Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album
Posted by DJ-ONE | July 17, 2011Between 1978 and 1992, Factory Records was one of the most important record labels in Britain. After the punk phenomenon of the ’70s had paved the way, the time was ripe with Factory to usher in the innovative sound and style of the Post-Punk and New Wave era. Factory launched the careers of Joy Division, New Order, and the Happy Mondays (to name but a few); opened the legendary Hacienda Club and Dry Bar in Manchester; and introduced along with its new music a new concept of high-quality, cutting-edge design. Working side by side with the musicians, designers such as Peter Saville, Central Station Design, 8vo and Mark Farrow developed a new vocabulary, the idioms of which are still widely recognized and imited today.
For the first time ever, the label’s rich and varied visual legacy is compiled in its entirety, a collection only made possible by Factory’s emblematic system of assigning inventory numbers to every single piece it ever created – insulting not only album sleeves, singles, special editions, flyers and posters, but more esoteric items such as stationary, nightclubs and legal documents. Every “FAC” inventory number and the ephemera it represents is presented, illustrated or listed in this volume.
Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album is both a brilliant exploration of Factory’s role in bringing high design into the mainstream, and a nostalgic journey through the albums of some of the greatest bands of the past thirty years. The energy, creativity and excitement of one of the most dynamic (and sometimes, chaotic) record labels of all time is finally here in all it’s glory.
*Front cover, detail from Fact 75 New Order, Power, Corruption & Lies (designed by PSA)
