Joy Division – RZM Productions 1981

Posted on March 9, 2008July 17, 2008 by Penguin

This was originally the bonus EP that came with the ‘Warsaw’ bootleg LP. But it was also available separate from the LP and with various colours on the vinyl. The EP is a (slightly in parts) dodgy sounding copy of the first John Peel session broadcast in February 1979. I uploaded it because Joy Division available studio stuff is a bit of a no no. The material on this record is still wonderful though…

I saw the film ‘Control’ tonight and I must stress that it is an absolutely amazing creation, and well worth the admission fee or the money to purchase the film on DVD. Anton Corbijn cinematography is as you would expect, dark and brooding. Acting and general presence of the characters was blinding. Good job Momentum Pictures, lets get that film company to do a film on KYPP and the London punk / squat scene in the late 1970’s early 1980’s…maybe not!

Check out the movie site here

35 comments

eggbut
March 9, 2008 at 12:46 pm

Thank you for this posting & view on ” Control”.
Myself & a few friends watched the film & ALL gave it 10 out of 10.
Why not get a film done, would be good for the younger generation
to understand what it was like back then.
Chris
March 9, 2008 at 2:11 pm

Didn’t really enjoy Control that much myself? Yes, Anton Corbijn’s cinematography was excellent but i just found it too ‘style over substance’. Like a 90 minute Raf Simons commercial. That said, it was probably worth the ticket price simply for the last 5 or so minutes which were spectacular.
eggbut
March 10, 2008 at 12:16 am

myself enjoyed the film. And yes the last minutes really get to you.
Carl
March 10, 2008 at 12:07 pm

I really enjoyed the film, good idea to film it in Black and White. Thought Tony Wilson was portrayed a bit over the top, but maybe not !!
chris
March 10, 2008 at 12:46 pm

Steve Coogan’s portrayal of Wilson in ’24 hr party people’ was a hard act to follow! Thought samantha morton was excellent, and the actor who played Gretton was amazing. I just found the rather heavy handed humour very offputting and the cinematography/composition just a bit too flawless not to intrude on the narrative.
johng
October 17, 2008 at 7:35 pm

I didnt enjoy Control very much,dont know why exactly just always find film bio’s about bands a bit crap(especially sid and nancy – cringe factor =10 out of 10.
I found the John Savage documentary of Joy Division on youtube,its in 11 parts but its free so here ya go….aint seen it yet myself so hope its good.
http://uk.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=shushonit&search_query=joy+division&search=Search
Thought 24 hour pp was good though,I live almost next door to the old factory club here in sunny old Hulme.
baron von zubb
October 17, 2008 at 8:08 pm

Control was brilliant.
Saw it here in Brighton and there was people crying in the audience.
Brought back the emotions of the time.
Thats how it was, no?
Ian Curtis;Probably, and heres another contentiuos opinion from me, the biggest talent from that period.
andus
October 17, 2008 at 8:29 pm

I agree Ian Curtis one of the best talents from that time, Control was a good film, I’d give it 7/10, the back and white atmospheric footage portrayed the gloom of the times perfectly, their manager comes across as a complete wanker who was unfortunately needed by the band, I felt sorry for his wife, What a brilliant piece of acting at the end of the film when she discovers his dead body.
There is a really good documentary about Joy Division out 2007 called, Joy Division in their own words, possibly the same one linked above, if anyone has the original of their first 12 inch its worth £150 on ebay.
Sam
October 17, 2008 at 9:01 pm

I thought 24 Hr PP is the only band biopic I’ve ever seen that worked – probably because of the tongue in cheek nature of it. It’s the only one that has ever brought back the late seventies for me as most of the characters dressed like crap.

Control fell into the usual trap:

Curtis walks into pub.

‘How’s the band going’

‘Shite…we need a sing – ger’

‘I’m a fucking sing – ger’

‘Great…when can you start?’.

I thought the Tony Wilson and Gretton characters came across as caricatures of their counterparts in 24 hr PP. And the Ian in that did the dying fly dance better.

