You may not know this (I didn’t until I just looked it up) but the earth travels 584,000,000 miles per year as it circles the sun. That’s 1.6 million miles per day.

[Ed. Note- Having been born at a certain point in history 1.9 miles south of the only country in the world to never adopt the metric system, rex uses “miles” and “Farheinheit”more comfortably than “kms” and “Celsius.” For those of you in the Group who are either a generation younger than rex, or more adaptable, the numbers above would read 2,574,000, 940,000,000 and 3.1 respectively.]

So having just completed my 41,464,000,000th mile of orbit in this puzzle we call The Milky Way just 10 days ago, I was able to enjoy a small family celebration this past Sunday.

Anyway, aside from the myriad of wonderful birthday wishes I received from so many of you (and others) I was fortunate to receive some awesome and thoughtful gifts.

One of those gifts is music related.

Here I am after opening it on Sunday.

Here are the stats for this gargantuan 16 disc JOY DIVISION release containing all of the known live recordings of their gigs, including their last show ever in Birmingham on May 2, 1980.

Here are the numbers-

•14– CDs

•193* live JOY DIVISION tracks taken from 16 gigs totalling 12 hours and 53 minutes.

• There are 190 JOY DIVISION tracks plus 2 versions of “Girls Don’t Count” by and with SECTION 25 🇬🇧 that was produced by JOY DIVISION vocalist IAN CURTIS. There is also 1 version of “Sister Ray” by VELVET UNDERGROUND 🇺🇸

•2 – DVDs of concert footage.

The package is dream for a collector like myself.

So, how to pick the music to play for you?

There was a JOY DIVISION song that was only played once live. That song is “Ceremony”. It was written in the spring of 1980 and only played at the gig in Birmingham on May 2, 1980.

I have selected that track because it is brilliant, it is the only time IAN CURTIS sang it live, it became the first single by NEW ORDER and it has been a staple in my life since 1981…

The quality of the sound is horrible, but for me, any historical artifact of my favourite band of all time, is a treasure.

No. 1 with a bullet 📈as they say…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MMQ1NrkPoKw&list=RDMMQ1NrkPoKw&start_radio=1&pp=ygUaSm95IGRpdmlzaW9uIGNydGVtb255IGxpdmWgBwE%3D&ra=m

https://open.spotify.com/track/0NHveR2DUQDglPTK29u0Kh?si=IX4i2QJiQDyPX71Dno_pkA&utm_source=copy-link

Now as performed by my pal, JOY DIVISION bassist, PETER HOOK and his band, THE LIGHT so you can feel the song….

https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=peter+hook+and+the+light+ceremony&ra=m

(SONG 1783)

Play Loud And Never Perish

11/13/2026