Closer (40th Anniversary Limited Crystal Clear Edition)

Respect to Factory & Rhino for another quality Joy Division pressing. The sleeve and inner are gorgeously reproduced whilst the heavy weight clear vinyl is stunning. Audio is clear and crisp with no surface noise and this release is a wonderful celebration of the unique talents of both the band and their producer Martin Hannet. This record did skip a few times on 'Heart & Soul' during the first few spins but after giving it a deep clean with 'Clear Groove' solution, the album now plays beautifully. Highly recommended and a reminder of how good early 80's music was and still is.

I'm always a bit dubious with vinyl re-releases but this is pure class. The vinyl is weighty, silent with a great sound stage. I have the original pressing back from '80 and would say this is comparable. The artwork is faithfully reproduced with high quality materials that hark back to the Factory days. I'm not going to review the actual album itself as potential purchasers already know that it is a sublime moment in musical history that still resonates and is as fresh as when it was first released. If you are a little concerned that this may be a poor imitation to cash in on the 40th anniversary, don't be, just buy it. On vinyl that is, it's the future! Here's hoping that New Order play some JD at Heaton Park later this year, Covid aside.

Closer here is a recently released blank see-through vinyl. That's the novelty. The album, however, is rather good; rather, very good. The hits on it include Heart And Soul, Decades and 24 Hours. It's been a familiar album after hearing it for over 40 years. Do we know anything else from it? Still in fabric came next. Curtis killed himself the year this wonderfully produced album was released (1980). The two-album Joy Division then -a picture of Salford and Macclesfield; all whose members attended Grammar school. The songs are rather morose and sometimes feel dark, ominous, morbid and depressing. I've since read Curtis' writing -it's evidently talented. As for vinyl? Imagine carrying 48,000 songs on vinyl -it fits on my laptop. CD is dying out; vinyl a blast from the past. HMV are revamping through a gamble on vinyl. The pandemic is likely to bruise the music industry. Amazon is reliable for most music requirements. Closer (in transparent vinyl) is nearly a great album, by a band who tragically ended too early.

Legendary band’s second album. Excellent.I must add though that far too much packaging is used to ship vinyl records. The package comes inside a huge unnecessary cardboard box filled with a large strip of twisted brown paper as unnecessary padding.I have seen Amazon’s advertisements showing new electric delivery vans to reduce emissions but what about the disappearance of the rain forests.Please stop using unnecessary, over the top packaging for simple items. It puts me off shopping with Amazon having to find space in my recycling bin for all the waste cardboard and paper.

What can I say apart from this buckles the trend for bands and their 'difficult second album'...it's brilliant and in many ways, very different to their first album. They were obviously coming on in leaps and bounds before Ian Curtis's tragic death.

This is a reflection of the pressing of the record, not the band who were my favourite band. Quite simply, beautifully presented, looks gorgeous, sounded decent until "Heart and Soul" on Side 2 - yes, please believe all the other reviews. It jumps all over the place. No excuse for it !

Disappointed to see item was reduced in price literally a day after I received it. Bad luck I suppose but with it being a new release feel cheated when there was a pre order guarantee only the day before.

for a clear vinyl pressing this is excellent quality, very quiet. The original packaging is recreated perfectly. Well worth getting even if you have the original, the sound quality is stunning.