I agree with Jake that Curtis was the man of the hour. I think they’re as important as the Pistols myself. For a truly hilarious band pic watch the dramatisation of Jimi Hendrix’s life that came out a few years back.
andus
October 17, 2008 at 9:41 pm

I have been to Hulme JOHNG, in 1990 for that revenge for henge festival, I got arrested when the police raided the party, the geezer sat in front of me saw them coming first and threw this spliff into my lap which this copper saw, so he grabbed me and put me under arrest, the geezer who had caused this then grabbed my other arm saying ‘Your not arresting him’ and so a tug of war with me as the rope took place for about 30 seconds, ‘hes under arrest,,, no, you’re not arresting him’Eventually I told the geezer not to bother as he would only get himself arrested as well,so he stopped, The copper then took me outside to put me in the van, however I decided to make a break for it, Managed to break out of his armlock by some miracle and went legging it across the green, unfortunately I had string in place of my belt holding my trousers up, it snapped, and I went flat on my face with my trousers around my ankle, anyway he had me on the floor twisting my arm right over my head, agony, threatened to break my arm if I made a break for it again, this acted as a real good surrender incentive, so he took me back and put in the van on my own, then these stones started hitting the van as people were pissed off about my arrest, meanwhile I had found a hole in the bottom of the van floor which I used to squeeze all of my magic mushrroms and most of hash through but a copper got in before I could rid of all of it, he then searched my pockets finding the hash and arrrested me, I tried to explain to him that the other copper had already arrested me, he replied, well I’m arresting you now as well,Well they took me back to the police station and opened the back doors and I was confronted by about 20 coppers, the one at the front said ‘ now don’t try and make a break for it this time sonny’, they take me inside take all my stuff off me and decide to strip search me, I’m put in a cell and told to strip, the cop takes my clothes, and leaves, I’m sat there naked freezing, 10 minutes later he returns, ‘We can’t do it in here we’ll have to do it in the next cell’ so he marches me naked up the corridor dumping me in another cell where I sit freezing for 30 minutes, then he returns,,’we can’t do it in here either and marches me again naked up the corridor into another cell, leaving me in there freezing again, 10 minutes later another copper comes in and throws my underpants at me and closes the door. I sit there freezing for 4 hours, then another copper comes in with my clothes and says, ‘You’ve had a caution haven’t you’ ..’No, ‘You have, you had a caution’, No I haven’t mate, ‘Yesss you have, another office came in and gave you a good telling off’ ‘No I’ve seen no one in hours,’ ‘Look mate you’ve had a caution OK, ‘Alright yes I’ve had a caution’, ‘ good put your clothes on, I’m taken to reception they given me my stuff back. I ask them which way it is to Hulme. ‘Home I don’t know where you live mate ‘,,, ‘No HUULME ! ‘ oh its 3 miles that way’ ,,,’cheers’, So I start walking back to Hulme, on the way back I discover that the tab of acid I had is still inside the back of my watch, morons. Eventually I come across this sign which says, WELCOME TO MOSS SIDE, HULME 1 MILE, Its 3am in the morning and I’ve gotta walk through Moss Side with this Brummie accent, I hesitate,,,Eventually after standing in front of this sign for about 20 minutes smoking a fag. I realise that I would probably get lost if I tried to go round.,so in I go, straight through Moss side, Nothing happens and I arrive back in Hulme to find the party has resumed, I re-enter, meet up with me mates. Then 3 geezers grab me and drag me into the toilets pinning me up against the wall. ‘What have you told them’ ‘I aint told then nuthin they let me go’ ‘They wouldn’t have let you go unless you’d told them something’. ‘Look mate I’ve told them nothing’ ‘Why they let you go then’,,, ‘I dunno’,,,, You MUST have told them something’.. ‘No, look mate I told them nothing I don’t even live here I don’t know anyone here I’m from Brum’. ‘Is this true’.,, ‘Of course its TRUE can’t you tell from my accent’,, ,one of them goes and checks it out, comes back, ‘Hes ok lads patting me on the back and putting a can of lager in my hand, I then re-join my 2 friends who have been standing outside the toilets a tad concerned, and everythings OK , and I FINALLY get down to partying.

That was my first and only trip to Manchester,

I heard they demolished Hulme and built another Hulme, in exactly the same Kitchen sink style as the previous one.

