Joy Division - Preston 28 February 1980
SKU
FACTORY2.60
Though the performance was beset with technical woes, as the members audibly mention at points between songs, there was still definite magic in the air. If the recording levels aren't as perfect as they could be, with Curtis himself sometimes a touch too muffled, they're certainly a cut above simple bootleg sound, while the quartet itself generally exchange the subtler shadows for a more direct but no less gripping approach. Nearly half of Closer appears some months before its release. The arrangements were already well worked out, Twenty Four Hours" shifting effortlessly between lower-key brooding and explosion; "The Eternal" given a quietly majestic, unsettling extended opening, Morris' crisp, weirdly thin drums and Sumner's wheezing, distanced keyboards leading the way. Curtis projects his expected air of desperation mixed with intense fire, but even when the levels reduce him to a slur he's nothing less than commanding, his lyrics cutting through the music with intensity...." All Music Guide/Ned Raggett [Factory]