THE FACTORY RECORDS STORY
Rhino Honors Legendary Indie Label With Digital-Only Compilation Featuring 63 Tracks Released Between 1978 And 1992, Including Songs By Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, OMD, James, The Durutti Column And Cabaret Voltaire
Available Exclusively On iTunes June 23, All Other DSPs On July 7
LOS ANGELES – Factory Records was more than an independent record label based in Manchester, England, where influential artists such as Joy Division, New Order, and Happy Mondays found a home. During its frenzied reign from 1978 to 1992, Factory was also a state of mind, as noted music journalist Paul Morley explains in the liner notes of Rhino’s new 63-song collection celebrating Factory: “… it was about what music means, and why it is important … and it was about how a record label can and should operate as a place, a space, and the spaces in between, that can be filled with thoughts, some of them musical …”
More than 30 years after Factory opened its doors, Rhino looks back with a digital-only collection that captures the glory and chaos of the label’s journey. FACTORY RECORDS: COMMUNICATIONS 1978-92 will debut exclusively on iTunes June 23 for $29.99. The set will be available two-weeks later, on July 7, through all digital service providers. It will be available as a digital release only. A free stream of six tracks from this release are available now at https://www.rhino.com/fun/listeningparties/factoryrecords_PartyPlayer.lasso.
Arranged chronologically, the set begins with Joy Division’s “Digital”—from Factory’s first release A Factory Sample EP—and ends with the label’s swan song, the Happy Mondays’ 12” “Sunshine and Love.” Compiled by music journalist Jon Savage, the collection tells the label’s story by mixing most of its hits with lesser-known classics, like Marcel King’s “Reach For Love” and Section 25’s “Looking From A Hilltop.” In addition to the aforementioned Morley essay, the set also features a track-by-track rundown from Factory expert and historian James Nice.
Factory released hundreds of records in different formats from a wide array of artists during its 14-year run. While nearly half of COMMUNICATIONS 1978-92 is dedicated to the label’s most recognizable artists—Joy Division, Happy Mondays, and New Order (and its many offshoots)—the collection also features an eclectic selection of artists who shared their labelmates’ penchant for doing things their own way, but never quite broke through. Those artists include: The Royal Family And The Poor (“Art on 45”), Minny Pops (“Dolphin’s Spurt”), Crispy Ambulance (“Deaf”), Crawling Chaos (“Sex Machine”), and The Wake (“Talk About The Past”).
Factory began in May 1978 as a club launched by British television host Tony Wilson and local band manager Alan Erasmus. The club evolved into a record label later that year with the release of A Factory Sample, an EP that featured Joy Division, The Durutti Column, Cabaret Voltaire, and comedian John Dowie. Factory went on to play a major role in cultivating the “Madchester” scene before its demise in 1992.
FACTORY RECORDS: COMMUNICATIONS 1978-92
Track Listing
1. Joy Division – “Digital”
2. Cabaret Voltaire – “Baeder Meinhof”
3. Joy Division – “Glass” (2007 Remastered)*
4. OMD – “Electricity” (Remastered Original 7” version)*
5. Joy Division – “She’s Lost Control”
6. The Distractions – “Time Goes By Slowly”*
7. Joy Division – “Transmission”
8. The Durutti Column – “Sketch For Summer”*
9. X-O-Dus – “English Black Boys”*
10. Joy Division – “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
11. Section 25 – “Girls Don’t Count”
12. Crawling Chaos – “Sex Machine”
13. Joy Division – “As You Said”*
14. The Names – “Night Shift”
15. New Order – “Ceremony” (Original Version)
16. Minny Pops – “Dolphin’s Spurt”
17. John Dowie – “It’s Hard To Be An Egg”*
18. Crispy Ambulance – “Deaf”
19. Section 25 – “Dirty Disco”
20. New Order – “Everything’s Gone Green”*
21. Tunnelvision – “Watching The Hydroplanes”
22. The Durutti Column – “Messidor”*
23. Royal Family And The Poor – “Art On 45”
24. Swamp Children – “Taste What's Rhythm”
25. New Order – “Temptation”
26. 52nd Street – “Cool As Ice”
27. New Order – “Blue Monday”
28. Cabaret Voltaire – “Yashar” (John Robie Remix)*
29. Quando Quango – “Love Tempo”
30. The Wake – “Talk About The Past”
31. New Order – “Confusion”
32. Marcel King – “Reach For Love”
33. Section 25 – “Looking from A Hilltop (Restructure)”
34. Stockholm Monsters – “All At Once”
35. Life – “Tell Me”*
36. The Durutti Column – “A Little Mercy”*
37. James – “Hymn From A Village”
38. Kalima – “Trickery”
39. Quando Quango – “Genius”*
40. Happy Mondays – “Freaky Dancin”*
41. Miaow – “When It All Comes Down”
42. The Railway Children – “Brighter”
43. New Order – “1963” (12” Version)*
44. The Durutti Column – “Otis”
45. Biting Tongues – “Compressor”
46. New Order – “True Faith”
47. Happy Mondays – “24 Hour Party People”
48. New Order – “Fine Time”
49. Happy Mondays – “W.F.L. (We Think About The Future)”
50. Revenge – “Seven Reasons”
51. Happy Mondays – “Hallelujah” (Club Mix)
52. Electronic – “Getting Away With It”
53. Happy Mondays – “Step On”
54. Northside – “Shall We Take A Trip”
55. New Order – “World In Motion”
56. Happy Mondays – “Kinky Afro”
57. The Durutti Column – “Home”
58. Electronic – “Get The Message”
59. Happy Mondays – “Loose Fit”
60. Northside – “Take 5”
61. Cath Carroll – “Moves Like You” (Remix)
62. The Other Two – “Tasty Fish”*
63. Happy Mondays – “Sunshine and Love” (Lionrock Remix)*
*Previously unreleased digitally
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