Album of the Day

The second album from influential Manchester post-punk band Joy Division is arguably superior to their landmark debut, featuring more ambitious arrangements and production (once again by Martin Hannett). CLOSER would also be the foursome's final album, released just a couple of months after lead singer Ian Curtis' suicide. That context, the funereal look of its cover and the despairing outlook of tracks like “Atrocity Exhibition,” “Isolation” and “Heart and Soul” combined to make the set a goth touchstone. Available again on vinyl, CLOSER was named Album of the Year by Britain's NME and, 40 years after its release, has lost none of its haunting power.