Still (Joy Division album)

Infobox Album
Name = Still
Type = compilation
Artist = Joy Division


Released = start_date|1981|10|9
Recorded = 1978–1980
Genre = Post-punk
Length = 79:13
Label = Factory - FACT 40
Producer = Martin Hannett
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:uh9ss30ba3pg~T1 link]
*Pitchfork Media (8.4/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/46634-unknown-pleasures-closer-still 2007]
Last album = "Closer"
(1980)
This album = "Still"
(1981)
Next album = "Substance"
(1988)

"Still" is a posthumous compilation album by Joy Division, consisting of rarities along with a recording of their final performance which took place at High Hall, Birmingham University on 2 May 1980.

The performance includes the only time the group ever performed the song "Ceremony", which later became a New Order single. Another song featured is a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray", recorded at The Moonlight Club in London on 2 April 1980.

"Still" is a point of contention among some of the group's fans, because of the undeniably poor quality recording of the High Hall performance. This is not aided by the fact that the engineer that night mixed the vocals far too low for the first half of "Ceremony", making Ian Curtis inaudible and thus ruining one of only two recordings the band made of the song. Recent CD reissues of the album on London Records have replaced this live version with the other known recording, a 1980 demo that originally surfaced on the Heart and Soul box set. (An audience recording of the live version, while of lower fidelity, has all of Curtis' vocals, and has circulated as a bootleg since 1980.)

This album, along with "Closer" and "Unknown Pleasures" has been remastered and was released start_date|2007|9|17. The remaster is packaged with a bonus disc, recorded at the Town Hall, High Wycombe on start_date|1980|2|20.

Engineered by Chris Nagle. Sleeve design by Peter Saville Associates.

"Still" reached #5 in the UK upon its release and peaked at #3 in New Zealand in February 1982.

Track listing

All songs were written by Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner, except where noted.

Disc one

ide one

# "Exercise One" – 3:06
# "Ice Age" – 2:24
# "The Sound of Music" – 3:55
# "Glass" – 3:56
# "The Only Mistake" – 4:17

ide two

# "Walked in Line" – 2:47
# "The Kill" – 2:15
# "Something Must Break" – 2:48
# "Dead Souls" – 4:53
# "Sister Ray" (John Cale, Sterling Morrison, Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker) – 7:36

Disc two

ide three

# "Ceremony" – 3:50
# "Shadowplay" – 3:57
# "Means to an End" – 4:01
# "Passover" – 5:10
# "New Dawn Fades" – 4:01
# "Twenty Four Hours" (bonus track on some pressings)

ide four

# "Transmission" – 3:40
# "Disorder" – 3:24
# "Isolation" – 3:05
# "Decades" – 5:47
# "Digital" – 3:52

2007 remaster

The album was remastered and released on Warner (2564697790) in the UK.

Disc one: "Still"

# "Exercise One" – 3:06
# "Ice Age" – 2:24
# "The Sound of Music" – 3:55
# "Glass" – 3:56
# "The Only Mistake" – 4:17
# "Walked in Line" – 2:47
# "The Kill" – 2:15
# "Something Must Break" – 2:48
# "Dead Souls" – 4:53
# "Sister Ray" – 7:36
# "Ceremony" – 3:50
# "Shadowplay" – 3:57
# "Means to an End" – 4:01
# "Passover" – 5:10
# "New Dawn Fades" – 4:01
# "Transmission" – 3:40
# "Disorder" – 3:24
# "Isolation" – 3:05
# "Decades" – 5:47
# "Digital" – 3:52

Disc two: "Live at High Wycombe Town Hall"

# "The Sound of Music"
# "A Means to an End"
# "Colony"
# "Twenty Four Hours"
# "Isolation"
# "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
# "Disorder"
# "Atrocity Exhibition"
# "Isolation" (sound check)
# "The Eternal" (sound check)
# "Ice Age" (sound check)
# "Disorder" (sound check)
# "The Sound of Music" (sound check)
# "A Means to an End" (sound check)

Notes

* Tracks 1, 5, 6 and 7 recorded in April 1979 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport.
* Tracks 2 and 9 recorded in October–November 1979 at Cargo Studios, Rochdale.
* Track 3 recorded in January 1980 at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham.
* Track 4 recorded in October 1978 at Cargo Studios, Rochdale.
* Track 8 recorded in July–August 1979 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport.
* Track 10 recorded live at the Moonlight Club, London on April 3, 1980.
* Tracks 11 to 20 recorded live at High Hall, Birmingham University on May 2, 1980.

The album features previously unused studio material and a live recording of Joy Division's last concert. Originally planned for release in August, it was eventually released on October 8, 1981. The CD version was released in March 1990. A number of the studio recordings have "added post production", including over-dubs by the surviving members of the band.

The track "Twenty Four Hours" was also performed live at Birmingham University, but was left off the CD release due to time constraints. Despite not being listed on the sleeve, it appears on some LP pressings.

External links

* [http://www.iancurtis.org/records/still.html "Still" in detail]