Rhino Records today released a digital version of its four-disc Factory Records: Communications 1978-92 box set via iTunes, collecting 63 tracks — spanning Joy Division to the Happy Mondays — from the famed Manchester record label.
The set initially was released on limited-edition CD in the U.K. this past January; in the U.S., it only will be issued digitally, first on iTunes, then through all other digital stores beginning July 7, according to Rhino.
Dedicated to the label’s founder, the late Tony Wilson, the compilation features a wide array of Factory artists, including some quite obscure, such as The Royal Family and the Poor and Crispy Ambulance.
Yet it understandably focuses on the imprint’s most famed acts, specifically Joy Division, New Order (and its myriad spin-offs) and the Mondays — which, together, make up almost one-third of the set (see full tracklist below).
As Rhino notes in its announcement of Communications 1978-92:
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 …”
And as a sampler, Rhino is providing a free stream of six of the set’s tracks from New Order, Joy Division and the Happy Mondays.
Tracklist: Factory Records: Communications 1978-1992
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
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS:
- Happy Mondays, Psychedelic Furs doubling up for U.S. club tour in September, October
- New Order members recruit Blur’s Alex James for Bad Lieutenant project
- Smiths, New Order, Stone Roses spotlighted in new book on Manchester scene
