Album of the Day 7/31/10

Every day, we count down the 1000 best albums of all time, all the way to #1. Saturday’s is #913:

Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures

We should have included this on the obvious picks page to begin with – this is a real iconic one. Originally recorded for RCA in 1978, the band and label had a falling out, the band finally forced to delay releasing it for a year until they (with some help from future Factory Records impresario Tony Wilson) could afford to buy back their master tapes. It was worth it. The prototypical goth band mix it up here: the majestic anthem New Dawn Fades, the fiery dirge Day of the Lords, the skittish punk fury of Interzone and the manic depressive stomp of Shadowplay mingle amongst eerie minimalist sketches like Candidate, Wilderness and Insight. The 2007 cd reissue includes a bonus cd with a surprisingly good quality recording of the famous Russell Club concert from July of 1979 featuring especially choice live takes of Dead Souls and Shadowplay. All of this is very easy to find and download; vinyl copies, on the other hand, tend to be expensive, especially on the Factory label.