Joy Division
Martin Hannet's Personal Mixes

THE REVIEW

Picked clean and reduced to the bone. Cannon fodder. Black dogs fighting over the last scraps. In fact, I don't even know if it’s for Curtis's death, or for something that is pure commerce. But in the end, you can count them on your fingers. Speculation. As if we were at the Milan Stock Exchange. But we are not. We are at the level of Hendrix. Any noise, any breath. Overtaken, on the right of course, even Cobain. And yes, I thought it would feed them a little longer. But we're at the end of the line, in denial.

Martin Hannett, to whom a monument is owed (because, digression, the sound, the space between instruments, the emptiness, it's all thanks to him, however great the guys' merits are). As I was saying, the illustrious, full of alcohol and various drugs, had the habit of leaving the recorders always on, while they played. Second digression. I don’t know if you've ever recorded a record. But it works like this. You make some takes that don't convince you. You start and stop because you can't find the energy. In the end, you have four/five versions of the same song, which don't satisfy you. But you have no money, no time. You work on those, imperfect. All the same, with small fractals that differentiate them. Only to your ears, but that’s more than enough. You start mixing. You start arguing with the sound engineer. You start drinking to avoid killing him. At a certain point, you wish you weren't there. You leave and try to sleep. You come back because you can't leave it all to him. And you start again, mixing. Arguing. Drinking. Not killing him. Then everything is ready. And it sucks. And you're unhappy. Third digression. Well known, but it’s worth remembering, that Joy Division reached the point of releasing, on the same 7-inch, two different versions of one of the greatest love songs in history, because one was the one they liked, one was the one Hannett liked. How many times have you listened to them to understand the nuances?

So, because sooner or later you have to get to the point, what do we have? Some elevator sounds, some keyboard sounds, the voices of Ian and Martin, some false starts, and a series of alternate takes. Mostly from "Closer", but there's also "Autosuggestion" and "From Safety to Where...?" (forgive the wailing, but at least those leeches preparing these collections could be philological? Jumping from April 1979 to March 1980 as if it were just one night, but instead it’s the abyss).

I don't think there's anything else to add. If you have obsessions, you can comfortably lay down here. Just a plaid will suffice. It will be cold, but I'm sure you won't come out. For others, let what has been be enough. Of all true loves, isn't memory better?

For M.: I will kill all the other three, let them come play You something decent, I'm afraid you'll get bored.