There is footage of the original Hulme in the film Joy Division in their own words, recognized it straight away, the kind of place you never forget, I stayed there for 5 days, The original Spaghetti western town
andus
October 17, 2008 at 10:00 pm

Actually I have got the year wrong, it was 1989, cause I was in Holland 1990 from April until September.
Alan Rider
October 17, 2008 at 10:38 pm

I think that whole Factory/Joy Division thing was more of a state of mind that fitted perfectly with the time. Even Crispy Ambulance sounded right back then! It paved the way for the whole industrial scene, for which I will be forever grateful as it was as close to a truly underground DIY music scene as it was possible to get. The music is mostly unlistenable now, but the concepts were truly unique and Factory/Joy Division had a big hand in making it all possible.
johng
October 18, 2008 at 9:09 am

i’d read debbie curtis’ book before i watched control so maybe thats why i didnt enjoy the film as much as others did,very sad end to it but i knew what was coming.
wonder what would have happened if martin hannet hadnt produced the first lp,apparentley joy division wanted a much more thrashier sound to what it ended up like and dont rate it at all.
andus-strange i was also arrested at the revenge for the henge festival there,thought it was 88 but i’m probabley wrong,wasnt as lucky as you though getting a caution.me and others were kept all weekend at the central detention centre before appearing before the magistrates on monday afternoon,£50 fine under public order act.not sure if i was in the same van as you,but we did try to get out until we realised like yourself there were 20 or so cops outside the van.not a good idea trying to fight the tactical aid group after eating mushroom cake washed down with god knows how much scrumpy,but we were enjoying radio mongolia before the cops turned the power off and started throwing folk down stairwells.
yep,its all gone now,regenerated,well given a lick of paint over the old cracks.
reading stuff about campbell buildings on the other threads it sounds just like it was round here in the 80’s except we didnt have to put up with right wing vigilantes kicking our doors in,it was the crazed crackheads who were doing that.some interesting tales over on the skyscraper city forums about it all.it was a bit like the wild west at times.
andus
October 18, 2008 at 11:52 am

You were not in the same van as me cause I was on my own in the van, It could have been 1988. I know it was the end of summer/autumn anyway, There was a mini riot I recall the following evening, I missed all the hassle inside the party as I was the first to be arrested, I was sat outside the party on the stairway, cause the party was jam packed, the next night they sent the police in again, I was stood on the balcony watching them come in, big line of them. The copper who had arrested me the previous night had told me if he saw there again he would arrest me again and charge me. As I was stood on the balcony the police got closer, Guess which copper I saw directly below me and looking straight at me, yes the one that had arrested me the previous night, so I took off did a runner, Came back about an hour later to find riot police on the estate and a mini riot going on. great weekend.
I think they probably let me off as I wasn’t a resident of the area.

I didn’t get the chance to do my mushrooms though I did get the acid down me the next night, which probably helped to inspire me to do a runner.

I reckon if it had not been called ‘Revenge for henge’ they might have left us alone. Possible bad PR move.
andus
October 18, 2008 at 11:58 am

Come to think of it I think it may have been 1988 cause that was the last serious stonehenge attempt. I was at stonehenge 88, and they sent the riot police in at 4-5 in the morning after we had been up all night and had walked 10 miles back from the stones, I remember stonehenge 89 being a wash-out, hardly anyone got near the place, well our gang didn’t anyway.
johng
October 18, 2008 at 12:11 pm

yep,thought it was 88,was at cholderton woods as well that year.
dont know who came up with the ‘revenge for the henge idea’.we also had a cheif of police called james anderton who basically wanted hulme and the degenerates that lived here wiped off the face of the earth.he actually believed himself to be the reincarnation of oliver cromwell.known in manchester as ‘gods cop’.
always made me chuckle when i saw the graffiti on the wall of one of the stairwells saying, ‘hotknife Andertons brain’.
andus
October 18, 2008 at 12:31 pm

James Anderton, christ yeah, I remember him, he’s mentioned in the joy division documentary. Cholderton woods thats the place, I got cavalry charged at stonehenge that year, we walked all the way to the henge through the darkness they had closed the road for us to march there, When i got there I had some serious blisters and could hardly walk, then the police cavalry charged us, suddently I was able to run really fast were previously I was hobbling about like I was crippled. I got chased across this field and had to wade through a river to get away. and then the long walk back to ‘cholderton woods’, we settled down to get some sleep, then the riot police moved in. ordering us out.
baron von zubb
October 18, 2008 at 4:45 pm

Stonehenge?
Andus.
And you didnt like acid house?
Wot can I say?
I was out of the country for practicly all of the 80’s from 84 and the early nineties.
But for 89-91 I was in Somerset where the rave scene was peaking.
Explains my myopic tastes from that era.
andus
October 18, 2008 at 6:30 pm

