Today, exactly 42 years ago, Joy Division released their second and final studio album, Closer. It was released on 18 July 1980 on the renowned UK label Factory Records exactly two months after the tragic suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis (18 May 1980). Today, Closer is still considered as one of the major releases of the New-Wave and Post-Punk era.

The songs on Closer were drawn from two distinct periods. The earlier guitar-driven compositions like Atrocity Exhibition, A Means to an End, Colony, Passover and 24 Hours were written during the latter half of 1979. The other songs like Isolation, Decades, The Eternal and Heart and Soul were written in early 1980 and included more prominent use of electronics and synthesizers.

Regarding the album's lyrical content, Bernard Sumner recollected: "We'd go to rehearsals and sit around and talk about really banal things. We'd do that until we couldn't talk about banal things any more, then we'd pick up our instruments and record into a little cassette player. We didn't talk about the music or the lyrics very much. We never analyzed it”. Bernard also remembers Ian Curtis saying he was feeling strange because “he felt like all his words were writing themselves. He also said that he had this terrible claustrophobic feeling that he was in a whirlpool and being pulled down, drowning."

Closer was recorded between 18–30 March 1980 at Britannia Row Studios in London. It was produced by Martin Hannett. His production has been highly praised by the music press. However, as with their debut album, both Hook and Sumner were unhappy with Hannett's work. Peter Hook later complained that the track "Atrocity Exhibition" was mixed on one of his days off and when he heard the final product was disappointed that the abrasiveness of his guitar part had been laden with effects and toned down. He wrote; "I was like, head in hands, oh fucking hell, it's happening again. Unknown Pleasures number two... Martin [Hannett] had melted the guitar with his Marshall Time Waster. Made it sound like somebody strangling a cat, and to my mind, absolutely killed the song. I was so annoyed with him and went in and gave him a piece of my mind but he just turned around and told me to fuck off."

The album cover was designed by Martyn Atkins and Peter Saville, with a photograph of a Italian tomb on the sleeve. Designer Peter Saville commented that he, upon learning of singer Ian Curtis's suicide, expressed immediate concern over the album's design as it depicted a funeral theme, remarking "we've got a tomb on the cover of the album!"

Closer as a 12” vinyl album reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart. The Album was also chosen as Album of The Year by NME and is still placed highly in various top 10 lists like Best Album of the 80s (Slant Magazine, Pitchfork Magazine, Q magazine, …) and number two on Sonic Seducers “10 key Goth albums”. It got 10/10 review scores by Akk Music, NME, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone album guide, Select, Spin Alternative Record Guide, Uncut and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music

By 1982, the album had sold over 250,000 copies worldwide.

Shortly after this release the remaining members chose New Order as their new and future band name.

Closer
Side A

1. Atrocity Exhibition
2. Isolation
3. Passover
4. Colony
5. A Means to an End

Side B
6. Heart and Soul
7. Twenty Four Hours
8. The Eternal
9. Decades

All songs written by Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner.

Today it’s exactly 34 years since Siouxsie & The Banshees released their single Peek-a-Boo. It was released on 18th July 1988 as the first single from the band's ninth studio album, Peepshow. Peek-a-Boo was rated "Single of the Week" in both Sounds and NME.

The song's peculiar sound is due to its experimental recording which was based on a sample. The song was built on a loop in reverse of a brass part with drums which the group previously arranged a year before for a cover of John Cale's 'Gun'. The band selected different parts of that tape when played backwards, editing them and re-recording on top of it, adding a different melody plus accordion, a one-note bass and discordant guitar. Drummer Budgie also added another beat. Once the instrumental parts were finished, Siouxsie sang her lyrics over it. The lyric track was further manipulated by Siouxsie's use of a different microphone for each line of the song. It took the band a year to arrive at this result.

Peek-a-Boo was one of Siouxsie and the Banshees' most recognizable and popular singles; it was also the group's first to chart in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 53 in the week of 3rd December. The song was very popular on alternative rock radios and received heavy play on MTV. In September 1988, Billboard magazine premiered a new Modern Rock Tracks chart, which measured radio airplay on US modern rock stations; "Peek-a-Boo" was the chart's first No. 1 song. In the UK, "Peek-a-Boo" became their fifth Top 20 UK hit, peaking at number 16 in the Singles Chart.

The music video was chosen by The Chart Show to be their "Best Video of the Year" for 1988. On the Beavis & Butt-Head episode "Sperm Bank," Beavis noted while watching the video that "this is music for people who don't have any friends”.

Peek-a-Boo (CDS/7”)
a. Peek-a-Boo
b. False Face

Peek-a-Boo (CD Maxi-single)
1. Peek-A-Boo
2. Catwalk
3. Peek-A-Boo (Big Spender Mix)
4. False Face
5. Peek-A-Boo (Silver Dollar Mix)

Peek-a-Boo (Lyrics)

Creeping up the backstairs
Slinking into dark stalls
Shapeless and slumped in bath chairs
Furtive eyes peep out of holes
She has many guises
She'll do what you want her to
Playing dead and sweet submission
Cracks the whip deadpan on cue

Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo

Reeking like a pigsty
Peeling back and gagging free
Flaccid ego in your hand
Chokes on dry tears, can you understand?
She's jeering at the shadows
Sneering behind a smile
Lunge and thrust to pout and pucker
Into the face of the beguiled

Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo (Golly jeepers)
Peek-a-boo (Where'd you get those peepers?)
Peek-a-boo (Peepshow, creepshow)
Peek-a-boo (Where did you get those eyes?)

