Joy Division’s Live History Collected in New Eternal Box Set

Joy Division’s live history is being brought together in one place this week with the release of Eternal (Live), a huge new collection arriving through Warner on September 25.

The 16-disc set is the first official Joy Division release dedicated entirely to their live recordings. It brings together 16 performances recorded between March 1979 and May 1980, covering a period in which the Manchester band went from playing small clubs to becoming one of the most important groups to emerge from the post-punk scene.

The scale of the release is considerable: 14 CDs of live audio are accompanied by two DVDs containing more than two hours of footage.

The recordings come from a mixture of audience tapes, soundboard recordings and radio broadcasts, with the audio newly mastered at Abbey Road Studios. The sources aren't all pristine, and the label has been open about the fact that some recordings retain the limitations of the original tapes. That is arguably part of what makes the collection interesting, though. These aren't polished retrospective studio reconstructions. Much of the material documents what Joy Division actually sounded like in rooms at the time.

There are previously unreleased performances included too.

The collection opens with a previously unreleased recording from the Hope & Anchor in London on March 1, 1979. There are also previously unreleased recordings from Acklam Hall, while material from The Factory, the Lyceum and the Moonlight Club has not previously been heard in this form.

The set also reaches the end of the band's short live career.

One of the recordings comes from Joy Division's final concert at High Hall in Birmingham on May 2, 1980, just over two weeks before Ian Curtis died. The show is particularly notable for including “Ceremony”, which Joy Division performed live only once.

The visual material adds another layer to the collection. The two DVDs include previously unseen footage of the band's October 1979 performance at Plan K in Brussels, material from their two-night run at Manchester's Apollo Theatre and a new edit of Joy Division – A Malcolm Whitehead Film.

There is also plenty here for people interested in the band's visual history. The accompanying booklet includes new notes from poet Simon Armitage alongside photography by Anton Corbijn and Kevin Cummins, while the box artwork brings together work from Peter Saville, Warren Jackson, Howard Wakefield and Brett Wickens.

A live Joy Division recording has always carried a different weight from one of their studio albums. The band's records were carefully constructed, but their reputation was built in rooms where the songs could change shape completely. Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris were still working out exactly what Joy Division could be.

Eternal (Live) gives listeners a chance to hear that process across more than a year of performances.

Eternal (Live) is released by Warner on September 25.