Acid house give it a rest. My place is on the street, fighting with the cops in Manchester. Battling with them at Stonehenge, and getting beaten up by hunt heavies at the Quorn. Where all good hard men should be, none of this peace loving hippie shit for me mate, no doves fly where I go mate, only missiles, punches and kicks, and thats if you’re lucky.
baron von zubb
October 18, 2008 at 6:59 pm

You’ll like my book then . .
andus
October 18, 2008 at 7:49 pm

Is that the same book you mentioned earlier, BTW, the above post wasn’t serious, only kidding.
baron von zubb
October 18, 2008 at 7:55 pm

Silly me.
Im tired and senile.
W
October 19, 2008 at 1:03 am

Sorry, off topic but Radio Mongolia got mentioned. They were a very interesting band and really knew how to put on a good show. They played any number of free festivals, benefits and squat gigs during the eighties. Do any of their recordings exist out there? There was the track on the Travellers Aid Trust benefit lp but I’ve never come across anything else.

Great Joy Division post. Much as I love the albums it was always the raw driving intensity of their early recordings that captivated me.
Phil R
October 19, 2008 at 8:33 am

Jake> are you talkin’ bout Pepper Box Hill Somerset raves?
Ive heard about a reunion party this dec full moon!
PS wonder if we’ll ever get this Campbell Buildings reunion together?
baron von zubb
October 21, 2008 at 9:30 am

Not any in particular. Went to a few. I felt it was The UK at its best.
If we can get Cambell bdgs folk togethr it would be astounding. We’d have to chip in for Bobs airfare.
Phil R
October 21, 2008 at 9:46 am

Jake im also trying to track down Lisa at the mo – Im sure im gonna find her.
I was hanging out with Mitch as recently as 1985 then lost contact with her.
Ive got a few old pics of Sniper from my mate Andrea that i will scan n’ post.
baron von zubb
October 21, 2008 at 9:50 am

I saw Mitch at The BGG in early nineties. We said hello but. Before I could finish up what i was doing she’d gone. It would be great to see any of ’em
Phil R
October 21, 2008 at 10:44 am

I’m sure its gonna happen at some point Jake. I can feel it in my bones.
Hey! some old party stuff here
http://freepartypeople.wordpress.com
baron von zubb
October 22, 2008 at 9:14 am

As I remember if your bones are to be trusted.
Heres a thought.
Lets have the Cmbl Bdgs re union in Aus?
I went on that link Phil, clicked on Hampshire ‘cos i thought it was about that ‘long stock ‘ festi and got through to a gardening site…
Still some good stuff, its like a rave version of this site.
Phil R
October 22, 2008 at 2:27 pm

You were at Long stock Jake?…So was I!
I Would have loved to have bumped into you back then!
baron von zubb
October 22, 2008 at 5:49 pm

I was thinking about that this afternoon. We probably walked right passed each other. Or were dancing next to the same set of speakers!
I remember that when we got there I was roaming around listening to the sounds from all the different rigs for a few days ‘grazing’ and realised that I had owned all of them at some point,uncanny.
X Ray spex, Crass, Augustus Pablo, Tapper Zukie, Dj Die, Tekno 2 etc.
Then when the punters turned up it all got skewiffy. ‘Dark side of the Moon’. ‘Baby D’ other stuff I knew but had never actually had.
That was a wicked few days.
Absolutely brilliant and poor old andus(hello mate!!) just never knew what it was like to battle your way through the police lines and take over an area for a while.
freepartyperson
October 23, 2008 at 4:36 am

Really enjoying this site, especially the posts on roots reggae and the early ’90’s free party/free festy scene. I’ve stuck up a link to your site on my site by the way.

@phil/baron: I’m afraid I don’t yet have anything on Longstock on my site, YET… some input from people who were there would be much appreciated, however hazy/lost in the mists of time it might be 😛 I wasn’t at Longstock myself, but I’ve written about pretty much every free festy I attended in the early ’90’s and now it’s time for other people to do the same…

I publish every comment that gets submitted and if you want to submit something longer I can publish it as a post.
Phil R
October 23, 2008 at 8:06 am

The Rave scene did seem to split my old punk mates. Some really embraced it and some just didnt get it.
There is a really great Free party group on Facebook with lots of old Party photos etc.
Look up “free party people”