Palatine / The Factory Story

Factory Records

Palatine / The Factory Story
Released 1991

try it (disc one)
try it (disc two)
try it (disc three)
try it (disc four)

Review (from Q Magazine)

Whether a four-record compilation covering Factory's history is timely self-celebration or urgent self-preservation against the recession, the label's deserved reputation as innovator and provocateur prepares the way for unqualified hosannas. And yet, 49 tracks on, the inclination is to draw breath through clenched teeth rather than party.

The four albums are thematically arranged. The early years volume, Tears In Their Eyes, opens with Joy Division's Transmission and OMD's Electricity, recalling that, for Factory bands, the preoccupation with technology has been fundamental. This means receptiveness to the peculiar qualities of machine-made repetition is necessary to enjoy whole tracts of Palatine - named after Palatine Road, Factory's address. If not, A Certain Ratio's All Night Party and Flight, plus tracks by Section 25 and Stockholm Monsters are allure-free and create the wrong frame of emotion for the tragic power of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, the warmth of Durutti Column's Sketch For Summer and James' Folklore.

The dance album, Life's A Beach, is less enclosed. A Certain Ratio enter industrial funk and fun mode for Shack Up, while Kalima's Sparkle and Quando Quango's Genius are exhilarating attempts to salsa-fy British hips. However, they do go on, with New Order's The Beach, Cabaret Voltaire's Yashar and Happy Mondays' chic-ugly 24 Hour Party People outstaying their welcome.

The next phase is The Beat Groups and, apart from Durutti Column's delightful Les Paul-style workout on Otis, there's a flavouring of guitar on The Distractions' jangly Time Goes By So Slow, The Railway Children's twinkler Brighter and James' Hymn From A Village ("Be a songsmith crook / Study depth in style," they advise). But too often dark and heavy tones override, the colourlessness imposed by an upfront, dull bass figure - a feature so prevalent throughout the compilation it seems a label characteristic.

Finally, Selling Out covers Factory's recent chart-designed and less aurally strenuous material. If a pure pop licence was issued just the once, for Electronic's Getting Away With It, New Order's True Faith and Happy Mondays' Step On (the Oakenfold / Osbourne remix) feel like breakthroughs. Northside and Cath Carroll share the welcome lightness without coming on like legends in the making.

If this compilation does express the Factory story, then it's been about sounds rather than songs, a focus on style which rarely time-travels well. Factory's contribution is probably better enjoyed, quite simply, through their best artists' best albums - and the subsequent careers of the many who slipped away, from OMD through James to The Railway Children.

Track Listing:

Disc: 1
1. Transmission - Joy Division
2. Electricity - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
3. All Night Party - A Certain Ratio
4. Sketch for Summer - The Durutti Column, The Durutti Column
5. English Black Boys
6. You're No Good - ESG
7. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
8. Folklore - James
9. Flight - A Certain Ratio
10. New Horizon - Section 25
11. Ceremony - New Order
12. Happy Ever After - The Stockholm Monsters
13. Tingle - Quando Quango
Disc: 2
1. Shack Up - A Certain Ratio
2. Beach - New Order
3. Looking from a Hilltop - Section 25
4. Skip Scada - A Certain Ratio
5. Sparkle - Kalima
6. Reach for Love - Marcel King
7. Yashar - Cabaret Voltaire
8. Cool as Ice - 52nd Street
9. Confusion - New Order
10. N'Sel Fik - Fadela
11. Genius - Quando Quango
12. 24 Hour Party People - Happy Mondays
Disc: 3
1. Wilderness - Joy Division
2. Watching the Hydroplanes - Tunnelvision
3. Time Goes by So Slow - Distractions
4. Talk About the Past - The Wake
5. Party Line - The Stockholm Monsters
6. Kuff Dam - Happy Mondays
7. Age of Consent - New Order
8. Brighter - Railway Children
9. Otis - The Durutti Column
10. When It All Comes Down - Miaow
11. Seven Reasons - Revenge
12. Hymn from a Village - James
Disc: 4
1. True Faith - New Order
2. Think About the Future - Happy Mondays,
3. Together Mix - The Durutti Column
4. Shall We Take a Trip - Northside
5. World in Motion - New Order
6. World Is in Heaven [Classical Version] - Steve Martland
7. Getting Away With It - Electronic
8. Pulling My Fingers Off - Wendys
9. Moves Like You - Cath Carroll
10. My Rising Star - Northside
11. Step on Remix '91 - Happy Mondays
12. Atmosphere - Joy Division