Factory Benelux and New Order present Of Factory New York, a unique benefit album released to assist Michael Shamberg, who ran the NYC office of Factory Records during the celebrated label's Eighties heyday.

Available on CD and double gatefold vinyl formats, Of Factory New York gathers a selection of classic tracks by artists associated with OFNY including the John Robie remix of Yashar by Cabaret Voltaire, Do the Du by A Certain Ratio, Cool As Ice by 52nd Street, Love Tempo by Quando Quango, the Megamix version of Looking From A Hilltop by Section 25 and an exclusive version of Your Silent Face by New Order, recorded live on tour in America in June 1989.

Homegrown American talent featured on the album includes Ike Yard, Thick Pigeon, Konk, Anna Domino and deejay/producer Arthur Baker. The cover art is based on an original 1983 design by Lawrence Weiner, the conceptual artist closely associated with Shamberg and Factory's Big Apple operation.

Unfortunately in 2006 Michael was struck down with highly debilitating mitochondrial disease. All artists featured on Of Factory New York have donated their work free of charge, Factory Benelux will take no profit, and 100% of net revenues will be paid over to the medical trust which takes care of Michael.

"Michael has been with us from the very start," explain New Order. "Initially he was in charge of Factory New York, then became creative producer for all our early videos. He brought our attention to the early works of directors such as Kathryn Bigelow, Gina Birch, Robert Breer, Peter Care, Phillipe Decouffle, Jonathan Demme, Robert Frank, Paula Greiff, Robert Longo, Bailie Walsh and William Wegman. Michael is very ill and needs constant medical attention. We want to help him, and played two fundraising shows in 2011. This new Factory New York compilation album will contribute further financial support towards Michael’s ongoing care."

More info via factorybenelux.com.

Vinyl tracklist

A1. A Certain Ratio - Do the Du
A2. Quando Quango - Love Tempo
A3. 52nd Street - Cool As Ice

B1. Cabaret Voltaire - Yashar (John Robie Remix)
B2. New Order - Your Silent Face (live 1989)
B3. Konk - Baby Dee

C1. Section 25 - Looking From A Hilltop (Megamix)
C2. Streetlife - Act On Instinct
C3. Marcel King - Reach For Love (New York Remix)

D1. Thick Pigeon - Subway
D2. Ike Yard - Kino
D3. Arthur Baker - Come On
D4. Anna Domino - Summer (Arthur Baker Remix)

CD tracklisting

1. A Certain Ratio - Do the Du
2. Quando Quango - Love Tempo
3. Konk - Baby Dee
4. 52nd Street - Cool As Ice
5. Cabaret Voltaire - Yashar (John Robie Remix)
6. New Order - Your Silent Face (live 1989)
7. Section 25 - Looking From A Hilltop (Megamix)
8. Streetlife - Act On Instinct
9. Marcel King - Reach For Love (New York Remix)
10. Thick Pigeon - Subway
11. Ike Yard - Kino
12. Arthur Baker - Come On
13. Anna Domino - Summer (Arthur Baker Remix)

Labels: 52nd_Street, A_Certain_Ratio, Anna_Domino, Arthur_Baker, benefit, Cabaret_Voltaire, Factory_Benelux, Ike_Yard, Marcel_King, Michael_Shamberg, New_Order, OFNY, Quando_Quango, Section_25, Streetlife, Thick_Pigeon

If Factory Records had been more serious about dance music (and had lasted a bit longer), perhaps Robs Records would never have existed. By the beginning of the Nineties, Rob Gretton, the manager of Joy Division / New Order, was becoming increasingly frustrated and so decided to take matters into his own hands. Perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back was the cancellation of a 1990 Factory project (FAC 270 Our Dance Days) by Mike Pickering to release a House remixes compilation featuring Marcel King, 52nd Street, Section 25, and Quando Quango.

Robs Records released a diverse selection of underground dance music, much of it from Manchester-based artists like Sub Sub, Mr Scruff, Digital Justice and Strangebrew, plus new music from A Certain Ratio following their A&M stint and the occasional licensed overseas track, most notably the excellent Security by Beat Club.

