JOY DIVISION.

''Joy Division'' were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named ''Warsaw'', the band primarily consisted of (Ian Curtis) the vocals and occasional guitar & keyboard, (Bernard Sumner) ,guitar and keyboards, (Peter Hook) bass guitar and backing vocals and (Stephen Morris) ''drums and percussion''.

The Russell Club in Manchester had been taken over on Friday nights for gigs organised by Tony Wilson and friends. They called this venue The Factory. Joy Division's first Factory gig was on June 9th 1978. Peter Saville was asked to design the poster for the early Factory concerts, the first of many designs which became a feature of Factory's work in general and Joy Division's albums in particular.

On the eve of the band's first American tour in May 1980, Curtis, overwhelmed with depression, committed suicide. Joy Division's posthumously released second album, Closer (1980), and the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" became the band's highest charting releases. After the death of Curtis, the remaining members reformed as ''New Order'', achieving critical and commercial success.

''Peter Saville'' was the designer for ''Joy Division'', New Order and, later, Suede and Pulp were so compelling that they struck the same emotional resonance with the people who bought those albums and singles as the music. Just as the musicians in those bands wrote and produced their songs as catalogues of their thoughts and feelings, so Saville has conceived his images – for fashion and art projects as well as music – as visual narratives of his life.


The front cover image comes from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, and was originally drawn with black lines on a white background. It presents successive pulses from the first pulsar discovered, PSR B1919+21 often referred to in the context of this album by its older name, CP 1919.The image was suggested by drummer Stephen Morris and the cover design is credited to Joy Division, ''Peter Saville'' and ''Chris Mathan''. The back cover of the album contains no track listings, leaving a blank table where one would expect the listings to be. The original release came in a textured sleeve.

The original LP release contained no track information on the labels, nor the traditional "side one" and "side two" designs. The ostensible "side one" was labeled Outside and displayed a reproduction of the image on the album cover, while the other side was labeled Inside and displayed the same image with the colors reversed (''black-on-white''). Track information and album credits appeared on the inner sleeve only.


http://designmuseum.org/design/peter-saville
http://sleevage.com/joy-division-unknown-pleasures/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Division
http://991.com/eilcom/gallery/gallery.asp?artistname=joy-division

Jerome Quinert :)