Record Play Pause cover art

Record Play Pause

Confessions of a Post-Punk Percussionist: the Joy Division Years: Volume I

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Record Play Pause

By: Stephen Morris
Narrated by: Stephen Morris
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

This audiobook includes music from Joy Division and original tracks from Stephen Morris

Before he was responsible for some of the most iconic drumming in popular music, Stephen Morris grew up in 1960s and '70s industrial Macclesfield, on a quiet road that led seemingly to nowhere. Far removed from the bright lights and manic energy of nearby Manchester, he felt stifled by suburbia and feared he might never escape. Then he joined Joy Division - while they were still known as Warsaw - a pioneer of the rousing post-punk sound that would revolutionise twentieth-century rock.

Following two landmark albums and widespread critical acclaim, Joy Division were at the height of their powers and poised to break the US, when lead singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide.

Part memoir, part scrapbook and part aural history: Stephen Morris's innate sense of rhythm and verve pulses through Record Play Pause. From recollections of growing up in the North West to the founding of New Order, Morris never strays far from the music. And by turns profound and wry, this book subverts the mythology and allows us to understand music's power to define who we are and what we become.

©2020 Stephen Morris (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK
Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity Feel-Good Funny Witty Thought-Provoking
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Echoes cover art
Fingers Crossed cover art
Paper Cuts cover art
Verse, Chorus, Monster! cover art
Creation Stories cover art
Spaceships Over Glasgow cover art
Don't Stop Believin' cover art
World in My Eyes: The Autobiography cover art
Animal House cover art
This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else cover art
Too Late to Stop Now cover art
Stories to Tell cover art
Medical Grade Music cover art
A Long Strange Trip cover art
My Cross to Bear cover art
I'm the Man cover art

Critic reviews

"A unique and thoughtful musical memoir." (Observer)

"Gritty coming-of-age story...plenty of anecdotes to keep us hooked, and his memories of Joy Division's Ian Curtis are poignant." (Daily Mirror)

What listeners say about Record Play Pause

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    203
  • 4 Stars
    30
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    184
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    179
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb

Had just read both Peter Hook's books and thought I would try this for a different perspective. On first listen I thought it was going to be awful and badly read. How wrong. This is a brilliant book, well written, being humorous, mundane, evocative and moving.

Well worth a read. I'm moving on to vol2.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story well told

As a fan of Joy Division this was likely to appeal to me. However, not only is the story really interesting, the reading of it by Stephen is superb.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely bloody fantastic

Record Play Pause is a window into the early life of Macclesfield’s second most famous member of the subliminal post-punk rock band, Joy Division.

And it’s ace.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

Funny, engaging, blunt.
No mythology or grandiose statement. It’s about a bloke who played drums in a band, a cool band but just a band.


If you love Joy Division or/and New Order etc you should get this anyway.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent audiobook

a good insight into joy Division along with the personal perspective on how things came to be.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautifully candid

Joy Division, New Order & Factory Records - a tragic-comedy of epic proportions. Countless books have been written about the myth, the legend, the truths, the half-truths and the downright fantasy but from personal experience the story you want to hear is that which can only come from one who was there at the beating heart.
Joy Division’s members all possessed - to say the least - a dry and indeed dark sense of humour - and arguably the man in possession of the most arid is none other than Steve Morris.
From tales of his Macclesfield upbringing right up to the shocking moment Joy Division’s star was instantly extinguished with the death of fellow Macc lad Ian Curtis, Morris’ refreshingly witty and eye-opening recounting of fact is by turns hilarious, heart-breaking and thought-provoking. Often at the same time.
A truly unique perspective from arguably the most thoughtful member of the band.
Listen with pleasure.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

eyes of a drummer

insight through the eyes n memories from the drummer of joy division ...gripping pure northern 💙

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Only bettered by Fast Forward

Wasn’t that keen on some of the gawkiness at the start of the first book but the writing and the wit get better and better and in the end it’s one of the best books ever written, bettered only by the follow up which takes you through the New Order years. I’ve read/listened to all three accounts and absolutely loved Stephens take on the whole thing from beginning to almost end, superb

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Simply brilliant!

Stephen Morris is a natural story teller - darkly humourous, touching full of self depreciation

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect Audiobook

This was such a brilliant example of an Audiobook done well. Emotionally read, interspersed with snippets of music and interviews and really interesting content. Can't fault it really. Doesn't overly dwell on the Ian Curtis mythology situation either. Blue Monday was the sound track of my teenage years so looking forward to listening to the next one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!