Although Factory Records has certainly earned its iconic status, most of the label’s best work was released during its early years. While always adventurous and unpredictable, the label began to drift towards decadence, questionable whims, and trends doomed to rapid obsolescence as the '80s unfolded. To his credit, curator James Nice manages to unearth a couple of long-forgotten gems from this dicey period, but most of the songs collected here succeed only as curiosities or mere footnotes in the evolution of contemporary dance music.
 
 
James Nice begins his excellent liner notes with a very telling 1987 quote from Tony Wilson: "You see, I'm out of touch with the street, in that between '76 and '81 I knew everything that was being released and I saw a different band every night.But that part of your life passes, and now I rely on other people to tell me what's happening."Unfortunately, the people around Wilson were pretty sucked in by House music and DJ culture by this time, a scene that Tony (and myself) never cared for.That shaky state of affairs led to quite an eclectic and unfocused release schedule, as a trickle of albums from the label's more established names was bolstered by whatever 12" dance singles A&R chief Mike Pickering was able to sneak through the cracks.
The album starts off in fairly strong fashion with New Order ("True Faith"), A Certain Ratio ("Bootsie"), and Happy Mondays ("24 Hour Party People") in rapid succession.Unfortunately, anybody who would be interested in a Factory Records compilation is probably already quite (overly?) familiar with those songs—I know I am.Consequently, the success of the album is largely dependent on the more obscure pieces that make up its remainder.Also problematic is the near-deranged stylistic variety on display.It's certainly surprising and fascinating to hear a virtuousic Spanish guitar piece by Durutti Column on the same album as the unfortunate early hip hop of Meat Mouth, but it is impossible to imagine a single person liking both.Incidentally, the best thing about this release is probably the Vini Reilly quote in the liner notes about how he feels that no one cares about his albums because they simply aren't very good ("I deserve that disappointment.").
Of the lesser-known songs, the highlight is definitely The Wake's shimmering and shoegazey "Furious Sea."Notably, it was to be their last release for the label, as they had a falling-out over cover art (not "Factory" enough) and poor promotion, which motivated them to relocate to the much beloved/maligned Sarah Records.I was also quite fond of Fadela's funkily exotic "N'Sel Fik," which completely blind-sided me (I did not know that Factory delved into Algerian Raï).I'm still on the fence about Miaow's breezy and jangly C86 pop, but I'm certainly glad that I heard it, as I never saw that as a genre that could successful incorporate yodeling before.I stand corrected.Unfortunately, neither of those artists stuck around either.Neither did The Railway Children, whom Wilson was hoping would become the next Smiths.
Sadly, the rest of the album veers between forgettable, mediocre, and hopelessly dated.That said, James Nice is probably the ideal person to have compiled this album, as he is both the author of Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records and the owner of LTM, who have reissued much of the Factory catalogue.He did an admirable job assembling entertaining quotes and contextual information for all of the bands here, but 1987 was simply not one of Factory's best years creatively (yet it was a huge year financially, thanks to New Order).Aside from a few songs, this compilation will probably only be of interest to Factory completists and dance music historians (due to the inclusion of Arthur Baker and Quando Quango).Still, I suspect this collection is dramatically better than a Factory Records 1988 or 1989 retrospective would be.I hope neither of those is in the works.
Samples:
- The Wake, "Furious Sea"
- Durutti Column, "Catos con Guantes"
- Fadela, "N'Sel Fik"
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