Some people believe the only “real” representation of the late, great Joy Division was their live shows, that the production meddling of Martin Hannett smothered their intensity into an otherworldly cold sheen on record. I love the production on those records, and while we can debate until the cows come whether that singular production was a help or hindrance to the band’s longevity, there’s no denying that live they were a different, more primal beast. That’ll Be The End documents their penultimate performance at the Ajanta Cinema Derby on April 19, 1980, less than a month before Ian Curtis’s tragic suicide. Like all of their live recordings it’s rough, not meant for official release, but unable to suppress the energy and control the band could hold over an audience.

The track listing is impeccable, opening with “Lost Souls” that I first heard covered by Nine Inch Nails for The Crow soundtrack. I knew of the band – you couldn’t escape them in college in 1991 when every goth kid was alternating between Unknown Pleasures and Souixie and the Banshees. But it was that Crow soundtrack that piqued my interest, leading me to pick up Substance as my first and only Joy Division album for years. It only expanded once I discovered “Intern” – again, first as a cover by the hard rock band Warrior Soul. But then I was properly hooked on the band, alternating between the two studio album and Substance for years without really dipping into their live recordings.

But back to the track listing. Twelve songs total, stretching as far back as their debut EP up to songs that would appear on the forthcoming Closer, it’s a fair representation of their setlist at the time. It’s a solid recording, too: bright and classy but carrying the intensity of Stephen Morris’s drum work, particularly his cymbal hits. “Heart and Soul” gets a nice workout, but for me it’s the big tracks that really impact me, because it’s those tracks that turned me onto the band in the first place. So “Isolation”, “Transmission”, “Passover” and especially “She’s Lost Control” work overtime on the album. No one has ever had the presence and tone Ian Curtis had, and his voice is piercing in its darkness here, cutting through the high-end mix like a knife.

“These Days” has an almost pop punk vibe to it, and it’s a treat to hear Peter Hook’s bass playing here. For someone so known for those upper register riffs, he attacks the low end of the fretboard here in a way that is refreshing. I wasn’t familiar with this song, it being the B-side to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (not performed here) and one of the later tracks compiled on Substance, but it’s a nice rock and roll sidestep from their normal post-punk cadence. Bernard Sumner’s guitar cuts through nicely as well, with “Transmission” getting the full benefit of the band’s rock energy.

But there’s also an air of melancholy that’s more than the tone of the songs. I (and I imagine many others) can’t hear these songs in isolation – to borrow a song title – from the fact that in less than a month Curtis would end his life just before what would have been their breakout tour in North America. It’s next to impossible to not listen to That’ll Be The End and not try to imbue some sense of finality in the notes, which might not be true at all. We want to impose order and sense on those dark moments, and if I’m being honest I think it’s easier for me to push that aside on the studio albums thanks to Hannett’s production.

Here when the band is naked and writhing in the light and sweat of a live show, it becomes that much harder to separate.