Factory was highly noted for the quality of its graphic design which featured on everything from badges to posters to the records themselves. Once you got past the outer sleeve of a record it didn't stop there though as these 12" and LP labels prove. Central Station's loud and brash design for Happy Mondays is in complete contrast with the Factory Classical branding developed by Peter Saville, Brett Wickens and others.



Central Station showed another side to their talents with the bright and bold FAC 228 for Karl Denver.



Meanwhile, the FAC 257 Getting Away With It label by Peter Saville Associates for Electronic retains only the typography from the sleeve artwork in a minimalist approach.

Labels: Central_Station_Design, Electronic, Factory_Classical, graphic_design, Happy_Mondays, Karl_Denver, Peter Saville, Rolf_Hind

Factory Records released many retail videos but what about those hard-to-find promos they also did?
These were mainly one-track (with the odd compilation thrown in) original videos that were used as promotional tools for singles and other releases.

Many of these found there way onto the consumer market through one route or another. And if you were in Manchester, your go-to place for Factory product was, of course, The Record Peddler. Sadly the Peddler is long gone from Swan Street but the legacy lingers on and Mark from the shop has provided Cerysmatic Factory with detailed information on several releases which should help distinguish the genuine articles from the knock-offs. Catalogue numbers, credits, oddities and, in some cases, a brief description of the video itself are all here.

Factory's promo videos generally came as VHS tapes in in hard plastic cases with the release information specified in one or more of the following ways:

- chopped down sleeves from a 12" single inserted into the pocket on the case to create an impromptu cover
- generic Factory black and white sleeve with the title details hand-written
- a title sticker typed and adhered to the actual tape
- a typed title sticker adhered to the spine of the tape
- a countdown clock at the beginning of the video
- none of the above and are simply a VHS tape in a box with no identifying marks!

So, here we go with selected releases up to Fac 247...

Fac 73R: New Order – Blue Monday (1988 Breer & Wegman version)

Starts with colour bars and sound level continuous beep, then to black screen and video start. Full video and then to black screen. Tape is complete in clear plastic box. The tape has ANS International Video Ltd labelling to front and spine.

Fac 176: Happy Mondays – Tart Tart

Starts with Colour Bars and beep, then countdown clock with the legend 'Happy Mondays, Tart Tart, Fac 176, A film directed by Michael Avatar and Donald Guy, March 1987'. Full video finishes and fades to black screen. This tape comes in a genuine IKON black video box

Fact 180/1: Various – Factory Instore video No.1

This is a genuine original VHS tape, with glossy card title cover and IKON label on the tape. The box is a black IKON video box. The full tape lasts 63 minutes. Each track is preceded by a flashing IKON/Factory logo and black and white title. Following the William S. Burroughs final track, the legend 'The End' precedes the flashing IKON/Factory slide and the 'Factory Communications 1987' in white on a black background. This stays on the screen for several minutes before cutting to black.

Fac 183: New Order – True Faith

This is a genuine copy which comes in a black plastic IKON video box. It begins with a countdown clock with the legend 'New Order, True Faith, 4mins 22 secs, Factory Communications Limited, RX 14/7/87. The full video fades to scrambled lines on the screen and the legend 'Factory Communications ltd. 1987'. This is followed by slide titles: New Order True Faith / Director Philipe Decoufle / Producer Michael H. Shamberg / Executive Producer Anthony H. Wilson / Production, Paris Jean-Luc Ormieres for Titane / Production Glastonbury Anthony H. Wilson / Post production Mark Eskenazi, Craig Price (SVC London).

Fac 188: Biting Tongues – Compressor

Wrongly titled 'Compression' on the title card. Starts with a countdown clock and the legend 'Ikon Productions, Biting Tongues, Compressor, Dur: 4 min 52 secs, Media Communications. Bizarrely it also has a copy of ACR 'Shack-up' Video after the compressor video. This is complete from the mesh at the start to a still fade out at the end. I have no idea why this is. The tape and contents are just as I received them from a promoter.

Fac 192: Happy Mondays – 24 Hour Party People

This video comes in a 'Media Communications' box and the videotape has matching labels (wrongly labelled as FACT 192). The complete video from a still start to a fade-out at the end.

Fac 193: New Order – Touched by the Hand of God

Comes in a blue plastic box. The tape has a Media Communications labels on front and spine with title, date, etc (title is misspelt 'hands'). The video is full and continues after the music track ends, until Peter Hook kicks away some debris on the stage and comes to a still and fades. % minutes in total according to the label!

