Shadowplayers - Factory Records & Manchester Post-Punk 1978-81

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SHADOWPLAYERS - FACTORY RECORDS & MANCHESTER POST-PUNK 1978-81

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FACTORY RECORDS - Shadowplayers - Factory Records & Manchester Post-Punk 1978-81

FACTORY RECORDS - Shadowplayers - Factory Records & Manchester Post-Punk 1978-81
LTM
DVD // £13.99
DOCUMENTARY
Released: Aug 2006
Catalogue Number: LTMDVD2391

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SHADOWPLAYERS - FACTORY RECORDS & MANCHESTER POST-PUNK 1978-81

Quite honestly one of the most captivating documentaries i've ever watched, this superb DVD concentrates on the first 4 years of Factory records, exploring the almost endless facts and fictions of those seminal years 1978-1981. Complete with strikingly honest interviews with almost everyone involved - Tony Wilson, Vinny Reilly, Peter Hook, Peter Saville, Lindsay Reade and many others, the film sets off from the aftermath of the Electric Circus club in manchester which closed down in October 1977, forcing two of its regulars - Tony Wilson and his good friend Alan Erasmus, to start a club of their own - Factory. From here on in the insights are just utterly fascinating, often lapsing into extremely funny and moving anecdotes from the protagonists, begining with a very detailed breakdown of the record label's very first release, the double 7" "Factory Sample" - how it was manufactured, how much it cost, the process of assembling the packaging over an incredible 4 month period, distribution, storgae - every minute detail recalled from several different angles and even getting into detailed discussions of profit splits, publishing rights and so on. The ensuing discussions about Joy Division's debut album "Unknown Pleasures" is even more engrossing, particularly with reference to revelations about Martin Hannet's gifted, unorthodox production techniques and how much influence he had over the final shape of the album (Peter Hook readily admits that had the band had it their way at the time the album would have featured little of the dense atmospheric fog that has kept it so jarring through all these years), plus differences of opinion between Peter Saville and Peter Hook about whether or not the artwork played an important part in the music's longevity. All of this and we're only about a fifth of the way through this incredible documentary, one that works so well because of the vast wealth of information it has to offer not only followers of Factory but also anyone with an interst in the history of independent reccord labels, the industry as a whole, graphic design and the subtle art of communication, packaging and an unwillingness to compromise. It's the small anecdotes that make this all most memorable, like Tony Wilson recalling why Joy Division's manager Rob Gretton wanted to release "Unknown Pleasures" in the first place - "so that I never have to go down to London to talk to Major label C*nts.". A genius documentary - and an utterly essential purchase.

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