2009-02-08 -- 5/5:: Essential listening for Joy Division fan
whether you are someone over 40 who simply misses this great band, or a new listener, then this is the cd to have. It features the essential tunes this standards-setting band recorded in their short career. This band was so ahead of their time that someone who didn't know them would think this music was recorded recently.

2008-08-01 -- 5/5:: have you got any Joy Division....?
Between '82 and '83 I was temoparily Djing at a pub in Oldham near Manchester.Monday nights were goth and indie night this album and the tracks on it take me right back to those nights. Most of these songs are like old friends and for me anyway have not lost any of their power or darkness in the twenty years that have passed since then.I'm also reminded of Peter hook's words about Joy Division which always strikes me as a stark contrast to the music. "Joy Division were just four lads from Macclesfield who liked to get pissed...!"
The bonus disc is also great because of legacy left to us by the great John Peel for four decades the cornerstone of BBC Radio One.If you couldn't get to see a group live then the Peel sessions gave you an insight how they would sound.Also for me on a personal note because the session with "love will tear us apart" was recorded on my sixteenth birtday.I would highly recomend this collection to anyone who has never heard any Joy Division before.My only quibble with this album is the missing b-sides like "novelty" and "these days".Thankfully these tracks appear on "substance" the next album to buy after this and also the great "Unknown Pleasures" album which challenges any by the cure for darkness and depression.

2008-07-13 -- 4/5:: Introduction for the casual (?) Joy Division fan
Music: 5 Stars... Compilation: 3 Stars

On the heels of the DVD releases of the Ian Curtis bio-pic "Control" and the "Joy Division" documentary, the band is going through yet another re-evauation phase, both critically and commercially. (I hadn't listend to my "Heart and Soul" box-set in quite a while, but did so immediately after having seen "Control".) There are a lot of compilations on Joy Division, but none recently, and none that simply aimed to give "the best of" to the casual fan, if there is such one. This compilation is supposed to correct that.

"The Best of Joy Division" (14 tracks, 55 min.) brings a non-chronological overview of the band's best known tracks and other assorted album tracks. There is of course the inescapable (even if in my opinion overplayed and perhaps even overrated) "Love Will Tear Us Apart", as well as "She's Lost Control", "Atmosphere" and "Transmission", those 4 being the band's best known tracks (don't call them greatest hits!). The rest is made up fairly evenly from "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer" (the band's 2 studio albums), as well as "Substance", a 1988 compilation. The quality of the songs on here is nothing short of fantastic.

That said, my biggest complaint with this "best of" collection is that, at a mere 55 min., there was room for at least 20 min. more music on here. Why is nothing included from "An Ideal for Living" (the band's first EP, from June '78), such as "Leaders of Men", an essential song in their catalog? Where are other must-have tracks like "A Means to an End", "Atrocity Exhibiton" or "Novelty"? Given the way this compilation is put together, it appers to me that this is stricly aimed at the casual Joy Division fan (if there is such a thing.. I've never met one). The music is great, but the compilation is not.

2008-07-03 -- 3/5:: 3 Stars ONLY because there are better collections out there.
There are better previous collections than this single disc.
The description refers to the UK edition. There is no bonus disc with the US set sold here.
How can someone sell a Joy Division "best of" and not include the song "Novelty"?
"Glass" and "Atrocity Exhibition" should also be on here.
"Incubation" is a fair instrumental.
If nothing else why not include the 12" mix of "She's Lost Control".?
Joy Division is a great band and I am pleased to see them championed now though I have been a fan since Unknown Pleasures.
I just wish that they were represented by a more superior "best of" than this.

2008-05-22 -- 5/5:: BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
This band is being exploited in ways that would make the Catholic church blush during the Inquisition.

The little studio music that there is from this band continues to be spread over multiple cds that are absurdly expensive for no apparent reason other than greed. Multiple "documentaries", real and imagined, books, re-mixes [you know your in trouble], cd interviews discs [mein gott!!], accompany the copyright renewal rites for this music. If you hear any of these tunes as tv bridge music, supermarket muzak, or god-forbid, elevator music, make a move to the early Mekons.

However, having noted the above, this really is a very good introduction to this band [14cuts:55Min.] that is available at a reasonable price [I paid $10], and contains their two "hits": 'She's Lost Control', and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', as well as a representative sample of their other songs. Prior to this release, to get these two "hits" alone you would have to buy two studio lps [with lots of live filler cuts of dubious performance and/or sound quality] at $20+ each. Note that this is not the UK two disc version as described above; be thankful as although the studio cuts are the same that one's other disc consists of live filler cuts and is three times the price [unbelievably the price of the UK version has gone up $10 since I first posted this review]. The music appearing here also ties into the Corbjin film ["Control": also recommended], so that if you are looking for music that you heard on the film soundtrack, you won't be disappointed by this lineup. This is a Rhino production with very good sound.

At the time, I thought that this band was a great example of post-punk speed crash music wallowing in Thatcher induced despair and nihilism - I loved it. After seeing the Corbjin film, it turns out that its just a guy living in a bleak industrial town in the north of England with marital problems, suffering from various illnesses, and possessed by primal doubts fueled by the writings of: W. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, F. Kafka, and a dollop of Fred Nietzsche - among others. Almost thirty years on, the music is hilarious in terms of it's references and self possession - I still love it.

The follow on band New Order is actually much more depressing than this, but for different reasons. For a comic send up of this musical scene see the film/DVD: "24 Hour Party People". For a double bill of rock n roll nihilism, see Gus van Zant's, "Final Days", and, "Control". Note that rebellion is far better directed outward than inward.

Persons new to this band should proceed with caution as this is now a "cult band", and others are recommending discs [especially live ones] that can be of very poor sonic and/or performance quality.