Auteur Labels: Robs Records [LTMCD 2542] features the No. 3 hit single Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use) by Sub Sub and the Bernard Sumner remix of Beat Club's Security plus 11 other cuts.

The album is out on LTM on 26 April 2010.

Tracklisting

1. Sub Sub - Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use) [2.47]
2. Beat Club - Security (Sumner Remix) [5.54]
3. A Certain Ratio - 27 Forever (Jon Dasilva Fix Mix) [5.57]
4. Spacer IV - Sirocco [7.35]
5. Strangebrew - Sky Life [7.01]
6. Roy Davis Jnr & Jay Juniel - Egyptian Jazz [4.08]
7. J-Walk - Buggin' Becky (Balihu Remix) [5.50]
8. Mr Scruff - Chicken in a Box [8.25]
9. Anambi - Our Love Climbs Higher (Extended Mix) [6.50]
10. Rack-It! - Tarantella Ritual [5.47]
11. Digital Justice - Theme From It's All Gone Pear Shaped [7.01]
12. A Certain Ratio - Listen to the Sound [4.59]
13. Sub Sub - Inside of This [4.58]

The 77 minute remastered CD covers the years 1990-1999 and features a detailed label history and archive images.

Labels: 52nd_Street, A_Certain_Ratio, Auteur_Labels, Factory_Records, Joy_Division, Marcel_King, New_Order, Quando_Quango, Section_25

On 1 June, LTM releases a new volume in the ongoing compilation series Auteur Labels, featuring releases on Factory Records in 1984.

"Founded in late 1978, early Factory releases were guided by the five original directors: Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, Peter Saville, Martin Hannett and Rob Gretton. By 1984 Hannett had departed, and many Factory singles were produced by all four members of New Order under the generic name Be Music. These reflected the influence of New York dance and electro music, though the label's Haçienda nightclub was not yet a conspicuous success. Meanwhile the artier side of Factory remained evident in records by The Durutti Column and Kalima, and pop/rock in The Wake, Stockholm Monsters - and New Order themselves."

The 77 minute remastered CD features several rare edits and tracks, detailed liner notes by James Nice, and archive images.

Tracklisting

1. New Order Lonesome Tonight (7" Edit)
2. Stockholm Monsters Terror
3. The Wake Talk About The Past (7" Edit)
4. Section 25 Reflection
5. Marcel King Reach For Love (New York Remix)
6. 52nd Street Can't Afford (Unorganised Mix)
7. Quando Quango Atom Rock
8. Shark Vegas Pretenders Of Love
9. Abecedarians Smiling Monarchs
10. Red Turns To Deep Sleep
11. The Durutti Column Duet (Without Mercy)
12. Kalima The Smiling Hour
13. Simon Topping Chicas Del Mundo
14. Streetlife On Instinct
15. Lavolta Lakota Prayer

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Title: Auteur Labels: Factory Records 1984
Label: LTM
Cat No: LTMCD 2534
Released: 1 June 2009

Labels: 52nd_Street, Abecedarians, Auteur_Labels, Factory_Records, Kalima, Marcel_King, New_Order, Quando_Quango, Red_Turns_To, Section_25, Shark_Vegas, Stockholm_Monsters, Streetlife, The_Durutti_Column, The_Wake, Tony_Wilson

With all the talk of renaming a Manchester street after Tony Wilson, Cerysmatic's been thinking about who else might be afforded similar treatment:

Gretton Gardens
Hannett House
Peter Saville Row
Cummins Corner
Linder Lane
The Durutti Column (as in Nelson)
52nd Street
Er...
... that's it

[with thanks to CP Lee for subconscious inspiration]

Labels: 52nd_Street, The_Durutti_Column, Tony_Wilson

Greg Wilson was the first DJ to host a specialist dance night at Fac 51 The Hacienda, in late 1983. He also later played at Legend, to a mainly black audience. He also nearly made it onto the Factory catalogue at FAC 95 with a dance 12" single but this never happened. In a slight change of direction, the number FACT 95 is allocated to an album by The Royal Family and the Poor.

