A special / limited gatefold edition in white cardboard with blue letters, and with white/blue centre labels was issued in December 1981 (believed to be one of Factory's Christmas gifts). The sinister "leaders" of men 'walked in line' shuffling probably outside the 'rooms' or 'wombs' of humanity.

So if your question is will the baby CD ever be officially released, I'm guessing that either can't or just won't happen. A compilation that is as pleasantly confusing an "album" - and despite the adorable hessian sleeve, it is a mixed bag. Possibly the best Joy Division album, you can hear their more 'quasi-industrial' sound within their outtakes rather than their more straightforward post-punk appeal. It's ironic how JD were so unhappy that RCA was insisting on adding the synthesizer, making them sound so less punk.The one I bought yesterday is "Variant 2" which suggests to me that if there ever was a genuine limited release, then it would be "Variant 1". While the band was known as Warsaw (3) during the recording sessions for this release, they changed their name to Joy Division before the release took place, and that is the name that appears on the record. The "Chicken Stops Here" reference included in the runouts to some early editions was a reference to the final scene, often referred to as 'The Dancing Chicken', in Werner Herzog's film 'Stroszek'. The band having changed name from Warsaw to Joy Division at the beginning of 1978, the songs from the two 1978 sessions are credited to Joy Division above despite being wrongly credited all to Warsaw on this edition). But then maybe, judging from the whole technical mess, this particular live performance can be viewed in some morbid epitaph fashion, as a bizarre farewell saying Joy Division reached its end there and then.

Comes in a thick textured rough cardboard cover with textured printed inner sleeve having rounded corners at the top. Still my favorite vinyl version, but that may just be because it's the one I've been listening to for almost 40 years.The embryonic version of "Ceremony" is an interesting moment in this, although it sadly starts almost half way down the song - but regardless of the sound engineer messing up the first part of it (thus the reasons for its exclusion on record), this live opener carries a promise of a live performance. The later Versions of those songs (on Still for example), sound really boring and lame in comparision. Unfortunately it was from the drug dealer who lived next door to my mate, and he'd cut up the sleeve to put the pictures on his wall.

Stephen Morris on the other hand is one true amazing human drum machine and helps a great deal by saving the whole thing, grabbing listeners' attention away from a potential fiasco.I suspect that the second variant is a reissue and needs clarification, particularly in current markets where a genuine ltd edition copy from 2007 would command a significantly higher value than one which can still be bought new today! RCA was the home of Bowie and Iggy, 2 big heroes to this band, especially Ian, hence the determination to get on the label.