350125 Go!

Joy Division - In A Lonely Place (Detail)

This has to be one of the most haunting pieces of music ever written, whether it's because of the overall sound of it, the lyrical content or the fact that within a couple of weeks (Or maybe even days) of this been recorded Ian Curtis (Joy Divisions singer) had hung himself... But it's possibly a combination of all those reasons.



It's still quite hotly debated as to where this was recorded, some seem to think it was recorded at the prophetically named Graveyard Studios during their final ever recording session, others (including Peter Hook) seem to think it was recorded as a rehearsal tape... I tend to go for the later as this might explain the abrupt ending as the tape ran out and the fact it actually sounds like a rehearsal tape as opposed to a studio recording.

Either way the first time I heard this it just stopped me in my tracks... And when the song abruptly stopped I was considerably upset.... What can I say, It moved me.



Folklore says there is a full version of it out there but I don't think there is to be honest (unless someone can prove me wrong?), something as important as this would have surfaced by now I'd imagine.



After the Suicide of Ian the rest of the band decided to carry on and change their name to New Order, In a Lonely Place was recorded by the three piece before Gillian joined and was released as the B-Side of Ceremony (another of Joy Divisions final tunes)(Ceremony was later Re-Recorded with Gillian but In A Lonely Place wasn't)...

The rest is another story for another time.



In A Lonely Place can nowadays be found on the excellent Heart & Soul Box Set that basically anyone vaguely interested in one of the most important bands of all time should own.





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