Greg takes up the story: "I only realised I'd actually been given a Factory catalogue number, when somebody mentioned it to me last year - I think they'd come across it as a Factory trivia question. It was for a mix that I was going to do of stuff that had come out on the label. For one reason or another it never happened - most of the stuff I'd been given to work from was definitely not suitable for the type of mixes I was doing (I was a black music specialist), so, from my perspective it would have been trying to fit square pegs into round holes (only New Order, Quando Quango and 52nd Street had released dance singles on the label). Nowadays, with the assistance of computer programs, I'd have taken a completely different approach and could have put together something pretty interesting, but back then it was to have been a more straightforward one track into the next type mix."

Greg stopped DJing in 1984 but recently has been back on the decks, most notably when he supported A Certain Ratio at their Cargo gig back in August. Also, check out the new album 'No Sell Out', a Legend / Wigan Pier Electro Retrospective (May '82 - Dec '83) mixed by Greg Wilson for A Guy Called Gerald / Samurai FM. An mp3 is now available to download: www.samurai.fm/electrofunkroots

More info at: electrofunkroots.co.uk. Many thanks to Greg.

--

It's good to be back.

Labels: 52nd_Street, A_Certain_Ratio, FAC51_The_Hacienda, New_Order, Quando_Quango, The_Royal_Family_And_The_Poor

The current Swing Out Sister UK tour, which has included 3 nights at the Jazz Cafe in London and one at the Life Cafe in Manchester, features a kind of Factory All-Stars band: Corinne Drewery (one-time ACR guest singer, vocals), Andy Connell (ex-ACR, keyboards / programming), Derek Johnson (ex-52nd Street & Quando Quango, bass), Chris Manas (ex-Jazz Defektors & Kalima, percussion), Mikey Wilson (ex-Jazz Defektors & Texas, drums).

Labels: 52nd_Street, A_Certain_Ratio, Jazz_Defektors, Kalima, Quando_Quango

Many Factory projects were unfinished or unreleased (more on those to come) but some simply never got off the ground:

Fac 20 A Certain Ratio Too Young to Know, Too Wild to Care: A film, never made, which was to feature most of the Factory roster, but mainly A Certain Ratio and The Distractions attempting various forms of terrorism around Manchester, kidnapping Ian Curtis and blowing up Joy Division. (Soundtrack was to be by The Durutti Column). Shareholder's statement: "The film has become a video...has become a series of surrealistic sketches. Will change again. No date No time."

Fac 27 Sex Machine Alternative Sleeve: An alternative sleeve for Fac 17, but never issued/completed. This was an abandoned project for an alternative sleeve for Fac 17, but it was never printed. Fac 159 (Tim Difford's Fac Facts Booklet) states 'Cancelled Saville/Gretton revenge programme project for alternative FAC 17 sleeve. £200.00'. The Factory Shareholder's statement says: "£500.00. Rob's got it. Cancelled Saville revenge project for alternate Fac 17 sleeve."

Fac 101 (Tony Wilson's) Lofts: the visionary developer AHW's aborted plan to convert disused warehouses into loft apartments.

Fac 109 Caroline Lavelle Untitled: an unreleased 12" single. Caroline says: "I remember doing the Durutti Column and another few things for Factory and although I did undertake to do some recording under my own name I don't think anything came of it."

Fact 181 Bailey Brothers Mad Fuckers!: possibly the greatest unrealised project rumbled on from 1987 to 1992 and would have been a "youth exploitation" movie. Tony Wilson went to Hollywood to try to raise money for its projected £2.5m budget, an event which itself was Fac 221.

Fac 211 'Book of Ideas': mentioned in the Fact 400 Palatine booklet but never realised. Number also allocated to the Wired Joy Division documentary film.

Fac 237 New Order Here Are the Old Men: unreleased video concept whose proposed title plays on the title of the Fact 37 video by Joy Division.

Fact 254 Durutti Column Guitar One - House and Fact 264 Durutti Column Guitar Two - Acoustic: unreleased Durutti Column projects, presumably in the styles hinted at in the titles.

