With five star reviews almost across the board, the Ian Curtis biopic Control is even being talked about in certain circles as film of the year.
It arrives on our screens amid a plethora of Joy Division product releases. A BBC4 documentary charted the rise and fall of Factory Records, the band’s label headed by the late Tony Wilson.
The three seminal Joy Division albums, Closer, Unknown Pleasures and Still, are being given the rerelease treatment as “collectors’ editions” from Warner, each with a bonus CD of a Joy Division concert and comprehensive booklets.
And Anton Corbijn’s biopic, with Sam Riley playing the late Curtis, looks set to bring the band’s music to a whole new audience.
Joy Division are often, rightly, dubbed one of the most influential bands of all time. The career retrospective pieces these releases precipitate shed light on why, for those of us too young to have been swept up in it all first time round.
Joy Division MP3s or CDs
Joy Division on Spotify
