I would tend to agree with the above post in relation to Bernard's role changing when he became lead singer, he was a decent lead guitarist in JD but my favourite song when it comes to Bernards guitar playing is actually a New Order song...Sooner Than You Think.

sensible and thought provoking, agree with the comments above, yet also, his style IMO was always different between studio and live and that would change over the years as his committement/interest fluctuated.

remember he's lived his life on alcohol and lived his life on pills.

its different, i'd give you that. for me i think you can hear barney repeating that kind of JD sound on Haze by Electronic. 2nd verse around 0:52, this angular guitar comes in, hiding in the shadows, like nothing else on the album. and the actual sound of the guitar sounds damn close to barney on 'turn the heater on' and ryhtm wise (why can i never spell that right?) its the same kind of reggae riff.

agree with effect returned. its boring, muscle memory, practised to within an inch of its life. the same as a wibbly wobbly soul singer going through their vocal machinations (see i can spell that but not rhtym argh), its dull, its perfect, it shows no emotion as you can do the same dang thing night after night.

same thing with drummers. have drummer friends who send me clips of guys (some famous) surrounded by 310 cymbals, 97 toms, 2 bass drums (should be banned. thump-thump-thump at high speed is NOT MUSICAL and EVERYBODY CAN BLOODY DO IT and IT JUST SOUNDS THE BLOODY SAME PLEASE STOP) and then they do incredibly dull playing that consists of 3 dull bars followed by EVERYTHING BEING HIT VERY FAST. no interesting 'riffs'.

Great question and great replies. My take is that in JD he was young and when you are young some people tend to lash out at all sorts of things, in those days politics for example. Some people may choose to punch someone, Bernard may have chosen to take it out through his guitar playing. As we get older we chill and are more understanding, therefore a more laid back approach to the guitar work. Maybe we need to get him angry again!!

Yeah there is a lot of space and reverb in the distorted chordal parts on joy divisions stuff, if you compare a song like white riot from the clash and dead souls from joy division they are essentially played the same and in the same key as far as i can remember but sound very different.

The band were initially unhappy with the sound but your always going to be unhappy generally coming out of the studio as i can testify personally.
I have guitar work that i done at home using software guitar emulators that i was happier with than studio guitar work using the same amps and technology every band has used since the 60's in the studio enviroment.

You have an idea how you would like it to sound in your head and when your new to the studio you havent the experience to argue with the producers and engineers because they generally know better though not always and joy division were on factory's time and money in the studio. Its a question of trust in the studio people.

as for the playing itself i doubt martin had any input on stuff they played live in advance but maybe someone in the know could outline that.