A special blue plaque to celebrate BBC Music Day was unveiled by original partner and in-house designer Peter Saville at 86 Palatine Road, the old Factory Records HQ on Thursday 15 June. Bearing the inscription "Factory Records Founded Here (1978-1992) it is affixed just below a first floor window.

There were plenty of Factory Records folk present to honour the occasion including Shaun Ryder, Bez, Mark Day and Rowetta from Happy Mondays, Bruce Mitchell (the Gonzo Drum Master himself from The Durutti Column), Jez Kerr out of ACR, Hacienda designer Ben Kelly, DJ Graeme Park and the Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham was there too plus media coverage from BBC Manchester and North-West.

See the more pictures courtesy of Lawrence Cassidy at 86 Palatine Road Blue Plaque.

Listen to Alison Butterworth and Phil Trow talk about Factory Records and the blue plaque preparations on BBC iPlayer (geographical restrictions may apply).

Labels: Ben_Kelly, Bruce_Mitchell, Happy_Mondays, history, Jez_Kerr, Manchester, Peter Saville, Rowetta

We have been privy to a sneak preview of the previously-announced Martin Hannett featuring contributions from Tony Wilson, Vini Reilly, Bruce Mitchell, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, Tosh Ryan, Steve Hopkins (Invisible Girls), Mark Radcliffe, Dave Formula, Reni and Andy Couzens (Stone Roses) plus many others.

This is no flash expensive BBC documentary, it's a gritty warts 'n' all tale of experimentation, laid bare with the minimum of trickery and a host of wide-eyed observers, interviewed from the '90s onwards - it's rather like witnessing a chat down the pub in some cases (this is no bad thing). There is a soundtrack of sorts, mainly confined to studio tape offcuts and a few videos of Hannett rubbing Wilson up the wrong way or, rather upsettingly, being wheeled around in a shopping trolley for a music video like an overfed turkey. Death was slowly coming by the time that infamous New FADS video hit the channels.

When all is said and done, Martin Hannett really wasn't just the fifth member of Joy Division, or the fourth in The Names or the third in Durutti Column - he was a pioneer in the mould of Joe Meek and Phil Spector, a one-off, a maverick and the like of whom we're unlikely to see, or hear, again. So, until someone at the Beeb gets off their arse and makes a high-end film about the man called Zero, this no-frills DVD will suffice.

Read the full 4* review by Cerysmatic's Paul Pledger via his Flipside Reviews.

Martin Hannett: He Wasn't Just The Fifth Member of Joy Division launches on 10 April from 7pm at Gorilla in Manchester.

For more details on pre-ordering please email ozitrecords@which.net.

Labels: Bruce_Mitchell, documentary, film, Joy_Division, Martin_Hannett, Peter_Hook, review, The_Durutti_Column, Tony_Wilson

As trailed in our Massey / Massonix update, there's a new exhibition down at the Lowry in Salford which has been curated by those nice people at the Manchester District Music Archive. 'Defining Me: Musical Adventures in Manchester' tells the story of Manchester's musical through eyes, recollections and collections of various people with a strong connection to Manchester.

In addition to Graham Massey there is plenty of interest for Factory Records fans... Bruce Mitchell (The Durutti Column's Gonzo Drum Master himself), John Kertland (early Hacienda regular and member, promoter of an early Stone Roses gig in Shrewsbury, possessor of an unfeasibly amount of bootleg cassettes and proprietor of Caroline True Records), Sarah Champion and Hewan Clarke have all made contributions.

Defining Me continues until 23 February 2014 at The Lowry in Salford.

Labels: Bruce_Mitchell, exhibition, Factory_Records, Graham_Massey, Hewan_Clarke, Manchester, Sarah_Champion

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