Mixtape #35: Factory Records

Wrapping up our day of Factory Records-related content, here's a mixtape selected by Joy Division/New Order drummer Stephen Morris comprising his favourite tracks from the period.

Red Turns To 'Deep Sleep'

An early production job, found this one while sorting out some old tapes and still sounds good - they could have been Factory's answer to Suicide.

Marcel King 'Reach For Love'

How this was not a huge hit record I'll never know. A fantastic tune.

OMD 'Electricity'

Another classic. I remember Martin [Hannett, Joy Division producer] playing this at Strawberry [Studios], and thinking that it sounded like Kraftwerk doing a Del Shannon cover.

ESG 'You're No Good'

We went to America for the first time with A Certain Ratio and lost all our gear but someone (Tony?) found ESG, another hit that wasn't. They memorably played the opening night of The Hacienda with Bernard Manning.

52nd Street 'Can't Afford'

Another early stab at being a producer. Quite what I thought sampling the speaking clock would achieve remains a mystery - it was rather late at night, though.

Durutti Column 'Sketch for Summer'

Can't have a Factory mix tape without something from Vini [Reilly, Durutti Column mainman]. This somehow always reminds me of Martin. It is also one of the few things that my Dad grudgingly admitted "Wasn't bad".

A Certain Ratio 'Flight'

Gillian [Gilbert, New Order member and Morris' wife] picked this as her favourite ACR track. Donald's drumming is pretty good too.

The Distractions 'Time Goes By So Slow'

Great pop band, this track sounds like something straight off Nuggets or some other 60s psych collection. Mike Finney was a kind of Martin Fry [style] spangly frontman and they had a girl bass player.

The Swamp Children 'Taste What's Rhythm'

Gillian was at Stockport college with Anne [Quigley] from The Swamp Children; they both did Art. It's a small world, isn't it?

Quando Quango 'Love Tempo'

Quando played with us on numerous occasions, particularly in Europe. This song never fails to bring back memories of feeling like death in the back of a bus. Ah, life on the road.

The Wake 'Talk About The Past'

The Wake were from Scotland, they had a singer called Caesar and a drummer called Bobby. This is my favourite track of theirs.

Section 25 'Looking From a Hilltop'

Section 25 were (and still are) a great group and this is a great song.

The Happy Mondays 'WFL'

The Mondays are a unique band, hearing this reminds me of a particular summer when things were either "top" or "buzzin", the constabulary were "Dibble" and we were all "loved up".