FACTORY RECORDS ACTIVITY IN THE MONTH OF MAY

VINYL

May 17th A CERTAIN RATIO FAC 5 7" 45rpm single. 'Thin Boys' and 'The all-night party'. Colour sleeve.

May 30th ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK FAC 6 7" 45 rpm single. 'Electricity' and 'Almost'. All-black thermographed sleeve.

Both singles are 5,000 releases distributed through 'all the usual suspects'. Other work is continuing in the studio and cutting.... i.e.

May 12th EXODUS FAC 11 Recording single in Cargo Studios, Rochdale. Working title, 'English black boys'. Producer: Denis Bovelle.

May 1-7 JOY DIVISION FAC T 10 Final mixes of ten tracks for album 'Unknown Pleasures'. Release in June. Produced by Martin Zero at Strawberry, Stockport.

Finally, recording plans for June.

ELTI-FITS 7" 45 rpm: Manchester band

SLEEPERS 7" 45 rpm; Los Angeles (crossed out, "oops, Bay Area" in handwriting) reissue, presses here.

DURUTTI COLUMN L.P. Small issue (4,000) Pure guitar, nowt else.

TILLER BOYS LP Small issue (1000)

That's the vinyl output, for the flesh approach please turn the page......

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Early Factory Records info sheet on official stationery. Mentions the band Sleepers (more info needed).

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, back_in_the_cellar, Elti_Fits, history, Joy_Division, OMD, The_Durutti_Column, Tiller_Boys, X-O-Dus

The full catalogue of Factory Records FAC numbers is loved by everyone for its patterns and idiosyncrasies. In 1979, the nascent label was planning the first real wave of releases following on from the FAC 2 sampler and various events at The Factory. This flyer, entitled "Stepping Out" provides more detail and whilst some is familiar there's a few curveballs indicating what might've been.

Notably it seems that "instrumental album" by The Durutti Column was once scheduled to be FAC 12 and The Distractions' first single was slated as FAC 14. These would eventually swap and get different titles ("Pillow Talk" was actually "Pillow Fight", the eventual FAC 12 b-side).

FAC 13 was also going to be a badge before turning into "Transmission", the first single by Joy Division. I assume that this was the same badge that came out as FAC 21.

Finally, FAC 15 was originally going to be a single by Elti-Fits but turned into the Leigh Festival/Zoo Meet Factory Halfway event held in Leigh.

Transcription

FAC 5 A CERTAIN RATIO "All Night Party" 7" 45rpm Out now
FAC 6 ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES "Electricity" 7" 45rpm Out now
FAC 9 FACTORY FLICK "No City Fun" 8' 16mm July
FAC 10 JOY DIVISION "Unknown Pleasures" 12" 33 1/3 rpm July
FAC 11 X-O-DUS "English Black Boys" 7" 45rpm To be mixed
FAC 12 THE DURUTTI COLUMN Instrumental album 12" 33 1/3 rpm August
FAC 13 BADGE Fac thirteen with pin July
FAC 14 THE DISTRACTIONS "Pillow Talk" 7" 45rpm August
FAC 15 ELTI-FITS "Thirty Miles" 7" 45rpm August

NEW COMMODITIES
EXCLUSIVELY FACTIONED FOR YOU
THEY ARE ALL YOU NEED;
THEY ARE IN THE SHOPS

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, back_in_the_cellar, badges, Elti_Fits, Factory_Records, history, OMD, The_Distractions, The_Durutti_Column, X-O-Dus

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