After more than a couple years listening to studio albums I got bored of hearing the same version of the songs and started my search for bootlegs in the deep seas of the internet. However, I’ve never shared them with anyone because I thought most people weren’t interested due to the lower quality of the sound, etc. Well, my perspective on the subject has changed after creating this blog, I surprisingly met a lot of people that are into unofficial live material, so I started this segment.
The first bootleg I’d like to talk about is the definitive edition of Joy Division live at Paradiso Club, Amsterdam, January 11, 1980. Why? Because I love Joy Division and it’s the best sounding live recording I have ever listened to, of any band. Most of the time the tapes grow mold or are very cheap, causing the progressive loss of dinamic range and clarity. This process hasn’t happened to this specific tape, it’s so clean, crisp and sonicly accurate that makes it hard to believe this wasn’t an studio outtake. To give you an idea, the crowd can only be heard during the intervals between songs, that tipical buzz during the tracks is inexistent. Even the professionally mastered live Joy Division albums like live at Les Bains Douches, Preston or The Factory don’t come close quality-wise to this one. Nonetheless, it hasn’t lost the impact of a live performance, every instrument has more presence than in the LPs , the bass sounds deeper, the drums are more energetic and the guitar stands out like it should.
Another aspect that makes live at Paradiso one of the greatest bootlegs is its setlist, featuring what are the considered by many the best songs of the band: Disorder, Transmission, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Shadowplay, She’s Lost Control, Atmosphere and more. If you want to have another perspective on Joy Division’s work, this is perfect for you. I can’t stress enough that all those comments are based on the definitive edition, there are tons os versions ripped from FM transmissions that sound awful.