Fac 270 Various Artists Our Dance Days: a planned 1990 release to consist of Marcel King, 52nd Street, Section 25, and Quando Quango "House remixes" organised by Mike Pickering. The long lost never realised Factory Dance project in essence.

Fac 301 'First 50': a book to have been written by Ikon's Tim Chambers about the first 50 Fac numbers. Number also allocated to the Factory International Congress held at Mottram Hall, Cheshire.

Fac 342 Happy Mondays Charter Clinic

Fac 396 Two Guitarists Still Life: Unrealised Factory Classical project. The only missing piece from 226 to 406.

Labels: 52nd_Street, A_Certain_Ratio, Factory_Classical, Happy_Mondays, Joy_Division, labels, Marcel_King, New_Order, Quando_Quango, The_Distractions, The_Durutti_Column, Tony_Wilson, undone

In the latest of its occasional series on the world's greatest (actors, sexy moments, etc, etc) Channel 4 is planning the 100 Greatest Pop Videos.

Obviously we can expect to see Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Michael Jackson's Thriller in the running but what would you vote for from Factory's video back catalogue? New Order's 'True Faith'? or 'Blue Monday 88'? or even 52nd Street's 'Can't Afford To Let You Go'!!?

Have your say in The Cerysmatic Factory Video Vote

Labels: 52nd_Street, New_Order, video

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the result of the Cerysmatic Factory Top Ten Competition. In traditional fashion the runner up is announced first and it is Mike Stein from the USA (who wins a special consolation prize):

My Top 10 (for what its worth...)

1. FAC 183 - New Order "True Faith": New Order's highest chart position at the time and still one of their best pop singles. Peter Saville's artwork for both the standard and remix 12"s remains his best. Enough said.

2. FAC 34/FACT 35 - A Certain Ratio and ESG recording with Hannett in New Jersey: Factory goes to New York for the first time and records two seminal dance punk records across the river at EARS in New Jersey with Martin Hannett [->] at the knobs. One of the resulting ESG recordings would go on to become a Larry Levan favorite ("Moody") and another one of the most sampled records in hip-hop history ("UFO"). The equally groundbreaking ACR LP ("To Each") would forever be shrouded in myth due to the resetting of Hannett's mixing board settings by a studio engineer.

3. FAC 126 - "Alan Goes to Moscow": In true Factory fashion, an absolutely beautiful poster commemorating absolutely nothing. Alan's trip was a failure and it took another five years for Factory Classical to become established. Nevertheless, the poster works quite well in my living room!

4. FACT 275 - New Order "Technique" artwork: Saville goes Warhol to bring us some of his brightest and most memorable sleeves. The LP artwork, along with the "Fine Time," "Round & round," and "Run 2" singles were Saville's hottest streak for New Order.

5. FAC 242 - Happy Mondays "Madchester" EP: Hallelujah indeed! The Madchester frenzy begins leading to two years of NME front covers on the Mondays and Roses, along with countless MTV specials and magazine articles exploiting the scene surrounding the Hacienda. The single not only proved Hannett's continued viability, but launched the still on-going careers of Paul Oakenfold and Andy Weatherall, who produced the remixes for FAC 242R.

6. FACT 14 - The Durutti Column "The Return of...": Factory's way of "killing us softly with his song." The LP was an ahead of its time paradox of punk anarchy and Vini's tranquil guitar all wrapped in sandpaper. John Lydon threatened to destroy your record collection with a sandpaper sleeve but instead opted for a metal canister. In a Wilsonesque act of situationist fandom, Factory actually executed the concept.

7. FACT 75 - New Order "Power Corruption and Lies" artwork: Saville moves a step forward from his Graphica Industria phase to juxtapose Fantin-Latour's "Roses," a nod to 60s flower power, with Saville's self-invented color coded numbering schema for the computer age. The result was the perfect sleeve for New Order's movement (Movement - get it?) to sequencer driven pop. Saville's color coding concept was also brilliantly carried on New Order's associated "Blue Monday" (FAC 73) and "Confusion" (FAC 93) singles as well as Section 25's "From the Hip" LP (FACT 90).