Strobe lights pump and flicker
Dry lips crack out for more
"Come bite on this rag doll, baby!
That's right now hit the floor"
They're sneaking out the back door
She gets up from all fours
Rhinestone fools and silver dollars
Curdle into bitter tears

Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo (Golly jeepers)
Peek-a-boo (Where'd you get those peepers?)
Peek-a-boo (Peepshow, creepshow)
Peek-a-boo (Where did you get those eyes?)
Peek-a-boo (Golly jeepers)
Peek-a-boo (Where'd you get those peepers?)
Peek-a-boo (Peepshow, creepshow)
Peek-a-boo (Where did you get those eyes?)
Peek-a-boo (Golly jeepers)
Peek-a-boo (Where'd you get those peepers?)
Peek-a-boo (Peepshow, creepshow)
Peek-a-boo (Where did you get those eyes?)

Where did you get those eyes?
Where did you get those eyes?

(Songwriters: N Sioux / Steven Severin / Johnny Mercer / N Budgie / Harry Warren)

41 years ago, American new wave band The B52’s released their 12” Party Mix! (July 1981). Party Mix! is a remix album, that came out in between their second album Wild Planet (August 1980) and their Mesopotamia EP (October 1981). Since most of the band’s bouncy songs were already dance-ready to begin with, one can see these remixed tracks more as great alternative versions, rather than real ‘dance’ tracks.

The original 12” featured six songs taken from their first two albums, all remixed and sequenced to form two long tracks, one on each side. On the CD version however, all the songs feature their own track.

The B52's - Part Mix! (12" - 1981)

DISCOGS

On this day, 36 years ago, the Belgian EBM icons FRONT 242 were invited to record a BBC live radio session for the legendary John Peel sessions (13 July 1986). The complete session was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on 23 July 1986. Listen below to some of the amazing alternative versions of FRONT 242's classics, taken from their No Comment LP (1984), Politics of Pressure EP (1985) and their very first release, the 7" Principles/ Body To Body (1981).

Tracklist:

No Shuffle
Funkadafic
Don't Crash
Body to body

Line-up:

R23 (Drums, Vocals)
Patrick Coornys (Keyboards)
Jean Luc De Meyer (Vocals)
Daniel B. (Keyboards, Special Effects)

Today 3 year ago, we received the sad news of the death of Rüdiger Frank ((° 17. Juni 1967, Ludwigsburg; † 12. Juli 2019, Markgröningen, Germany), singer of German gothic rock band The Tors Of Dartmoor. Rüdiger Frank left Printed At Bismarck's Death in 1989 with keyboard player Heiko Muter (who died in 2001) to form a new gothic rock band: The Tors Of Dartmoor, named after an English rock formation in a mystical landscape.

I got to know The Tors Of Dartmoor in 1991, shortly after the release of their grand debut "The Obvious Darkness". I remember very well taking this CD in the store, intrigued as I was by the band's name as wel as the cover-artwork with a photo of a ruin. The seller told me that this was the latest gothic sensation from Germany. Sold! I absolutely loved this album with classics such as "Waterking" and "Meet Moshe Dayan" (a song they wrote still with Printed At Bismarck's Death). Since then The Tors Of Dartmoor has been number 3 in the list of my favorite gothic rock bands, after The Sisters Of Mercy and Fields Of The Nephilim and just before Love Like Blood.

I was delighted when The Tors Of Dartmoor came to play in my hometown of Antwerp in 1992 at the Phantom Festival in the Limelight (the poster also included The Lance Of Allotment, Dive and Die Krupps). I will never forget the performance of The Tors Of Dartmoor and I still remember perfectly how it began. A tall guitarist and bass player came on stage and started to play the first song. When, after a few minutes, everyone started to wonder where the singer was, a small jerk suddenly came out of the backstage door, a kind of troll king who controlled the entire performance. What a voice and what a presence! Rüdiger Frank suffered from dwarf growth and never grew taller than 1.34 meters. But as small as he was in stature, as big was his act and his stage presence!

And this not only with his gothic rock bands, because in Germany Rüdiger Frank was also a well-known and celebrated actor. He played numerous roles there, including that of God in the piece "Mefistofele" and of Riff Raff in the musical "Rocky Horror Show". In later years he was known for his double role in the world's first steampunk opera "Klein Zaches, genannt Zinnober" and until very recently as Herod in the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar".

After the unparalleled debut "The Obvious Darkness" (1991) the albums "House Of Sounds" (1993, tip: "Welcome To The House"), "Third Second" (1996, tip: "Gypsy") and“ Chapter VI ”(2004) which still had a bunch of strong songs but which, as an album, unfortunately could not match the level of their debut.

Recently Rüdiger Frank was also active in the Romeo Is Bleeding formation, which made music inspired by Tom Waits. Unfortunately he could not finish a long-planned solo album. Rüdiger Frank had had health problems for a long time and was only 52 years old. I will cherish my copy of "The Obvious Darkness", signed by the four band members at the Phantom Festival in 1992, forever. [Henk Vereecken / Dark Entries]

Memorial-Site on Facebook

DISCOGS