Closer (studio album) by Joy Division

Closer by Joy Division
Year: 1980
Overall rank: 78th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
85/100 (from 1,835 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 1980 (2nd)
Award Top 10 albums of the 1980s (9th)
Award Top 100 albums of all time (78th)
Product Details
Availability

eBay
eBay
Joy Division- Closer, Factory FACT. 25, 1981 UK pressing, vg
Condition: Used


eBay
eBay
JOY DIVISION-CLOSER - VINILO NEW VINYL
Condition: New


eBay
eBay
Joy Division Love Will Tear Us Apart 12” Vinyl EP Unknown Pleasures Closer
Condition: Used


  My favourite store:  

Joy Division bestography

Closer is ranked 2nd best out of 12 albums by Joy Division on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Joy Division is Unknown Pleasures which is ranked number 37 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 27,118.

Joy Division album bestography « Higher ranked (37th) This album (78th) Lower ranked (1,389th) »
Unknown PleasuresCloserSubstance

Upcoming concerts

Jun
01
Thu
21:00
Do Division and Empty Bottle Presents: Brainiac / Lung / Matt Espy
Empty Bottle, Chicago, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Jun
02
Fri
22:00
The Cowboys / Beh'Ouai / Hozac Records DJ Set (Do Division After Show)
Empty Bottle, Chicago, United States. United States
Tickets from $10.00 (Ticketmaster) Get tickets
 
Jun
03
Sat
20:00
Pete Milo, the Strange Division, White Lighter, the Moms
Musica, Akron, United States. United States
Tickets from Ticketmaster Get tickets
 
Discover more upcoming concerts

Listen to Closer on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Closer track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 86 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
2.
Rating: 87 (389 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
3.
Rating: 84 (347 votes)Comments: 1
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
4.
Rating: 82 (321 votes)Comments: 1
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
6.
Rating: 85 (356 votes)Comments: 2
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
8.
Track pick
Rating: 88 (370 votes)Comments: 1
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
9.
Track pick
Rating: 90 (433 votes)Comments: 5
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify

Track pick Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Closer rankings

Closer collection

Closer ratings

Average Rating: 
85/100 (from 1,835 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 1,835 ratings for this album.

Sort ratings
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
95/100
 Report rating
16 hours ago redanbarros  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 20689/100
 
80/100
 Report rating
05/27/2023 03:13 imacgill  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 81581/100
 
95/100
 Report rating
05/18/2023 16:07 Gendjar  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 4,49955/100
 
85/100
 Report rating
05/06/2023 12:51 Untitled  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 92878/100
 
100/100
 Report rating
05/01/2023 12:50 TradeShark  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 59350/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 85.4/100, a mean average of 83.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 85.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.0.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Closer comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 122 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
85/100
From 05/06/2023 12:57
The beginning and end of this album is fantastic but the middle part is quite underwhelming especially when comparing it with the phenomenal songs that are present here. Tracks 1-2 start us off with some brilliant lyrics and a truly unnerving atmosphere. This prepares us very well for the style of Joy Division and it always does a great job of making me desperate to hear more of this sound. However, we have to take a brief break before this is satisfied as tracks 3-6 are quite a drag to get through. In my opinion, the more repetitive aspects of these tracks are too prevalent and this leads to the music becoming draining and I find myself becoming fatigued by the end of it. They just don't posses that same dark atmospheric quality that the better songs on here have. We then conclude the album with a phenomenal 3 song stretch that is probably the greatest run they ever made. These tracks are haunting and full of power with The Eternal always impressing me whenever I revisit this release. By the time you reach the end of Decades you feel like you have been on a truly amazing experience and it is what made me fall in love with the group when I first heard them. Overall, this record is unique and has a lot of quality with the bookends of the album being some of the best material they ever released.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 05/03/2023 13:57
One of the best album in history 👏🏻 A masterpiece 👏🏻
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 08/31/2022 03:39
Solid album
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 08/17/2022 19:18
This album starts very oddly with Atrocity Exhibition which leaves the dark atmosphere of previous record and replaces it with unsettling one. Then we have very good Isolation and then we get to the weakest part of the album - Passover and Colony - two of my least favorites on the record. A Means To An End is quite underrated track and Heart And Soul finally gets album back to true greatness. Three last tracks are my favorite, they are excellent, especially Twenty Four Hours and Decades. Vibe of this album for me is even more depressing than Unknown Pleasures, but is slithtly less consistent.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 07/16/2022 07:08
Joy division released 2 albums, ian curtis suicide cut of what could have been a top tier band ever at the status of the beatles, led zeppelin or pink floyd, this albums more obscure i think than the debut, awesomeness i always got an incredible emotion hearing it, Decades is one of my favorites songs ever
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 07/06/2022 02:51
Personally, I rank Closer ahead of Unknown Pleasures as well, at this moment anyway of course.

This has to be among the greatest works of lyrics ever. Ian Curtis’s story is so truly sad, but one thing that is particularly tough to deal with is that we don’t have 3 decades of work from the guy. But maybe that’s what makes this record so special, that being its authentic, bludgeoning sadness and how close to the end Ian knew he was.

The music throughout Closer is no joke either and to me it’s a much more interesting set of arrangements than their debut too. Some of the playing mixed with the archaic… almost… anti new wave?.. effects are staggering.

This is a masterful album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 04/13/2022 15:31
I may be in the minority but personally I think this is better than Unknown Pleasures. The production seems to have taken a step forward towards being utterly breathtaking, the way you can hear the sense of space is incredible, close your eyes and you feel like you are within the studio. Every bit of space is accounted for and it makes the record sound massive. On top of that, musically it is outstanding with a greater sense of melodic writing while still staying within the style and sound of the previous record.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 01/08/2022 18:53
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -4 votes (0 helpful | 4 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 12/26/2021 13:42
The sheer beauty of this music is something the LedZep devotees will either never get nor hear.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
10/100
From 11/04/2021 18:32
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -4 votes (0 helpful | 4 unhelpful)

Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Closer

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!
Log in or register to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.
Best Albums of 1980
1. Remain In Light by Talking Heads
2. Closer by Joy Division
3. Back In Black by AC/DC
4. Scary Monsters... And Super Creeps by David Bowie
5. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys
6. Peter Gabriel III by Peter Gabriel
7. The River by Bruce Springsteen
8. Permanent Waves by Rush (CA)
9. Pretenders by Pretenders
10. Making Movies by Dire Straits
11. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure
12. Crazy Rhythms by The Feelies
13. Sandinista! by The Clash
14. Heaven And Hell by Black Sabbath
15. Boy by U2
16. Ace Of Spades by Motörhead
17. Gaucho by Steely Dan
18. Duke by Genesis
19. Get Happy!! by Elvis Costello And The Attractions
20. Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden
Back to Top