Some time back I posted a cover version of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart (By Sussana & The Magical Orchestra). That bit of blogging not only elicited great response but also alerted me to the movie bout the late Ian Curtis (lead vocals & tortured soul). (Sorry la, I'm a bit out of touch & thanx Wei Yin fer the heads up on the movie news & have you seen it?)Weirdly enough, a couple of days after that post Joy Division was featured on BBCE's Sound of The 70s with an absolutely blistering rendition of Transmission. It was fooking intense. (Vid of that performance is below - please, please do take the time to watch it.)
That was enough fer me to dust down me 4-disc box set Heart & Soul featuring the band's entire output plus rarities, live recordings as well as demo versions (if you see it in a shop, just fooking buy it - its well worth the money!). As I slowly got reacquainted with this classic band, I also did a bit of research regarding the movie.
Well, what do you know, the film is world-renowned rock photographer Anton Corbijn's directorial debut. Fer those who don't recognise the name, this Dutch pixman's work has graced thousands of album & magazine covers, not least the iconic b&w shots on U2's Joshua Tree opus. Joy Division happened to be one of his fave bands & he left his native Holland to seek out this Mancunian outfit. The beautiful picture above is considered the defining image of the band. Creepily, only Ian turns to face Anton as he snaps & weeks later, he was dead . . . and the rest went on to form New Order.
Hence, this film has been a on-going project fer Corbijn as he seeks to bring closure to an important chapter in his life as well as to give Ian a fitting tribute to his short & troubled life. The film, Control, was chosen to open this year's Cannes festival.
Have included an interview/footage vid fer yer viewing pleasure below. Please do check it out & if anyone sees this movie at yer local DVD mart, please give me a holler.
To Ian - Only the good die young . . .
11 comments:
Aiya, I'm no fan of Ian curtis lar. Only stumbled on the news ... well, at least people remember him young and handsome, not old and cranky ...
Rock n roll immortality eh. One fan also wrote on youtube that since he died young, the band NEVER got the chance to release a shite album. Thus their output (like Hendrix & Nirvana) will forever be up there among the great untouchables . . .
Not bad, even death has its plus points fer these guys.
Most of the truly great bands / lead vocalists from Manchester support the Sky Blues - including Ian Curtis. ;0) Good for them!
great stuff! have been looking for it but so far no sign of it at the local dvd store!
Yup, only the good die young. Mr. Dickinson taught me that.
Jon C: 1 notable red devil supporter (good for him or not), our Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays & Black Grape. The Madchester era ... fooking madness.
Oh yeah, Bala, happy belated birthday. Hope you don't die young though ...
woi, Kiaq, fooking shaun ryder was fooked out of his fooking mind all the fooking time. So u do not expect him to be able to make a RATIONALE decision concerning which footie team to support rite?
What can I say when man u celeb fans include Mick Hucknall? Sad.
LFC celeb fans - Ian McCulloch (Echo & The Bunnymen), the late great John Peel (Radio 1), Elvis Costello (The Attractaions), John Powers (The La's & Cast), R Bala (Fer Fook's Sake) etc ad infinitum coolness . . .
Haha, glad to note that you're as sharp as ever ... with or without alcohol.
The La's, great liverpool band. Anyways, whatever happened to The Farm? ... all together now ... wore the t-shirt for years ...
Ok bala, here’s the truth. Don’t know much about JD either. Only that they formed the same year I was born and ian curtis died only a few years later. Dang.
But fully agree with you that the good ones die young. Cobain, Morrison and Hendrix were too cliché to mention but here’s one more that everyone seems to have forgotten- brad nowell of sublime. Another victim of heroin overdose. Cant imagine if people like him were still alive making music. I don’t know. Could be as big as Anthony kiedis or even kick the crap out of the MCRs and the hoobastanks and all the shits alike.
another thing Bala,
I believe its slowly coming back to me. the metal review column you did back during your Sun days were just a page separated from blasting concept and 2 pages before joe kidd’s other column, the alternative album review. I could be wrong as always. Hey, it was way back in 94-95. cant remember much except that I bought many local punkrock cassettes after reading Joe’s reviews in BC.
i dont mean to annoy you with another shitty comment but this one's worth mentioning. johnny rotten of sex pistols is a gooner! haha...
ok i'm done.
kerp: u should check get the JD box set, dude. Am pretty sure you'll dig it.
Yep, I worked with Joe Kidd in the Perfect Pitch pullout of the Sun (every Wed). Was really cool as I was the only person doing metal reviews, the record companies were very obliging ie lotsa free shit + phone interviews with Metallica, Machine Head, Sepultura et al.
RE: Sublime - yeah, dude. Their brand of ska was way better than No Doubt's. As fer today's rock/metal/alternative bands, call me old fashioned but they are just too poppy & MTV-friendly. That's why I've been getting back into the older bands such as Celtic Frost & Obituary of late. Noisy as fook!
RE: Celeb Gooners - u forgot to mention Nick Hornby. Great book. That book was how I met me wifey! She heard I had a copy & wanted to borrow it. The rest is matrimonial history (though I didn't count on the constant nagging though) . . .
Post a Comment