Joy Division Substance 1977-1980

Great B-Sides: Dead Souls by Joy Division

Despite their short career, Joy Division were one of the best known bands from the post-punk era. The Manchester quartet had previously operated as a punk band named Warsaw, but didn’t find their signature sound until they slowed down their tempo and producer Martin Hannett drenched them in reverb. The reverb brought out all their distinctive features – Peter Hook’s bass as lead instrument, Bernard Albrecht’s jagged wall of guitar noise, and Stephen Morris’ robotic drumming. And most distinctively of all, Ian Curtis’ chilling, tortured baritone.

The group only released two studio albums before Curtis’ passing and their transition into New Order, but some of their best known material never made it to an full-length record. Their signature song is the non-album single ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ with its synthesizer hook. Another notable release was the Licht und Blindheit single, a French only release with ‘Atmosphere’ as the a-side and ‘Dead Souls’ as the b-side.

‘Dead Souls’ is named after the 19th century Russian novel by Nikolai Gogol – based on the title, you’d expect a dark novel, but it’s classified as picaresque and satire. The song on the other hand, is pure intensity, and its one of the group’s most conventionally rocking songs, with crunchy guitars in the chorus, without sacrificing their usual intense eeriness. 

The group’s single material, including ‘Dead Souls’ has been collected on the compilation Substance, which doesn’t hang together as well as their studio records, but which features some of their most essential songs.

New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, a few miles up the road from me, has a famous Ian Curtis wall: https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/68148425/null


Someone take these dreams away
That point me to another day
A duel of personalities
That stretch all true realities

That keep calling me
They keep calling me
Keep on calling me
They keep calling me

Where figures from the past stand tall
And mocking voices ring the halls
Imperialistic house of prayer
Conquistadors who took their share

That keep calling me
They keep calling me
Keep on calling me
They keep calling me

Calling me, calling me
Calling me, calling me
They keep calling me
Keep on calling me

They keep calling me
They keep calling me

11 Comments

  1. Not knowing Joy Division that well, I snapped up a 2CD best of not long back (the second disc comprising BBC sessions). “Dead souls” was one of the tracks that really grabbed me, so I enjoyed this piece Graham.

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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.

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