Insight is a track by the post
punk group
Joy Division. A truly
breath taking record, with, in my opinion, quite possibly the best
intro of any their work. This is
no mean feat by anyone’s standards, just think of the intros to
Love Will Tear Us Apart,
Disorder,
Something must break,
Shadowplay....The list is not small. It starts with slow and deep guitar licks, then the drums come in with
Atari type
synthesized '
pinging' noises. What follows can best be described an earthquake at a snail`s pace. There is an expectation of a fast and hard base to accompany the flurry of drum beats. It never arrives.
Stunning.
For me, in one respect, this intro is like Led Zeppelin`s Stairway to Heaven. One can never guess when the drums are going to kick in, no matter how many times one listens.
Stunning.
Ian Curtis` (their late front man) voice, as with the vast majority of their recordings, is mesmerising. Emotionless(yet somehow brimming with emotion), haunted, fascinating and powerfull.
"Guess your dreams always end.
They don't rise up, just descend,
I don't care anymore,
I've lost the will to want more,
I'm not afraid not at all,
I watch them all as they fall,
But I remember when we were young".
No, I`m not going to give my interpretation of this track. It has been done
too many times. If you are curious then
listen to it. To quote
Ian Curtis via
alex`s node about their first album
Unknown Pleasures:
"The lyrics have one meaning for me but don't necessarily have the same meaning for somebody else. If you only hear the lyrics it's more up to your own imagination". --I.C.
There is no improving on this, so I`m
not going to bother as the quote above, in my opinion , says
all that needs to be said.
This is
not one of
my favorite
Joy Division tracks but I feel the intro itself
deserves a
node.
Stunning.
Discography:
Unknown Pleasures, August 1979
Heart and Soul, September 1999
The Complete BBC Recordings/Peel Sessions, August 2000
My personal favourite version is the Peel Sessions/BBC recordings.
Stunning.