15 Apr 2015
Perfect Motion from Caroline True Records 
Perfect Motion - Jon Savage's Secret History of Second-Wave Psychedelia 1988-93

Caroline True Records presents "Perfect Motion: Jon Savage's Secret History of Second-Wave Psychedelia 1988-93" in a special limited edition double 12" vinyl gatefold sleeve deluxe package with full inner sleeves and liner notes. There's also a digital download code. Plus there's a free Baggy Mystery Mix CD with first 100 copies bought direct from the CTR Webstore. The complete package is priced 18.99 GBP.

The featured artists (including a heavy contingent from Factory and Madchester/Baggy camps) include Electronic, Northside, 808 State, The Stone Roses, Shack, Pet Shop Boys, Primal Scream, Sabres of Paradise, Joi, DHS, Sly & Lovechild and Deee-Lite.

The full tracklisting is:

Side one

Shack - I Know You Well (Extended 12" Mix) 5' 35"
The High - Box Set Go 3' 54"
Primal Scream - Slip inside This House 5' 17"
Northside - Take 5 (12" Mix) 4' 10"

Side two

PSB - The Sound of the Atom Splitting 5' 13"
Deee-Lite - What is Love? (Holographic Goatee Mix) 4' 08"
Electronic - Get the Message (DNA Groove Mix) 5' 27"
Sly & Lovechild - The World According To Sly & Lovechild (Soul of Europe Mix) 8' 20"

Side three

Joi - A Desert Storm 6' 28"
808 State - Let Yourself Go (D50 Mix) 4' 52"
DHS- Number 9 Bad Acid 4' 28"
St Etienne Featuring Q-Tee - Filthy 5' 32"

Side four

The Stone Roses - Full Fathom Five (CD Version) 3' 18"
Sabres of Paradise - Clock Factory 14' 44"

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27 Feb 2014
Mark Reeder - Collaborator [FBN 111 CD] 
Mark Reeder - Collaborator [FBN 111 CD]

Factory Benelux has lined up a new album of remixes by Mark Reeder, the ex-Shark Vegas Berlin-based musician and producer. Featuring his work for a varied selection of artists including Blank & Jones, Bad Lieutenant, Westbam, Koishii & Hush, Marnie, Sam Taylor Wood / Pet Shop Boys and Crépuscule act Marsheaux, the aptly-titled Collaborator is out on CD on 19 May 2014.

Several tracks reflect Reeder's early influence on the electronic/dance direction taken by New Order after 1981 given that they feature his friend Bernard Sumner. There's two Bad Lieutenant singles Sink Or Swim and Twist of Fate, plus tracks by Westbam, Blank & Jones and Corvin Dalek (this last one intriguingly being an early version of Crystal). Completing the connection, Sumner also produced You Hurt Me by Shark Vegas which appears here in its Radio Edit version. The FAC number for that single, 111, provides the FBN number for this album.

Completing the overall package there's great cover photography is by Katja Ruge.

More info and how to order via factorybenelux.com.

Tracklisting

1. Bad Lieutenant - Sink Or Swim (Rettungsring Radio Remix)
2. Marsheaux - So Far (So Close Remix)
3. Corvin Dalek w. Bernard Sumner - Crystal (Original Demo Mix)
4. Koishii & Hush w. John Taylor - C'est Tout Est Noir (Black Night Remix)
5. Blank & Jones w. Bernard Sumner - Miracle Cure (Genussmittel Remix)
6. Blank & Jones w. Anne Clark - The Hardest Heart (Hardest Soul Remix)
7. Marnie - Sugarland (Sweet & Sticky Remix)
8. Queen of Hearts - Neon (Electrically Excited Remix)
9. Sam Taylor Wood w. Pet Shop Boys - I'm In Love With A German Film Star (Stuck in the 80s Remix)
10. Westbam - w. Bernard Sumner She Wants (Old School Remix)
11. Die Unbekannten - Radio War (Re-tuned)
12. Bad Lieutenant - Twist Of Fate (Synth of Fate Remix)
13. Shark Vegas - You Hurt Me (Radio Edit)

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22 Sept 2012
The alphabet according to Mark Reeder 
The new edition of Electronic Beats magazine includes an alphabet (from Amiga to Zong) by ex-FAC remixer extraordinaire Mark Reeder.

