advertisement


Unknown Pleasures at 40

Tony L said:
...so almost three times as many as Factory 1st pressings!
Click to expand...
Exactly. I have been pondering the enthusiasm for this particular record for a while and think it goes way beyond the music. The sleeve was an almost perfect example of Factory Records design ethic and has real impact. A good sleeve can make a big difference in initial sales and although far from being the first LP to eschew artist information on the front it was easily recognisable in the racks and that is no bad thing.
 
I have an original Closer and a 2007 remaster of Unknown Pleasures. Comparing the two, I think they did an excellent job of the remaster –– I might splash out on it again just for the white cover and luscious ruby red vinyl.
 
Elephantears said:
Oh go on, Tony, open up; we need someone to do the comparison. I too have little faith it will compare to a first pressing, which sounds amazing, but it would be interesting if they've tried to get close.

For the uninitiated on this thread, you really need to hear 'Still' sides A/B as well as "UP' and 'Closer'. 'Still' may not be a 'proper' album, but it's in some ways the most rigorously brutalist and forbidding, particularly songs like 'The Sound of Music' and 'Glass'. In fact all of Side A, culminating with the harrowing 'The Only Mistake'. Then there is 'Dead Souls', one of the greatest songs by anyone ever.
Click to expand...

Still is the only original JD vinyl I have, I lucked out on a copy that was covered in mould but after a couple of passes on the pro-ject RCM is came out immaculate, probably my best used vinyl purchase to date.
 
So would an "instant collection" of UP, Closer, and Substance contain all the album tracks, singles and B-sides?
 
Yank said:
So would an "instant collection" of UP, Closer, and Substance contain all the album tracks, singles and B-sides?
Click to expand...

Doesn’t quite get you everything in the way of B-sides and obscurities (Komakino, From Safety To Where, Novelty, These Days and possibly a couple of other bits I can’t bring to mind are missing), but it certainly gets the important stuff.
 
Yank said:
So would an "instant collection" of UP, Closer, and Substance contain all the album tracks, singles and B-sides?
Click to expand...
Heart and Soul over 4 CDs is a good starting point...

I wasn't going to bother as I have an original Porky Prime Cut pressing but a trusted friend assured me I needed it so an order to Rough Trade is on the cards now.
 
Spinning my copy of FACD 10 now.

Immediate thoughts: the London / Heart and Soul remasters are clear and help you isolate each instrument, hear what they're doing. FACD 10 is less 'clear' but it presents the recordings as a whole - each song is not a load of instruments and a vocal on top, it's that plus the mix and studio ambience. Upset that balance and it's a whole new album.

It is a similar issue to recent Steve Wilson mixes on the TD box set IMHO.
 
I bought UP very soon after release. ( I was fan and have e.g a fully signed copy of Ideal For Living ) My original copy of UP has a rounded inner sleeve. The run outs include, A Porky prime Cut and Step s-13 FACT 10 -INSIDE 1 A THIS IS THE WAY S-11 FACT 10 - Outside 1 B .

I have 2 other copies. No idea when the other 2 copies were pressed. One has slightly raised labels ( inside and outside ) with a right square inner. No A or B on the run outs.
The third has rounded inner sleeve and the A and B etchings. the black ( i.e. outside label is raised ) not so the white label.
All three have textured outer sleeves.
None of them are translucent red! Although my copy of Closer is!

As to how limited the 40th Anniversary is I don't know but I am aware that it is at number 5 in the LP charts. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ar...XZ4nh9kSY/the-official-uk-top-40-albums-chart
Quite an achievement. It's a wonderful record. I remember the chat in the NME about people being to too scared to play it at home alone with the lights off.

Tip. Play it at home with the lights off. It's extraordinarily powerful.
 
Last edited:
For clarity Andrew’s Unknown Pleasures is possibly slightly older than mine as I bought it after hearing his copy!

