I just got Closer

The problem with being a smug git is that you have to convince yourself that you know everything. And if not actually everything, then you at least have to convince yourself that you know everything that is worth knowing.

And then one day you might find yourself browsing through a record shop and come across a sign declaring “Essential CDs You Must Own.” Now, I’m normally not a sucker for this sort of thing, but I had a few minutes to kill so I decided to take a look. There were no great shocks. All the “worthy” stuff from the last twenty or so years that I’d heard a dozen times and got pretty bored with. But there were also a few Joy Division CDs that I’d never heard.

Have you noticed how much of a fuss is being made about them at the moment? Suddenly every new guitar band on the block has this one thing in common; they are all claiming that Joy Division was (Or is it, were?) a major influence on their style.

So I picked up a copy of “Closer” (A bargain at £4.99), deciding I’d at least find out what all the fuss had been about.


Anyway. Now I feel stupid. What on earth was I thinking of? How did I miss it? This album came out in nineteen eighty and it’s taken me twenty five years to discover it! How can this have happened? Admittedly I was just ten years old when this album came out, but when I think about the amount of musical trash I’ve bought when I could have tried this instead, it makes me shake my head in wonder. How many teenage hours did I waste listening to Dire Straits? I want my money back!

I can’t remember the last time an album has grabbed me so much on the first listen. And the second and third plays have been just as rewarding. I feel like a science fiction fan who’s only just discovered Bradbury. How on earth did I do it?