Editing Closer (Joy Division album) (section)

== Release ==
[[File:Tomba Famiglia Appiani (Cimitero di Staglieno).jpg|210px|thumb|right|The [[Appiani family]] tomb, as seen in the [[Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno]], Italy. Sculpted by Demetrio Paernio in 1910. A photograph of this tomb adorns the cover of ''Closer'']]
The album cover was designed by Martyn Atkins and [[Peter Saville (artist)|Peter Saville]], with a photograph of the [[Appiani family]] tomb in [[Genoa]]'s [[Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno]] adorning much of the sleeve. The photograph was taken by [[Bernard Pierre Wolff]] in 1978.<ref>{{cite news|access-date=2021-08-12|first1=Jonathan|last1=Jones|authorlink=Jonathan Jones (journalist)|title=In pictures: Jonathan Jones's favourite album covers|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/25/album-covers|newspaper=The Guardian|date=25 February 2009|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=12 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812081613/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2009/feb/25/album-covers|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2021-08-12|title=Peter Saville, Martyn Atkins, Bernard Pierre Wolff. Album cover for Joy Division, Closer. 1980|url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/189342|website=[[Museum of Modern Art]]|archive-date=12 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812081615/https://www.moma.org/collection/works/189342|url-status=live}}</ref> In a [[Joy Division (2007 film)|2007 documentary]] on the band, designer Saville commented that he, upon learning of singer Ian Curtis's suicide, expressed immediate concern over the album's design as it depicted a funeral theme, remarking "we've got a tomb on the cover of the album!"{{refn|group=n|The decision to have this photograph adorn the front cover of ''Closer'' had been agreed to by all four members of the band; the sleeve itself was designed prior to Curtis's suicide.<ref name="Dimery"/>}}

''Closer'' was released on 18 July 1980 by [[Factory Records]], as a [[phonograph record|vinyl LP]]. The album reached No. 6 on the [[UK Albums Chart]].<ref name="Official Charts Company"/> It also peaked at No. 3 in New Zealand in September 1981.<ref name="charts.nz"/> ''Closer'' was also named [[NME Album of the Year|''NME'' Album of the Year]].<ref name="Board"/><ref name="auto"/> The album, along with ''[[Unknown Pleasures]]'' and ''[[Still (Joy Division album)|Still]]'', was [[remastered]] and re-released in 2007.<ref name="official" /> As with ''Unknown Pleasures'' and ''Still'', the remaster was packaged with a bonus live disc, recorded at the [[University of London Union]].<ref name="official" />

Factory boss [[Tony Wilson]] was pleased with the final album and predicted it would be a commercial success. Sumner recalled him saying at the time, "You know, Bernard, this time next year you'll be lounging by a swimming pool in LA with a cocktail in your hand." Sumner was less optimistic and "just thought it was the most utterly ridiculous thing anyone had ever said to me."<ref name="Nicolson">{{cite news |last=Nicolson |first=Barry |date=2 August 2012 |title=Most Important Albums Of ''NME''{{'s}} Lifetime – Joy Division, ''Closer'' |url=http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/most-important-albums-of-nmes-lifetime-joy-division-closer |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706030611/http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/most-important-albums-of-nmes-lifetime-joy-division-closer |archive-date=6 July 2015 |access-date=5 July 2015 |work=[[NME]]}}</ref>