I'm in love with The Factory

 When Richard Butler (aka Butler Rep) of The Psychedelic Furs wrote "I'm in love with the factory" in their 1979 single We Love You I'd always assumed it related to Andy Warhol's Factory, but it may of course have been referring to Manchester's enigmatic Factory Records. As a teenager at the time, and a disciple of the post-punk era, I had amassed a fair few records on the Factory label. Sadly I sold many of these for less than the price of a pint of beer, but more about that later.

More recently, much more recently in fact, I bought a copy of Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album as a little treat for myself. It's really quite a wonderful book for anyone interested in Factory records, not just for the music but perhaps more specifically the artwork and overall concept of the label, and if nothing else it reignited my interest.

Whilst I do regret selling some of the vinyl I had, most noticeable the Stockholm Monsters, Tunnel Vision and ESG singles, there are others that I can happily live without. At the time however it was a bit of a mission, or a quest, to try and get as many as I could, although I never realistically expected to complete the collection. I've always been a bit of a completist, which has led me down some strange record and CD collecting paths, probably stemming from or linked to my earlier childhood hobby as a train spotter, so it made sense, at the time anyway, to try and get as many as I could. I went down a similar path much later in life with Pete Namlook's Fax label. I had pretty much completed the set but then realised that I didn't listen to most of them, so sold them off too. Not a decision I regret as I managed to sell those at the top of their small market and the cash came in handy at the time.

Anyway, back to Factory Records. Apart from Joy Division and New Order, who will need little or no introduction, there were some Factory artists with whom I've had a longer enjoyment. Probably the group at the top of that list, after Joy Division and early New Order, is A Certain Ratio, named after the Brian Eno Song "The True Wheel" from his 1974 Album Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy). Starting off with 1979's All Night Party, and fairly quickly followed by the 1980 releases of Flight, Do The Du, and the album To Each, Factory label manager Tony Wilson is quoted as saying they were "beginning to forge links between post-punk industrial and dance-floor funk". Their first few releases were certainly more on the post-punk side, whereas their later releases clearly were moving into more of a dance direction. This is probably best illustrated by their album The Old and the New, of which side 1, assuming you're listening on vinyl, is a collection of their earlier, darker post-punk material, although still a bit funky, and side 2 is more of a nod to their dance side. I was lucky enough to catch them at Rough Trade East, in Shoreditch, a couple of years ago, and again at this year's Latitude Festival where, although without the temporary absence of Jez Kerr, they still performed a wonderful set, showcasing tracks from across their repertoire. Fortunately I've managed to track down vinyl copies of the A Certain Ratio items I sold, well all apart from All Night Party that is, which seems to command quite a high price tag.

Other Factory records that I sold, I don't miss so much for the music, but more the artwork. One thing that Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album did bring home to me was that these were more relevant to be kept as an art collection, rather than a music collection.