8. FACT 210 - Cath Carroll "England Made Me": An ashamedly underrated LP. An eclectic mix of Cath's soulful voice with dance pop, Brazilian rhythms, and a touch of Steve Albini. Like many Factory productions, it was expensive to make and didn't sell well!

9. FACT 250 / FAC 213 - Joy Division "Substance" and "Atmosphere" artwork: It is extremely difficult to limit the number of Joy Division / New Order sleeves from this list, but Saville's work for the "Substance" retrospective and its accompanying single "Atmosphere" was again timeless. The posters for the album and single incorporating the Jan Van Munster sculptures are particularly stunning. As always, Saville's artwork would not be as special were it not backed with some of the best pop gems of the last century.

10. FAC 331 - Ben Kelly board room table: Quite simply an ultra modern and expensive table that the Mondays broke! One of Factory's greatest examples of hedonism and corporate waste - well before the dot com boom. It also made for a great scene in "24 Hour Party People" with Paddy Considine (playing Rob Gretton) trying to strangle Steve Coogan (playing Tony Wilson).

Thanks very much to Mike. But now, the winner – Andrew James from Blighty:

My 10 — Not a top 10, 'cos no way is 'Can't Afford To' better than 'Flight', but 10 good reasons to like the label.

New Order Play At Home. Long before Big Brother and Wife Swap, Channel 4 was known for innovative programming, and once a week in late 1983 (?) let various groups loose with cameras and total editorial control. Siouxsie and the Banshees created a surreal homage to Alice In Wonderland, Level 42 waxed lyrical about the Isle of Wight, and New Order chatted to their mates about Factory in this one hour documentary. Includes priceless footage of a naked AHW explaining "praxis" to a fully clothed Gillian Gilbert — in the bath — and Bruce Mitchell in the Hacienda bar, regaling sundry Fac artists with tales of Wilson’s parsimony.

Fact 204 The Guitar and Other Machines Durutti Column Martin Hannett and Vini produced some sublime moments to be sure, but for me, DC’s greatest producer was Stephen Street, and this was the best of their collaborations. Their "White Rabbit" from around this period is equally good, but you have to get the original 12" version on The City Of Our Lady single, and not the watered-down mix tacked on to the Domo Arigato reissue.

Fac 92 Reach For Love Marcel King Why wasn’t Marcel King a huge star?

Fact 210 England Made Me Cath Carrol They spent zillions making it, then only had 47p left to promote it. An overlooked masterpiece.

Fac 104 Tube special Madonna, Martin Fry, plus the Factory All-Stars. And Leslie Ash, post-Quadrophenia, pre-collagen injections, if I remember correctly.

Fac 201 Dry All the style bars of the 90s owe Ben Kelly.

Fac 52 Waterline ACR ACR: always the bridesmaids, never the bride. This was 20 years ahead of its time. And quite a few months before Blue Monday.

Fac 118 Can’t Afford To 52nd Street. Though often accused of being raincoat-wearing miserablists, Factory were always diverse, and never more so than with 52nd Street, who were closer to Five Star than Fad Gadget. Diane Charlemagne later enjoyed success with The Key and sang backing vocals for Goldie. If your friends tell you the label was po-faced, show 'em the video for this.

Fact 219 Flyaway Kalima, like 52nd Street, are rarely mentioned on the Faclist. Am I allowed to say "overlooked" again? For me, though, groups like Kalima and the Jazz Defektors (and John Dowie and Steve Martland) are what make Factory more interesting than, say, Sarah and InTape. This compilation is a good place to start.

Factus 17 Young, Popular and Sexy Various Artists Michael Shamberg's finest moment (and pretty much the Factus swansong). Includes Shark Vegas' fantastic "Pretenders of Love". And "No New Order".

Nice one Andrew. Your Cerysmatic Factory mousemat is on its way.

Labels: 52nd_Street, A_Certain_Ratio, Ben_Kelly, ESG, Factory_Classical, Happy_Mondays, Jazz_Defektors, John_Dowie, Joy_Division, Kalima, labels, Marcel_King, New_Order, Shark_Vegas, The_Durutti_Column, Tony_Wilson

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