You may download the electronic version at issuu.com but be aware that the printed edition comes with a free CD which includes the Shark Vegas track You Hurt Me (taken from the FAC 111 single) plus a Pet Shop Boys interview.

The alphabet according to Mark Reeder

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12 Sept 2011
Five Point One 
Mark Reeder (ex-Shark Vegas) has confirmed details of his multi-format album of remixes he has done for artists such as Bad Lieutenant, Depeche Mode, Blank & Jones, Sam Taylor-Wood with Pet Shop Boys, Fidelity Kastrow and Spartak (the latter two featured on the SC5.1 free CD given away with initial copies of Scream City 5 last year) and many others. It is a 2CD/1DVD set featuring stereo mixes on the CDs and 5.1 surround mixes on the DVD.

The DVD also contains videos including a recut version of the original John Foxx Underpass, I’m In Love With A German Filmstar by Sam Taylor-Wood and more.

A full website with audio and video is also up and running at five-point-one.co.uk.

Tracklisting

DVD 5.1 surround remixes

1. John Foxx - Underpass (Mark Reeder's Sinister Subway Remix Edit)
2. Bad Lieutenant - Twist Of Fate (Mark Reeder's Led's Twist Again Remix)
3. Noblesse Oblige - Duel (Mark Reeder's Shot At The Crack Of Dawn Remix)
4. Marsheaux - So Far (Mark Reeder's So Close Remix)
5. Depeche Mode - Sweetest Perfection (Mark Reeder's Sweetest Conception Remix)
6. Echoes - Ice Cold (Mark Reeder's Cold As Ice Remix)
7. Blank & Jones, Mark Reeder Featuring Vanessa Daou - Heart Of Wax (Heart Of Crystal Mix)
8. Anne Clark - Full Moon (Mark Reeder's Stairway To The Stars Remix)
9. Vanessa Daou - Black & White (Mark Reeder's Monochrome Mix)
10. Sam Taylor-Wood With The Pet Shop Boys - I'm In Love With A German Film Star (Mark Reeder's Rias Remix)
11. Spartak - Lets Go Get 'Em (Mark Reeder's No Pain, No Gain Remix Edit)
12. Electrobelle - Falling (Mark Reeder's In Your Arms Remix Edit)
13. Fidelity Kastrow - 21st Century Girl (Mark Reeder's Strident Remix Edit)
14. May68 - The Prisoner (Mark Reeder's Runaway Remix)
15. Parralox - Sharper Than A Knife (Mark Reeder's Cutting Edge Remix Edit)
16. Bad Lieutenant - Sink Or Swim (Mark Reeder's Rettungsring Remix Edit)
17. Die Toten Hosen - Disco (Mark Reeder's Lange Hosen Remix)
18. Anne Clark - If... (Mark Reeder's Seemingly Forever Remix)

CD1

1. John Foxx - Underpass (Mark Reeder's Sinister Subway Remix)
2. Bad Lieutenant - Twist Of Fate (Mark Reeder's Led's Twist Again Remix)
3. Noblesse Oblige - Duel (Mark Reeder's Shot At The Crack Of Dawn Remix)
4. Marsheaux - So Far (Mark Reeder's So Close Remix)
5. Depeche Mode - Sweetest Perfection (Mark Reeder's Sweetest Conception Remix)
6. Echoes - Ice Cold (Mark Reeder's Cold As Ice Remix)
7. Sam Taylor-Wood With The Pet Shop Boys - I'm In Love With A German Film Star (Mark Reeder's Stuck In The 80s Mix)
8. Spartak - Lets Go Get 'Em (Mark Reeder's No Pain, No Gain Remix)
9. Fidelity Kastrow - 21st Century Girl (Mark Reeder's Strident Remix)
10. Bad Lieutenant - Sink Or Swim (Mark Reeder's Rettungsring Radio Remix)
11. May68 - The Prisoner (Mark Reeder's Runaway Remix)
12. Die Toten Hosen - Disco (Mark Reeder's Lange Hosen Remix)
13. Anne Clark - If… (Mark Reeder's Seemingly Forever Remix)