Fac 197: Fadela – N'sel Fik

Comes in a black plastic box with the title typed on the cover and label. There is also a promoters label on the tape. The full video of a 'belly dancer' with montage of middle-eastern life lasts approximately 3 mins 06 secs.

Fac 211: 'Wired' feature - Joy Division, Channel 4 documentary, July 1988

This is a TV copy, not a promotional copy from a Media Company.

Fac 212: Happy Mondays – "Wrote for Luck, the movies, work in progress by the Bailey Brothers for Happy Mondays and Factory Communications"

This video comes in a black plastic box with a cover featuring a cut-down 12" sleeve. The label on the front of the tape has all of the above titling printed in black on a lime green background. The video starts with the word 'Performance' appearing across the screen from left to right and flashing blue and pink. This fades to a nightclub setting and the legend 'Manchester, Legends, 191088'scrolls across the screen from left to right over the intro music of the track. The video continues with the band and adult friends on the dance floor of the club. The full video is followed by individual appearances of each of the band members, Paul, Shaun. Gary, Mark, Bez, and then the legend 'That's all folks' scrolls across the screen from left to right. The picture then scrolls to the right leaving a black screen. The whole video lasts approximately 4 minutes in length.

Fac 213: Joy Division – Atmosphere

Starts with the Legend 'Joy Division' with a plus sign above and a minus sign below. The full video fades in at the beginning and out at end. This is followed by a plus sign above a minus sign, which fades to black and the legend 'Copy write MCMLXV111, Factory Communications' Fades to black.

Fac 222: Happy Mondays & Karl Denver – Lazyitis

This video comes in a blue plastic box with a cover featuring a cut-down 12" sleeve. The tape has a Media Communications typed title sticker on the front. The full length video lasting around 4 minutes continues after the soundtrack finishes and fades from a view of a barbed wire fence in the rain

Fac 223: New Order – Fine Time

This video comes in a blue plastic box with a cover featuring a cut-down 12" sleeve. The tape has a Media Communications typed title sticker on the front. The full length video continues to fade after the soundtrack has finished and then the legend 'TM 1988 Factory Communications' appears across the bottom of the screen. The video lasts 3 mins 27 secs.

Fac 228: Karl Denver – Wimoweh

This video comes in a blue plastic box with a cover featuring a cut-down 12" sleeve. The tape has a Signal Vision typed title sticker on the front of the box and also on the tape. The video begins with an intro by DJ Alan Freeman and continues into the animated cartoon and costumed dancers fading to black at the end. The full version lasts 3mins 54 secs.

Fac 232: Happy Mondays – Wrote for Luck (Raw mix)

This video comes in a black plastic box with no cover but has a Media Communications typed title sticker on the front of the tape. The full video contains slightly different Legends footage to Fac 209, some sped up and is followed by individual appearances of each of the band members, Paul, Shaun. Gary, Mark, Bez, and then the legend 'That's all folks' scrolls across the screen from left to right. The picture then scrolls to the right leaving a black screen. The whole video lasts approximately 4 mins 7secs in length.

Fac 232: Happy Mondays – WFL (Vince Clarke Mix)

This video comes in a blue plastic box with a cover similar to the release, but on good stock paper and states 'The Vince Clarke Mix'. The tape has a Signal Vision (Different production company to the above) typed title sticker on the front of the cassette. This is a different version of the song and although the footage is from Legends as with Fac 209, some different footage is used during this video. The full length of the track is 3 mins 13 secs.

Fac 242: Happy Mondays – Hallelujah

This tape comes in a blue plastic cover with Signal vision typed labels on the front of the box and tape. Dated 24.10.89, The full sepia coloured video of the band in a warehouse, in slow motion and normal speed, with dry ice and feathers on the floor and falling from above and hand held flares lasts approximately 3mins 13 secs and fades to black at the end.

Fac 242R: Happy Mondays – Clap Your Hands

This tape comes in a blue plastic cover with Signal Vision typed labels on the front of the box and tape. The full length sepia coloured video of the band in a warehouse, in slow motion and normal speed, with dry-ice and feathers on the floor and falling from above and hand held flares lasts approximately 3mins 33 secs and fades to white at the end.

