Rare and unheard recordings from Manchester-band Joy division have been unearthed by a former Strawberry Studio’s employee who rescued the stash of tapes from a skip.
Julia Adamson worked at the Stockport studio before it shut 20 years ago and had saved the recordings which included a 1979 session for the Unknown Pleasures album.
Ms Adamson, former The Fall band member, has recently begun to sell around 30 of the much-sought after recordings from bands such as New Order, The Durutti Column and Magazine.
The tapes were all hand-written and also featured recordings of She’s Lost Control, Wilderness and New Dawn Fades which Ms Adamson claims have never been heard before.
“They were just throwing everything in skips,” she told BBC News. “They were throwing it all out and we were a bit devastated.”
“We didn’t see it as valuable, we just didn’t like the idea of them being thrown in a skip.”
With help from her engineer husband Chris Nagle, they rescued recordings produced by Martin Hannett, who worked with Joy Division among other seminal Manchester bands, plus “anything else we thought we should hang on to”, she said.
Ms Adamson had written on her Facebook page that she no longer wanted the tapes and that after contacting the surviving members of Joy Division was dismayed at their response.
She wrote: “The tapes are very old and probably deteriorating and should be baked or whatever, nor do I really want to look after them anymore …
“When I approached the artists (who were my first port of call) I was subjected to accusations and abuse. So I don’t really care anymore. I know they are worth something to a collector … Anyone interested?”
Joy Division were one of the most influential bands of the 1970s and after singer Ian Curtis killed himself in 1980, the remaining band members went on to formNew Order.
Ms Adamson now runs the Manchester-based record label Invisible Girl.
Image courtesy of Rhino UK via Youtube, with thanks.
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