with the author of the book, his wife, to live with his lover.
I recommend the single to vinyl collectors, those who buy CDs can certainly pick up the "Permanent" collection.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Atmosphere ()
Walk in silence,
Don't walk away, in silence.
See the danger,
Always danger,
Endless talking,
Life rebuilding,
Don't walk away.
Walk in silence,
Don't turn away, in silence.
Your confusion,
My illusion,
Worn like a mask of self-hate,
Confronts and then dies.
Don't walk away.
People like you find it easy,
Naked to see,
Walking on air.
Hunting by the rivers,
Through the streets,
Every corner abandoned too soon,
Set down with due care.
Don't walk away in silence,
Don't walk away.
02 The Only Mistake ()
Made the fatal mistake,
Like I did once before,
A tendency just to take,
Til the purpose turned sour,
Strain, take the strain, these days we love,
Strain, take the strain, these days we love.
Yeah, the only mistake was that you ran away,
Avenues lined with trees, strangled words for the day,
Yeah, the only mistake, like I made once before,
Yeah, the only mistake, could have made it before.
Strain, take the strain, these days we love,
Strain, take the strain, these days we love.
And the only mistake, led to rumours unfound,
Led to pressures unknown, different feelings and sounds,
Yeah, the only mistake, like I made once before,
Yeah, the only mistake, could have made it before.
03 Sound of Music ()
See my true reflection,
Cut off my own connections,
I can see life getting harder,
So sad is this sensation,
Reverse the situation,
I can't see it getting better.
I'll walk you through the heartbreak,
Show you all the out takes,
I can't see it getting higher,
Systematically degraded,
Emotionally a scapegoat,
I can't see it getting better.
Perverse and unrealistic,
Try to make it all stick,
I can't see it getting better,
Hollow now, I'm burned out,
All I need to break out,
I can't see life getting higher,
Love, life, makes you feel higher,
Love, of life, makes you feel higher,
Higher, higher, higher, higher,
Higher, higher, higher, higher,
Love of life, makes you feel higher.
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