Fac 247: Revenge – 7 Reasons / Jesus I Love You

This tape comes in a blue plastic cover with Signal Vision typed labels on the front of the box and tape. The full length video of 7 Reasons, in a mixture of colour and black and white, features footage of an urban and suburban nature interspersed with footage of the band underwater with fruit and flowers! The full length video lasts approximately 4mins and 5 secs. The video for Jesus I Love You, whilst obviously shot at the same time and containing some similar footage does not have industrial images and has different footage interspersed with some footage from 7 reasons. Jesus lasts approximately 4mins and 5secs also.

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That's all for Part One but we'll be back with more later...

Many thanks to Mark @ The Record Peddler for info.

Labels: Adventure_Babies, Biting_Tongues, Fadela, Happy_Mondays, Joy_Division, Karl_Denver, New_Order, Record_Peddler, Revenge, video

Rhino is releasing two Collector's Editions of Happy Mondays' 'Bummed' and 'Pills 'n' Thrills & Bellyaches'.

Each album is remastered and expanded with non-album tracks and rare mixes, plus a bonus cd on 'Bummed' and dvd featuring video 'Best Of' on 'Pills 'n' Thrills & Bellyaches'.

Tracklistings

Bummed Collector's Edition

Disc 1

1. Country Song
2. Moving In With
3. Mad Cyril
4. Fat Lady Wrestlers
5. Performance
6. Brain Dead
7. Wrote For Luck
8. Bring A Friend
9. Do It Better
10. Lazyitus
11. Hallelujah
12. Holy Ghost (aka `Mad Guitar')
13. Clap Your Hands
14. Rave On (Club Mix)
15. Boom (B-side of `Wrote For Luck')
16. Mad Cyril (Hello Girls)
17. Wrote For Luck (12" B-Side)

Disc 2

1. Wrote For Luck (7' Version)
2. Hallelujah (Club Mix)
3. Wrote For Luck (12" Version)
4. Hallelujah (MacColl Mix)
5. Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer) (Feat. Karl Denver)
6. WFL (Think About The Future)
7. Hallelujah (12" Version)
8. Kilamenjaro (aka `Rave On')
9. WFL (Vince Clarke 12" Mix)
10. Hallelujah (Deadstock Mix)

Pills 'n' Thrills & Bellyaches Collector's Edition

Disc 1

1. Kinky Afro
2. God's cop
3. Donovan
4. Grandbag's Funeral
5. Loose Fit
6. Dennis And Lois
7. Bob's Yer Uncle
8. Step On
9. Holiday
10. Harmony
11. Step On (Twisting My Melon Mix)
12. Kinky Afro (7" Euro Mix)
13. Loose Fit (12" Version)
14. Bob's Yer Uncle (12" Version)
15. Tokoloshie Man

Disc 2 (dvd)

1. Tart Tart - Produced and directed by Michael Atavar and Donald Guy, London October 1986
2. 24 Hour Party People - Produced and directed by the Bailey Brothers, December 1987
3. Lazyitis - Produced and directed by the Bailey Brothers, May 1989
4. Wrote For Luck - Produced and directed by the Bailey Brothers, September 1989
5. Hallelujah - Produced and directed by the Bailey Brothers, December 1989
6. Clap Your Hands - Produced and directed by the Bailey Brothers,December 1989
7. Step On - Produced and directed by the Bailey Brothers, March 1990
8. Kinky Afro - Produced and directed by Keith Jobling of the Bailey Brothers, October 1990
9. Loose Fit - Produced and directed by Philip Shotton of the Bailey Brothers, February 1991
10. Judge Fudge - Produced and directed by the Bailey Brothers, November 1991

Labels: Happy_Mondays, Karl_Denver

Check the Love To Infinity MySpace page (under Pics) for a large collection of scanned vintage Haçienda flyers, passes and much more.

In a further FAC twist, Love To Infinity's Andy Lee was the engineer on FAC 228 Wimoweh by Karl Denver (recorded and mixed by Mike Pickering and Graeme Park).

Labels: Karl_Denver

Thanks to Steve Lima for pointing out that it was him pairing up with Karl Denver as Indambinigi on the Fac 278 Zimba single and not Graeme Park as previously stated here. Steve went on to add that: "We were actually meant to be called Indamaningi for this record but the someone at Factory mispelt it!"

stevelima.com

Labels: Graeme_Park, Karl_Denver

Those Cerysmatic Factory Video Vote results in full:

1. 'True Faith' by New Order - dir. Phillippe Découfflé (Loads of people in funny costumes dance and bounce around to the music interspersed with the band performing. Won the BPI Award for Best Video in 1987. New Order still performed it live on Top of the Pops.)

