Unknown Pleasures is Joy Division's first album, released in 1979 on Factory Records and recorded by the legendary Martin Hannet. In their embryonic form, Joy Division formed in the aftermath of the now legendary Sex Pistols Lesser Trade Hall gig in Manchester (which also spawned the likes of Buzzcocks, The Smiths and The Fall). Having finally found the sound that would define them after flirting with simpler '77 punk on their earlier releases under the name Warsaw, Unknown Pleasures is one of, if not THE defining album of the post-punk era.
Ian Curtis' baritone vocals and astounding lyrics weaved in the disorientating aural landscape of Bernard Sumner's rythymic guitar work and Peter Hook's melodic bass underpinned by the clockwork precision of Stephen Morris' drumming. The sound is at times sparse and others awash with layers of swirling guitars and synth. Opener "Disorder" is a drum-led 3 minute soundtrack to an urban mental breakdown, while "She's Lost Control" is a cold sounding but personal insight into an epilepsy sufferer Ian came into contact with and the effect she had on him. The band showed off it's brooding underbelly on tracks like "I Remember Nothing" and the almost metallic "Day of the Lords".
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