As I understand it they are actually the same age and Factory just used a couple of pressing plants due to wanting an initial pressing of 12,000 (which is a heck of a lot!). Mine also has the textured sleeve and rounded-corner inner. I think the matrix is the same too.

PS I can’t remember where I bought mine, but it would have been either Rox in Hoylake or Probe in Liverpool.
 
Elephantears said:
Oh go on, Tony, open up; we need someone to do the comparison. I too have little faith it will compare to a first pressing, which sounds amazing, but it would be interesting if they've tried to get close.

For the uninitiated on this thread, you really need to hear 'Still' sides A/B as well as "UP' and 'Closer'. 'Still' may not be a 'proper' album, but it's in some ways the most rigorously brutalist and forbidding, particularly songs like 'The Sound of Music' and 'Glass'. In fact all of Side A, culminating with the harrowing 'The Only Mistake'. Then there is 'Dead Souls', one of the greatest songs by anyone ever.
Click to expand...
Still is great. I'm not bothered about Closer. UP definitely one of my favourite albums, and I'm quite pleased to discover that I have the translucent red one - never occurred to me to hold it up to the light. It does sound really good. For 20 years I heard it only on a cassette taped off a friend's LP, on a Panasonic music centre - and despite that, and despite never usually noticing such things, I always thought it sounded great.

The other night I listened to a whole New Order album (Movement) on a good stereo for the first time - I get it now!
 
andrew d said:
My original copy of UP has a rounded inner sleeve. The run outs include, A Porky prime Cut and Step s-13 FACT 10 -INSIDE 1 A THIS IS THE WAY S-11 FACT 10 - Outside 1 B .

None of them are translucent red! Although my copy of Closer is!

Tip. Play it at home with the lights off. It's extraordinarily powerful.
Click to expand...

Snap to all of the above!!

Red versions of Closer fetch up to £100...
 
Had to get in on the act...

V3Upo11.jpg


Earcom, Short Circuit (10" blue vinyl) and the Anonymous 12" are absent from the pic due to some fwit selling them as a teen, probably for beer money, doh! Closer, Still and UP are Garrod and Lofthouse all, the original printers, whose logo is missing from all re-issues.

And UP on my LP12...

ehnlPsM.jpg
 
I remain rather irked with myself for not begging, borrowing or stealing the extra few quid for the hardback/hessian Still. Mine is a first press bought at time of release, and unusually the vinyl is absolutely mint as I stuffed it straight into Nagaoka inners as soon as I got it home, but it is the non-fancy sleeve.
 
I hear you Tony. What would the difference have been? Two, three quid, maybe a fiver? Back then, single digit pounds were a big deal. My paper round paid 3.25 a week, for seven mornings (and boy was my bag heavy, the local library was on my route)!! Now I spend that on a latte.

I never paid much attention to keeping sleeves in good nick, you don't do you, you just play the records. But something in me told to me keep that Still cover nice, and I have it stored away for, blimey, 36 years, and it's absolutely mint. The records are a bit worn, they were my go-to music for revving up for my O-levels. Laugh.
 
I have the JD 'Substance' compilation on cassette, and that's it. I must have bought it in around 1989 or 1990. I haven't listened to it for >20 years. I can certainly appreciate what a genius Martin Hannett was with his sparse, spacey, atmospheric production, which was way ahead of its time, and arguably a big influence on electronica that came later. I'm thinking of tracks like 'Isolation' and obviously 'Atmosphere' in particular here.
 
Nick_G said:
I have the JD 'Substance' compilation on cassette, and that's it. I must have bought it in around 1989 or 1990. I haven't listened to it for >20 years. I can certainly appreciate what a genius Martin Hannett was with his sparse, spacey, atmospheric production, which was way ahead of its time, and arguably a big influence on electronica that came later. I'm thinking of tracks like 'Isolation' and obviously 'Atmosphere' in particular here.
Click to expand...

Probably this too:

 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top