2. 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division (One Door Closes.....)

3. 'The Perfect Kiss' by New Order - dir. Jonathan Demme. This was shot in New Order's rehearsal room in Cheetham Hill. They got a 24 track mobile studio in to record the music - it was played live. The two blokes that appear unannounced are Andy Robinson, now part-manager of New Order with Rebecca, and Slim, now 'Door Manager' at the Manchester University Student Union. For some reason everyone thinks the appearance of Slim in the video is, in fact, Arthur Baker. It isn't. The Perfect Kiss went on general release in the cinema as a support picture to Stop Making Sense, Jonathan Demme's seminal concert film of Talking Heads.

4. 'WFL' by Happy Mondays dir. The Bailey Brothers

5. 'Step On' by Happy Mondays (The 24 Hour Party People website article on The Bailey Brothers tells the story: For the shoot of the 'Step On' video, the crew shipped out to Barcelona. Locations were set for the five day shoot. Everyone was ready, but the band wasn't there. "We were waiting in Barcelona for the best part of four days, without having heard anything from anybody in terms of when they were going to turn up." recalls Keith. "They turned up to do the video at 3 o clock on the last day we were in Barcelona. We had something completely different planned, obviously, and we had locations that we were going to go to and we had this whole video planned out. With a day to go we were accepting that we were going to have to change that quite radically, and with three hours to go, we were literally thinking on our feet 'what's the only plausible thing we can do in the three hours?'" The promo was shot in and around the hotel they were staying at, with Shaun sitting on top of a huge neon E sign. The Director of Photography frantically tried to grab as much footage as possible as the sun set, but left feeling they didn't have enough footage. "We showed him the finished video and he loved it. We did tend to shoot lots of super 8, there was lots of other stuff around, not just the Super 16 camera going - so he was quite surprised that there was some other stuff dropped in.")

6. 'Confusion' by New Order (Ignore the crap subplot about the girls going to the disco. This basically shows you the early New Order mid dance-epihany in NYC and captures a pivotal moment, in a shoddy and amateurish way - so very Factory!)

7. 'Wrote For Luck' by Happy Mondays dir. The Bailey Brothers.

8. 'Shack Up' by A Certain Ratio (original Factory video for Palatine)

9. 'Bizarre Love Triangle' by New Order - dir. Robert Longo ("I don't believe in reincarnation because I refuse to come back as a bug or a rabbit!")

10. 'Run' by New Order - dir. Robert Frank, produced by Michael Shamberg

Honourable mentions to ... 'Nightshift' by The Names, 'Genius' by Quando Quango, 'New Horizon' by Section 25, 'The Smiling Hour' (Ann Quigley leaves work in Sunley Tower, Manchester and goes out for a drink at Corbieres) by Kalima, 'Sounds Like Something Dirty (Live on The Tube)', 'Back To The Start', 'Knife Slits Water' by A Certain Ratio, 'Lazyitis' (in prison where they belong playing footie in the pissing rain, Karl Denver catching pneumonia) by Happy Mondays, 'Here To Stay', 'Round & round', 'Shellshock', 'Fine Time', 'Blue Monday', 'Ceremony' by New Order, 'Laid' by James (strictly ex-Fac), 'My Rising Star' by Northside, 'The Missing Boy' and 'Domo Arigato' by The Durutti Column (the second one a long-form entry that sneaked in), 'Eat Y'Self Fitter' by The Fall (on an IKON video release), 'Get The Message' by Electronic, 'Talk About The Past' by The Wake.

Thanks to everyone who voted and also those who provided annotations. You know who you are.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Happy_Mondays, Joy_Division, Kalima, Karl_Denver, New_Order, Northside, Quando_Quango, The_Durutti_Column, The_Names, The_Wake

In the long great tradition of artists moonlighting under alter egos the spotlight falls on Streetlife who were the 'Dutch electro pop pioneers' Minny Pops' side project during 1984/85. For your further edification read James Nice's excellent biography of Minny Pops / Streetlife. They thus joined other the ranks of other bands such as Ad Infinitum (Stockholm Monsters having a break), Red Turns To (New Order's Peter Hook) and Indambinigi (Karl Denver and Graeme Park) who rose mysteriously to take their place in the Factory catalogue.

Labels: Ad_Infinitum, Karl_Denver, Minny_Pops, New_Order, Peter_Hook, Red_Turns_To, Stockholm_Monsters, Streetlife

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