Unknown Pleasures or Closer?

Music
1
  • Unknown Pleasures
  • Closer

0 voters

2

Closer is easily the better of the two. Don’t let the t-shirts decide the debate.

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3

I listen to Unknown Pleasures at least once or twice a week. One of my all time favourites. Closer - I need to be in a particular mood.

I guess the real reason is that Disorder is such a blinding opening track - and fits so many moods - that I throw it on fairly regularly and then let the album play through.

4

Would it be wanky to say that Unknown is a great indie rock record but Closer is great art? (not that one can’t be the other) but while my brain notes the accomplishments of one, my heart always goes with the other.

5

Never really listen to either anymore, but Unknown Pleasures was the one which blew my mind when i got it out the library all those years ago so i can’t really look past that. Couldn’t shift the copy from my stereo for ages.

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6

Unknown Pleasures by a long way for me.

7

Love both, will probably always be uncertain which one I prefer. At the moment it’s Unknown Pleasures. Currently listening to their live recording more than either album though.

8

Closer is my favorite of the two, both brilliant pieces of work but I find it tough listening to Closer sometimes.

9

Closer’s peaks are arguably higher, especially the last couple of songs, but it has troughs too (I’m looking at you ‘Atrocity Exhibition’ and to an extent ‘colony’). Unknown Pleasures doesn’t have anything as soul-shatteringly immense as ‘Decades’ or ‘The Eternal’ but it’s more consistent, there are no duds.

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10

Haven’t listened to either in probably 2-3 years. Both are magnificent but Closer was my favourite album when I was 17-18 so I’ll go with that.

11

Closer is really doing it for me atm especially the first two and last two tracks

12

New Dawn Fades > Decades > 24 Hours > Shadowplay > Interzone > Heart & Soul > etc…

13

Atrocity Exhibition is great. Certainly better than the PEWPEWPEW of Insight.

2 Likes
14

definitely Closer. much better vocals for a start.

15

i’d have said it’s the other way around. always used to hate Candidate and Insight but i don’t mind them now. would say they’re closer to being duds than anything on Closer though.

16

I don’t like Side 2 as much. I’ve never been keen on She’s Lost Control (prefer the other version), Wilderness or Interzone. I’ve always felt that those last two sound a little bit punky and not gloomy enough to be on there.

Side 1 is absolute perfection though.

17

I think Closer, while doing what it does excellently, is slightly more one-dimensional. It’s a sound of defeat over and over again and I guess it’s not always what I can/want to hear.

18

I thought I was alone. I like the track overall, but I get sort of annoyed with it midway through. Wilderness and interzone are great though; breaks up the monotony a bit.

This too. I think it might be the production (which is better overall on Closer) that smooths out some of the rough edges.

This I can understand, especially as it comes from a context that really can’t be divorced from the album’s narrative whereas Unknown Pleasures exist relatively on its own terms. That said, I mostly just find Closer to be much more compelling and fully realised.

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19

Substance (CD version) > Closer > Unknown Pleasures > Still

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20

I fucking love Colony. The strangest, most intense Joy Division song imo.

Atrocity Exhibition is great too.

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