Joy Division - Closer (1980)
Down to last 6 pick, I don't think any of my remaining selections are under threat. I had a feeling I could get "Closer" at any time, I'll pick it here, but in reality it's more like my top-5 or at least top-10 album.
From wiki:
"
Closer is the second and final album by
post-punk band
Joy Division, released
July 18,
1980 (1980-07-18), two months following the suicide of lead singer
Ian Curtis. The album was originally scheduled to be released on
May 8,
1980 (1980-05-08). The record was originally released on the
Factory Records label as a 12" LP and reached #6 on the
UK Albums Chart. It also peaked at #3 in New Zealand in September 1981.
Closer, produced by
Martin Hannett, has a sound which is both lusher and more sombre than
Unknown Pleasures, with more use of
synthesizers and studio effects. Many of its songs have a despairing, funereal feel, and its cover art appears to reflect this, although it was chosen by Peter Saville before he had heard any of the music; both the photo and the bleakness of the music and lyrics amplified the already strong mystique surrounding the album after Curtis's suicide.
The opening track, "Atrocity Exhibition", shares its name with
The Atrocity Exhibition by
J.G. Ballard, a book that Curtis read and loved, but only after writing the bulk of the song.
Closer has been highly acclaimed, making countless best-of lists; for example, it was ranked 10th on
Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1980s and 72nd on
NME's 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. It is often cited as being Joy Division's finest work."