A Certain Ratio-Lucinda
Apart from
a couple of Durutti Column albums, a lot of New Order records and both Joy
Division albums, this was the only other record I had on the Factory Records
label. Half Man Half Biscuit wrote a song wherein they referred quite
disparagingly about “Factory completists” and I whole heartedly agreed with
them on that. There was, and probably still is, a trainspottery tendency
amongst some record collectors in wanting to own every single Factory release;
every single artefact that had a Factory catalogue serial number. It’s that
weird, creepy obsessive behaviour that in relation to most other “hobbies” (and
that is all it is, collecting Factory records) would have you marked down as
more than a bit odd but it seems acceptable in regards to music. It’s akin to
philately. It cannot be a love of the music or the quality or originality of
the music that Factory released-because, all things being considered and with
the benefit of considerable hindsight-overall, Factory Records just weren’t
very good. If a record label could ever be described as putting style ahead of
substance, then Factory is the prime example. Sadly for them, the substance
wasn’t that good to start with and style, well, that’s all it was- style. And
that’s something that not only fades but can become ridiculous given enough
time. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll start to look a bit quaint and kitsch a few
years hence. Now that would be ridiculous and would be the one thing that the
massed po-faces of Factory would not have wished for. Oh-the irony.
Factory
are still revered as the hippest of hip labels; the record company that
virtually single-handedly pulled Manchester (and there by extension, the whole of
the North) out of the mire. Factory are seen as mavericks, revolutionary and a
bunch of crazy Situationalists thumbing their noses at the establishment. One
of the things that is always held up as how much they’d ripped up the rule book
is that fact that they wouldn’t ever sign their acts to a normal contract; this
didn’t turn out too well when Factory were going bust and a deal for London
Records to buy them out fell through when it was realised that Factory didn’t
have any financial interest at all in New Order’s or Joy Division’s back
catalogue. Smart business. This was almost as good as running their club, the
Hacienda, at such a loss that it cost the members of New Order at least £10,000
per month to keep it afloat. But that’s only because they were selling all the
drinks at a lower price than the nearby pubs. Another good financial move was
ensuring that their best selling single, Blue Monday, by New Order, although
selling millions of copies, made a loss because the sleeve itself cost more to
make than the record would make in profit. Whilst I’m not a mad capitalist, can
you imagine how far Tony Wilson would have lasted on Dragons Den with these
crackpot schemes? Maybe he didn’t want to come across as a businessman, Alan
Sugar style, but he did have the sharp suits and drove a big fuck-off Mercedes.
Maybe he saw himself as an impresario, a visionary who could spot talent and
bring it to fruition. Let’s give this a go-on Factory Records there were: The
Royal Family and the Poor, Crispy Ambulance, The Wake, Thick Pigeon and
Northside just to name a few. Manchester bands that Factory didn’t sign-The Fall,
The Passage, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Oasis. Go figure. But wasn’t all the
sleeve art of Factory Records really really good?
(As a
footnote, there was freebie giveaway in the Observer a few weeks ago of Happy
Mondays acclaimed “Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches” CD. I remembered it was
being quite good back in 1990. The CD is
now being used as a coaster for the cup of coffee I’m drinking while I’m
writing this.)