CD2

1. John Foxx - Underpass (Mark Reeder's Dark, Long & Sinister Remix)
2. Blank & Jones, Mark Reeder Featuring Vanessa Daou - Heart Of Wax (Heart Of Crystal Mix)
3. Sam Taylor-Wood With Pet Shop Boys - I'm In Love With A German Film Star (Mark Reeder's Rias Remix)
4. Echoes - Ice Cold (Mark Reeder's Colder Than Ice Remix)
5. Parralox - Sharper Than A Knife (Mark Reeder's Cutting Edge Remix)
6. Bad Lieutenant - Sink Or Swim (Mark Reeder's Waterwing Remix)
7. Vanessa Daou - Black & White (Mark Reeder's Monochrome Mix)
8. Anne Clark - Full Moon (Mark Reeder's Stairway To The Stars Remix)
9. Fidelity Kastrow - 21st Century Girl (Mark Reeder's Strident Remix Edit)
10. Electrobelle - Falling (Mark Reeder's In Your Heart Remix)
11. Bad Lieutenant - Twist Of Fate (Mark Reeder's Synth Of Fate Remix)
12. Die Toten Hosen - Disco (Mark Reeder's Kurze Hosen Remix)

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29 Nov 2009
More live dates for Bad Lieutenant 
Bad Lieutenant will be supporting Pet Shop Boys at O2 World in Berlin on the 5 December 2009. Tickets can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.de.

They are also performing in Hamburg on Friday 4 December 2009 as part of the Becks Music Experience, at the Markthalle. To see the band perform you can get tickets from www.becks.de.

More info at badlieutenant.net.

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27 Oct 2009
Bad Lieutenant for PSB Pandemonium 
From the Bad Lieutenant newsletter:

On the back of the news that Bad Lieutenant will be playing two dates with The Pixies in the US, it has just been announced that the band will also be performing as very special guests of Pet Shop Boys on the forthcoming UK leg of their "Pandemonium" tour.

The UK dates are:

December

17 - Glasgow SECC
18 - Birmingham NIA
20 - Manchester Evening News Arena
21 - London O2 Arena

Tickets are priced £30 from www.livenation.co.uk (all tickets subject to booking fee)

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12 Oct 2009
Synth Britannia 
New BBC4 documentary about British synthpop features New Order, OMD and Cabaret Voltaire

"In the late 1970s, small pockets of electronic artists including the Human League, Daniel Miller and Cabaret Voltaire were inspired by Kraftwerk and JG Ballard and dreamt of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain. The crossover moment came in 1979 when Gary Numan's appearance on Top of the Pops with Tubeway Army's Are "Friends" Electric? heralded the arrival of synthpop. Four lads from Basildon known as Depeche Mode would come to own the new sound whilst post-punk bands like Ultravox, Soft Cell, OMD and Yazoo took the synth out of the pages of the NME and onto the front page of Smash Hits. By 1983, acts like Pet Shop Boys and New Order were showing that the future of electronic music would lie in dance music."

Synth Britannia screens on Friday 16 October 2009 on BBC4 and includes contributions from Philip Oakey, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, Bernard Sumner, Gary Numan and Neil Tennant.

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8 Nov 2008
Smokin' 
Mark Reeder's been very busy of late, what with his remix with Micha Adam of the Blank & Jones track Miracle Cure (with Bernard Sumner on vocals) and much more besides.

Mark now brings Cerysmatic up to date with the very latest:

"A different mix [of Miracle Cure] will appear on a B&J remixes album we've made, for release in spring of 2009. Also I've just remixed the new Pet Shop Boys/Sam Taylor-Wood single on KOMPAKT records I'm In Love With a German Film Star - it's the Rundfunk Radio Mix which is only on the 7" single.

"I also have made the Stuck in the 80s Remix on the 12-inch and CD single and a Rias Radio Mix version, which is not on any record and is only for radio play.

