Saturday, January 26, 2008

Soundtrack to distance


I don't think you need to be a fan of Joy Division, or even know who they were, to appreciate this stylish bit of prose from British journalist Paul Morley...


Unknown Pleasures had introduced this combination of musicians, the way the bass player played as if he was the obvious leader, and the drummer acted as if the floor would drop away from underneath him if he didn't keep up, and the guitarist introspectively analysed how he was going to deal with the mad, roaming and potentially stupid bass, and out manoeuvre the sly, possessed drummer, and he decided to do so by dragging shadows of sound around in violent little circles until people noticed he was there. The singer had all three of them in sight, sort of, and used his fortunate proximity to these three adventurous individuals working out how to become musicians to transform his excessive sensitivity, extreme shyness and outrageous bitterness into something that made sense within his reading of the history of rock and roll.

Paul Morley, from the liner notes to Joy Division - Closer (Collector's Edition)

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