We’ve found ourselves talking about Joy Division a lot at the iJamming! Pub of late. Appropriately then, this week’s iJamming! download is an “alternate” mix of ‘The Eternal’ from Joy Division’s Closer album. These unofficial Martin Hannett mixes have been doing the rounds on bootlegs for years now, but with the advent of this internet thingy we people call home, it’s easier to find them for free. (Who wants to sponsor a bootlegger, after all?) I found this, along with a similarly ‘alternate’ mix of ‘Passover,’ at the Spoilt Victorian Child website, which observes that, “It’s always been a beautiful beautiful song, but here it just seems so much richer, I can’t really put my finger on why.” Download it, listen to the original, and see if you can explain it. Sometimes, a little EQ makes all the difference.

And if the MP3 is not enough, try and download these: the New Balance Unknown Pleasures trainers. Apparently, they remain a mere design at this point; if they ever make it to commercial release, I may just have to switch from Asics. As AllMusic.com notes of that debut Joy Division album, “It even looks like something classic.”

Joy Division ‘The Eternal’ (Martin Hannett alt. mix) MP3