"Also coming soon are two tracks that I've remixed for Anne Clark (Full Moon and If...) off her new album."

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14 Aug 2008
21st Century Music 
Mark Reeder (ex-Shark Vegas) tells Cerysmatic has written a new track with Bernard Sumner. Mark says "It's too early days yet to see what will eventually happen with it and it doesn't even have lyrics or a title yet".

Mark has also produced the latest Fidelity Kastrow track '21st Century Girl' which can be heard on myspace.com/fidelitykastrowmusic. This was chosen to be the anthem of this year's Summer of Love festival in the Czech Republic (where she is also performing on 16 August 2008.

Finally, and perhaps most tantalisingly, there's the remix that Mark has just finished for the new Pet Shop Boys / Sam Taylor-Wood single 'I'm In Love With A German Filmstar' (a cover of the old 80s hit by The Passions). The single will be released on CD and MP3 on the German Kompakt label in October to coincide with Sam Taylor-Wood's new exhibition at the White Cube gallery in London which opens on 22 October 2008.

Thanks to Mark. Keep it cool over there in Berlin.

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12 Oct 2007
Electronic downloads on 7digital.com 
www.7digital.com offers high quality, DRM-free MP3s and WMA files at reasonable rates from several major labels. Of particular interest to Factory Records fans is the Electronic catalog, featuring:

- The three original studio albums and recent compilation
- Expanded versions of all three albums, including b-sides and remixes
- All singles and EPs, including the rare 'Until the End of Time' promo release

Looks like most of the tracks were just posted last month.

On a related note, there are plenty of hard-to-find recent tracks from Pet Shop Boys (mainly remixes not released on CD and not widely available digitally) and a decent selection of New Order products (including the three 'Waiting for the Sirens' Call' single releases).

--

Thanks to CD.

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2 Oct 2007
Quiz Night 
As promised, the 'official' answers to the Urbis Haçienda quiz:

Round One

1. Name the first DJ and the first live act at The Haçienda.

Hewan Clarke; Bernard Manning (2 points).

2. Which famous spy was 'The Gay Traitor' bar named after?

Anthony Blunt (1 point).

3. Give the name (or type) of two businesses that were run from The Haçienda during the day.

Sandwich Express (sandwich delivery); Swing (hairdressers) (2 points).

4. Name the last DJ and the last live act at The Haçienda.

Elliot Eastwick (for it was he); Spiritualised (2 points).

5. 'Flesh' was the second gay night at The Haçienda. Name the first.

Gay Monday (1 point).

6. The Pet Shop Boys used an artist's films as a backdrop at their Haçienda concert. Name the artist.

Derek Jarman (1 point).

7. Name the two resident DJs at 'Wide'.

Dean Johnson; Dave Haslam (2 points).

8. Name the three designers of The Haçienda trainers.

Ben Kelly; Peter Saville; Yohji Yamamoto (1 point).

9. What was the building originally used for before becoming The Haçienda?

Yacht showroom (1 point).

10. Name the person that co-promoted 'Flesh' with Paul Cons.

Lucy Sher (1 point).

Round Two

1. Following closure, The Haçienda reopened with three new nights. Name them.

Beautiful 2000; Shine; Saturday at the Haçienda (3 points).

2. Name either the author or the work from which The Haçienda name was taken.

Ivan Chtchteglov: 'Formulaire Pour Un Urbanisme Nouveau' (1 point).

3. What was the name of The Haçienda's 1989 US tour?

United States of the Haçienda (1 point).

4. Name the band formed by Paul Morley and Trevor Horn.

Art Of Noise (1 point).

5. Name the building company responsible for The Haçienda flats.

Crosby Homes (1 point).

6. When Frankie Knuckles played The Haçienda on New Year's Eve 1996 was he paid:
a. GBP 5k?
b. GBP 15k?
c. GBP 25k?

b. GBP 15k (1 point).

7. Who bought The Haçienda DJ booth at the auction (and then lost it)?

Bobby Langley (1 point).

8. A regular performer at The Haçienda, born Alexander Coe in Bangor, worked at Shelley's in the mid-eighties, now a superstar DJ. Who am I?

