Lawrence cassidy on Factory Records

I got this link off cerysmatic factory, its a letter by Lawrence cassidy of Section 25 on the early days of factory.

A good read for anyone interested

CAKE - CLOCK - ZWART wrote: I got this link off cerysmatic factory, its a letter by Lawrence cassidy of Section 25 on the early days of factory.

A good read for anyone interested

Thanks for putting this on-site. Well worth the read.

Shergold Six wrote:

CAKE - CLOCK - ZWART wrote: I got this link off cerysmatic factory, its a letter by Lawrence cassidy of Section 25 on the early days of factory.

A good read for anyone interested

Thanks for putting this on-site. Well worth the read.

For those who cant be bothered, you really should.

I thought Mick Middles book on New Order was terrible. Really bad. A metaphor about a typeing pool stook out.

Interesting that nobody is talking to him about Curtis or Joy Division.

The letter gives a real taste of the bitterness left after factory. Its alright for bigger groups like NewOrder or the Happy Mondays who have a back catalogue cushion, but to be skint for so long, and to stay skint must be really tough.

I only have the Section25 album with the ski poles on the cover, but quite like it.

Any others reccomended?

All of SXXV albums are good. From The Hip, with the ski poles on the cover, is the best - fantastic mix of beautiful electronica, gloomy atmopherics and thundering rhythms. I'd recommend The Key Of Dreams, which was the one before FTH, it's pretty much Can-like in execution and sound being drawn from hours of improvisation. Always Now, the debut, may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a good snapshot of the early Factory sound and if you get the LTM reissue, you'll get the early singles too, including the track that they used to jam live with JD occassionally, 'Girl's Don't Count'. There's a fourth album, released after FTH, called Love and Hate, which was done with little Factory support or promotion. It is different to the rest in that the band had pretty muhc broken up - Vin Cassidy isn't on it for example, and it's just Larry and Jenny with a couple of local musicians. It's recorded pretty cheaply too. Again the LTM reissue is worth getting for the extra singles, such as the magnificent 'Crazy Wisdom'. I'd love it if they could record something new and get back onstage again. They were always a fearsome live band.

DC wrote: All of SXXV albums are good. From The Hip, with the ski poles on the cover, is the best - fantastic mix of beautiful electronica, gloomy atmopherics and thundering rhythms. I'd recommend The Key Of Dreams, which was the one before FTH, it's pretty much Can-like in execution and sound being drawn from hours of improvisation. Always Now, the debut, may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a good snapshot of the early Factory sound and if you get the LTM reissue, you'll get the early singles too, including the track that they used to jam live with JD occassionally, 'Girl's Don't Count'. There's a fourth album, released after FTH, called Love and Hate, which was done with little Factory support or promotion. It is different to the rest in that the band had pretty muhc broken up - Vin Cassidy isn't on it for example, and it's just Larry and Jenny with a couple of local musicians. It's recorded pretty cheaply too. Again the LTM reissue is worth getting for the extra singles, such as the magnificent 'Crazy Wisdom'. I'd love it if they could record something new and get back onstage again. They were always a fearsome live band.

Couldn't agree more! I think the LTM re-releases of the Factory stuff are well thought out. Also worth a mention is the 'From The Hip - In The Flesh' CD from LTM of S25 live in the US in 1985. The Section 25 website suggests a new album could be released towards June next year.

FDISK wrote:

DC wrote: All of SXXV albums are good. From The Hip, with the ski poles on the cover, is the best - fantastic mix of beautiful electronica, gloomy atmopherics and thundering rhythms. I'd recommend The Key Of Dreams, which was the one before FTH, it's pretty much Can-like in execution and sound being drawn from hours of improvisation. Always Now, the debut, may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a good snapshot of the early Factory sound and if you get the LTM reissue, you'll get the early singles too, including the track that they used to jam live with JD occassionally, 'Girl's Don't Count'. There's a fourth album, released after FTH, called Love and Hate, which was done with little Factory support or promotion. It is different to the rest in that the band had pretty muhc broken up - Vin Cassidy isn't on it for example, and it's just Larry and Jenny with a couple of local musicians. It's recorded pretty cheaply too. Again the LTM reissue is worth getting for the extra singles, such as the magnificent 'Crazy Wisdom'. I'd love it if they could record something new and get back onstage again. They were always a fearsome live band.

Couldn't agree more! I think the LTM re-releases of the Factory stuff are well thought out. Also worth a mention is the 'From The Hip - In The Flesh' CD from LTM of S25 live in the US in 1985. The Section 25 website suggests a new album could be released towards June next year.

Yes, I have From the Hip - In the Flesh. Some decent versions + some fairly dodgy vocals from Jenny!

It's really sad to learn about the tragic death of Larry's wife Jenny a year ago though from reading the article on their site. Due to them being such a relatively obscure band this kind of news goes unreported until some point when you come across it in this way....

I have a couple of their singles (....Hilltop, Crazy Wisdom) and their "From The Hip" album on Factory cassette (rare green box version with postcard inside). They're pretty damned good though I have yet to hear their Can-influenced earlier more rockier material.

Also highly recommended is the Looking From A Hilltop megamix which as well as being on the LTM reissue of FTH, is on Cool As Ice, the comp of Be Music productions.

I have three out of four of the albums, the missing one being The Key of Dreams.

As much as I like their last two full lengths, I really, really can't stand their debut album. Good production, but that's about it. That being said, Dirty Disco and Oyo Achel Ada (one of the bonus LTM tracks) are good and I like the vague Zen Buddhism theme.

Looking From a Hilltop is one of those cult tracks that you're doomed to hear at the most inopportune times in the most bizarre of places (Last I heard it was being used as a background instrumental for a documentary on the fall of Rome). Beating Heart and Sakura sound like NO demos that the group decided to hand along to SXXV.

That being said- has this guy even graduated grammar school?

great read, thanks.

Section 25 were great in the 80's but now they sound badly dated.

Johnny Giles wrote:

DC wrote: I'd love it if they could record something new and get back onstage again....

You may not have to wait in vain....

Jenny Cassidy RIP

Indeed, Kudos to LTM for that and the upcoming Lowlife/Devine & Statton reissues.

And for you SXXV live trainspotters, I've put up a SXXV gigography (it's actually been there for several months but what the hey)

http://www.bestii.com/sxxv/gigs/

This compliments SXXV's own listing, at:

http://www.section25.com/concerts.shtml