JOY DIVISION artwork of the week

Legendary bass player, Peter Hook, is bringing his band over to Australia to perform Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures in its entirety. Those of us who love this 30-year-old album are approaching Hook's expedition with caution. After all, the other founding members of Joy Division are either too lazy to come on the tour (singer Ian Curtis has been lying around doing nothing for years) or too pissed off with Hook to even speak to him (Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris). So, in a way, Hook is just performing a series of covers of Unknown Pleasures.

But speaking of covers, the original cover artwork for the album is above reproach. It's gained iconic status over the years - and with good reason.

The front cover image comes from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy. It presents successive pulses from the first pulsar ever discovered. The image was suggested by Morris and the cover design involved genius artist Peter Saville. The back cover of the album contains no track listings, leaving a blank table where one would expect the listings to be. The original release came in a textured sleeve.

The original LP release contained no track information on the labels, nor the traditional "side one" and "side two" designations. The ostensible "side one" was labeled Outside and displayed a reproduction of the image on the album cover, while the other side was labeled Inside and displayed the same image with the colours reversed. Track information and album credits appeared on the inner sleeve only.

Ah! This is what album artwork should be all about!