Joy Division -- Closer

This arrived with the Monks CD in Amazon's usual timeliness. When I first spun it, it didn't impress me near as much as Unknown Pleasures had. I blame rising expectations, and the fact that I'd read that the aura of Ian Curtis' suicide supposedly hangs about this album like an albatross (it doesn't). But repeated listens have allowed it to grow on me. I hear JD expanding their palette on this one, working with different rythmns and textures. I would say that it's a shame Curtis killed himself and left us with no more Joy Division, but the rest of the band soldiered on and became New Order, which still records and tours today. So the tragedy is minimized.