Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)
JOY DIVISION – Love Will Tear Us Apart b/w These Days / Love Will Tear Us Apart
(A Factory Record – Fac 23- 1980)
I’d hazard a guess that the majority of music fans who came of age in the seventies has at least one version of this song in their collection.
It might be any one of the numerous covers by artists like José González, Bjórk, Paul Young, Swans, U2, Arcade Fire, Calexico, Mark Owen and, my favourite, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra.
Serviceable as some of these are, there’s no improving on the original.
It was released in April 1980, just one month before Ian Curtis committed suicide. This makes the plain grey sleeve design, which resembles a gravestone, look like some spooky premonition of the singer’s tragic death. Continue reading