Sasha (1 point).

9. Which internationally famous ex-Haçienda DJ started out as a chef at Dry Bar?

Laurent Garnier (1 point).

10. What was the Factory catalogue number of The Haçienda cat?

FAC 191 (1 point).

11. Which famous television music programme was recorded at The Haçienda in the mid-eighties?

The Tube (1 point).

Depending upon your score, award yourself the following title:

1-5: Thick Pigeon
6-10: Railway Children
11-15: Minny Pops
16-20: Adventure Babies
21-25: New Orders
26-27: Happy Mondays (You win The Shaun Ryder Cup!)

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23 Sept 2007
Quiz Night 
Eyes down for a re-run of Elliot Eastwick's 25th Anniversary Haçienda quiz from the event of the same name at Urbis the other night.

Obvious technical limitations mean we can't run the "name the artist and title" audio or video questions - nor can we re-run Frank Sidebottom's sublime medley of Manchester hits that constituted an entire round of its own!

Instead we have the twenty-one remaining text-based questions over two rounds with a possible twenty-seven points maximum score. This is for FUN only - so no cheating - and please do not email us the answers, which we will post next weekend:


Round One

1. Name the first DJ and the first live act at The Haçienda. (2 points)

2. Which famous spy was 'The Gay Traitor' bar named after? (1 point)

3. Give the name (or type) of two businesses that were run from The Haçienda during the day. (2 points)

4. Name the last DJ and the last live act at The Haçienda. (2 points)

5. 'Flesh' was the second gay night at The Haçienda. Name the first. (1 point)

6. The Pet Shop Boys used an artist's films as a backdrop at their Haçienda concert. Name the artist. (1 point)

7. Name the two resident DJs at 'Wide'. (2 points)

8. Name the three designers of The Haçienda trainers. (1 point)

9. What was the building originally used for before becoming The Haçienda? (1 point)

10. Name the person that co-promoted 'Flesh' with Paul Cons. (1 point)

Round Two

1. Following closure, The Haçienda reopened with three new nights. Name them. (3 points)

2. Name either the author or the work from which The Haçienda name was taken. (1 point)

3. What was the name of The Haçienda's 1989 US tour? (1 point)

4. Name the band formed by Paul Morley and Trevor Horn. (1 point)

5. Name the building company responsible for The Haçienda flats. (1 point)

6. When Frankie Knuckles played The Haçienda on New Year's Eve 1996 was he paid:
a. GBP 5k?
b. GBP 15k?
c. GBP 25k? (1 point)

7. Who bought The Haçienda DJ booth at the auction (and then lost it)? (1 point)

8. A regular performer at The Haçienda, born Alexander Coe in Bangor, worked at Shelley's in the mid-eighties, now a superstar DJ. Who am I? (1 point)

9. Which internationally famous ex-Haçienda DJ started out as a chef at Dry Bar? (1 point)

10. What was the Factory catalogue number of The Haçienda cat? (1 point)

11. Which famous television music programme was recorded at The Haçienda in the mid-eighties? (1 point)


Many thanks to both Elliot Eastwick and Urbis for kindly allowing us to re-run the quiz.

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3 Jan 2007
Pet Shop Boys Versus Factory 
The excellent book 'Pet Shop Boys - Catalogue' (Thames and Hudson, ISBN 978-0-500-51307-1) by Philip Hoare and Chris Heath contains a number of insights relevant to ardent Factory fans and is a darn good read and beautifully put together to boot.

Main PSB designer Mark Farrow served his apprenticeship at Factory and brought with him many of Factory's design ethics as the following extracts show (with occasional annotations):

West End Girls

'the 12" sleeve was partly designed by Chris. It has a marked relationship to the design of New Order's Blue Monday 12" by Peter Saville (which emulated an early computer disc and was die-cut and ruinously expensive to produce) - the release of which was said to have brought Neil close to tears when it arrived at Smash Hits, so liberally did it seem to borrow from the. style of their favourite producer, Bobby 'O'.'

(Bobby 'O' would later, in turn, in a supreme irony, rip off Blue Monday. In a further twist, New Order would also do a live cover of Divine's Love Reaction which was a Bobby 'O' production!)

