Joy Division are quite regardly as the ultimate post-punk group; their relatively limited output will probably never be bettered. In recent years the number of reissues continues apace and the latest in a string of live sets reaches its peak with the release of 'Les Bains Douches'in Paris from 18 December 1979. 'Disorder' is one of a few tracks on here which actually surpasses the album version. Played at breakneck speed it is a miracle how Stephen Morris manages to maintain the rhythm and on 'Transmission' he repeats the feat. Elsewhere the version of 'Insight' coaxes a searing guitar from Bernard Sumner. The only flawed moment occurs on 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' whose keyboard motif is almost laughably off-key but efforts like 'These Days' make a mockery of claims that Joy Division were mere miserablists. So whilst the Paris recordings are superbly captured the extra sets from Amsterdam and Eindhoven suffer a little in terms of sound quality and overall energy. An essential document for anyone wanting to know how the four men fused the intensity and anger of punk and combined it with technical ability and an almost telepathic togetherness.