West End girls (remix)

Mark Farrow - 'I hated the original sleeve - the fact that there were two different typefaces, one of the typefaces had three different sizes in it, just everything about it I loathed and detested. I had the whole Factory ethic in my head. So the first thing I did was strip all the type off it, and we just had the coloured blocks and the background.'

(The myriad unofficial remixes like 'West End Sunglasses', put out by Bobby 'O' feature badly designed sleeves that have nothing to do with the Farrow designs, except for some "borrowed" typeface theft.)

Please (album, 1986)

'The design of Please, released in March 1986, was as minimal as its title. Virtually every detail was stripped away, leaving only an image barely bigger than a postage stamp, with the group's name and album title below. The effect was to draw the viewer in, towards what is ostensibly an innocent image, but is in fact one of seductive desire. Mark Farrow had designed a sleeve at Factory Records for the group Section 25 with a tiny photo on it, and had liked the way it looked. 'It's almost the starting point, when I design a cover, that it shouldn't look like a cover', says Farrow.'

Opportunities (single, May 1986)

'It's a kind of a Factory sleeve, really', says Mark Farrow. 'It was gold and silver because that's what money is. I don't remember there being any big decision about there not being a photo on it.'

Domino Dancing

'Again, that's like a Factory sleeve, but rather than finding something really obscure, it was a Polaroid of Neil and Chris. It was presenting everything to do with the record in a very matter-of-fact way.'

Behaviour

'In Japan the album was released also in a white velvet box, a fantastically impractical and almost fetishistic object to rival Factory Records' celebrated The Return of the Durutti Column, which came clad in sandpaper.'

(It might be added that the "velvet" box really has nowhere near the "fetish" aspects of FACT 14. But it does have an almost magnetic attraction to dirt and dust and it doesn't ruin the rest of your record collection.)

--

Furthermore, photographers like Robert Mapplethorpe, The Douglas Brothers, Wolfgang Tillmans, Trevor Key all did PSB and FAC work.

And then there's Electronic...

--

With thanks to OMNY.

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19 Oct 2004
No Pain, No Gain 
This is the title of a forthcoming live album by Revenge to be released on LTM in February 2005. It features the whole of their 1991 performance at Cities In The Park in Manchester's Heaton Park, an event which also featured Electronic (with guests Pet Shop Boys), Happy Mondays (finishing the Pills 'n' Thrills tour), The Durutti Column, The Wendys, The Adventure Babies, Cath Carroll and by-then-non-Factory acts A Certain Ratio and The Railway Children. The remainder of the 14-track CD is from a show in Kawasaki, Japan, several months later.

Artist: Revenge
Title: No Pain, No Gain (Live 1991)
Label: LTM
Format: 1CD (14 tracks)
Catalogue number: LTMCD 2413
Release date: 7 February 2005

LTM also has the following new CD titles in stock (as usual, you can order any of them direct from LTM ahead of the store release dates):

Paul Haig LTMCD 2408 Rhythm of Life / New York Remix
Severed Heads LTMCD 2404 Rotund for Success
The Room LTMCD 2416 In Evil Hour/Clear

Also in the works at LTM are two new dvd releases. The Wake (Live at the Hacienda and Section 25 (A SXVV DVD) are slated for release early next year. More details soon.

Thanks to James at LTM.

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15 Oct 2004
Change the record 
"The remix - a radical and creative act of musical subversion, or an excuse to ruin a perfectly good song for cash?"

It all depends on who's twiddling the knobs, says Dorian Lynskey in the Guardian Review's entertaining article on the history of the remix to coincide with the imminent release of Depeche Mode's Remixes 81-04.

The paper also compiles its Top Ten Mixes which features New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep Pettibone Extended Dance mix) ["The go-to guy of the 1980s remix scene (Madonna, Pet Shop Boys, Run-DMC) gave New Order one of their biggest US hits."]

Other choice entries include Paid In Full (Coldcut's Seven Minutes of Madness mix) from 1988 and My Bloody Valentine's Soon (Andrew Weatherall mix) from 1990.

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