Old Factory CD pressing plants?

Those of us who collect original Factory CDs and are of the particularly observant type, are familiar with the phrase "Mastered by Nimbus" which appears along the inner edge of most of them.

I just scanned through my collection, though, and found a few which are different. The original batch of CD issues from the mid-80s (UP thru Brotherhood) have a little box on the right side of the face that says "Made in G.B. by Nimbus" or some such, except my UP CD which says "Made in France by MPO"

Your feelings about France aside, is this a proper Factory UK release (i.e. were all of them done by MPO), or have I got an "import"?

Main reason I ask is I found a Movement CD that says MPO and I'm wondering if I should hold out for a "proper" Nimbus pressing.

Incidentally, my Technique, and Fine Time and BM88 CD singles were also not Nimbus, but appear to have been done at PDO, but still in the UK.

And yes, I realize this is trainspotting to the silliest degree, but this is what I busy myself with when I'm bored.

They are not imports - like many other independent labels, FCL used MPO in France (along with Nimbus and, later, PDO). They probably used the one where they could get the best deal.

I've got Facd10 (with car carry case) and Facd50 by MPO and they look very "early" so they probably came before the Nimbus pressing?

On a related note, it seems that the first NO cd for the UK market (Low-life, Facd100) was made in Japan.

To hopefully clarify the release sequence and pressing plants for the Factory released CD albums. New Order's (and Factory's) first UK CD album release was, to my knowledge, "Low-life" which was initially pressed in Japan (for the UK market). If you look at the matrix of the original UK pressing, it reads 1B3 58 C38 - 7413 just like the original Nippon Columbia disc in Japan. Pressing/manufacture was then moved to MPO France (in Averton) for the next wave of CD pressings. Though pressed in France (most Factory, Mute, 4AD, Rough Trade, Creation, etc. releases at the time were done by MPO), these MPO discs were manufactured for the UK market. They were not French releases - initial French releases at the time were handled by Virgin France SA. The only MPO manufactured New Order/Joy Division Factory CD albums were, to my knowledge, "Unknown Pleasures" and "Movement." Thereafter, until the Factory's demise in 1992, all Joy Division and New Order CD albums were manufactured by Nimbus - both "Movement" and "Low-life" were later repressed by Nimbus. As far as I know, "Unknown Pleasures" was never repressed by Nimbus. If anyone out there knows of a Nimbus mastered FACD 10, please let me know!

So, the Factory JD/NO CD albums should be as follows...

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (FACD 10): Manufactured by MPO France

Joy Division - Closer (FACD 25): Mastered by Nimbus in UK

Joy Division - Still (FACD 40): Mastered by Nimbus in UK

Joy Division - Substance (FACD 250): Mastered by Nimbus in UK

New Order - Movement (FACD 50): Manufactured by MPO France in Averton (card sleeve), later pressing (ca. 1990) Mastered by Nimbus in UK (glossy sleeve)

New Order - Low-life (FACD 100): Original pressing manufactured by Denon in Japan (original UK disc reused Japanese glass master), later pressings Mastered by Nimbus in UK

New Order - Brotherhood (FACD 150): Mastered by Nimbus in UK (both metallic and standard sleeves)

New Order - Substance (FACD 200): Mastered by Nimbus in UK

New Order - Technique (FACD 275): Mastered by Nimbus in UK

Again, this is all to the best of my knowledge, and based on my 22 years of collecting/trainspotting. Any corrections are welcome.

-Mike

Wow, thanks for that.

For the most part, that agrees with what I have. As I mentioned above, though, my copy of Technique appears different, but I know its definitely Factory UK. Maybe one of the later pressings? The markings say "CD PLANT MFG FACD275 CDM01"

As a side note, if I remember right, Still never made it on CD until 1990(!?)

there was a period in 1988 when Factory used PDO for their CD pressings, examples are Blue Monday 1988 CD+CDV, Happy Mondays Bummed CD and Wrote For Luck CD5, Kalima FACD 206 and Joy Division Atmosphere CD5. Many PDO discs from that period are now unplayable because of CD rot or disc bronzing, especially those which are plain silver on the front with just text on it. my guess is that they mainly used NIMBUS from 1986 on but switched to different pressing plants for specific needs. It's strange that Unknown Pleasures werde done by MPO and Closer by Nimbus as they were released simultaneusly in 1986.

Mr disco wrote: As I mentioned above, though, my copy of Technique appears different, but I know its definitely Factory UK. Maybe one of the later pressings? The markings say "CD PLANT MFG FACD275 CDM01"

That one is made in Sweden.

As a side note, if I remember right, Still never made it on CD until 1990(!?)

In the UK, yes. But other countries had it on CD before then. Japan, for instance.

To Joe Davola's point, Factory indeed used PDO for pressing some CDs. As mentioned, these are rather prone to "disc rot." Fortunately, none of my copies have this problem, except for maybe FACDV 183 which has some clouding on one copy. My Joy Division "Peel Sessions" compilation on Strange Fruit (grey cover) unfortunately has a pretty bad case of disc rot.

Anyways, since PDO pressings were brought up, I thought I'd point out the pressings for the various Joy Division and New Order UK CD singles on Factory Records...

New Order - Blue Monday 88: Both standard and CDV versions of the single were pressed by PDO.

New Order - True Faith CDV: Pressed by PDO.

Joy Division - Atmosphere: Pressed by PDO. I guess this brings up the long-debated question of whether or not there is a CDV?! Even though it's listed on the (rather stunning) promo poster, I've never seen one. Some say a test pressing was done. But this is a whole 'nother topic! ;-)

New Order - Fine Time: Mastered/pressed by Nimbus.

New Order - Round & Round: Both standard CD5 and remix CD3 were mastered/pressed by Nimbus.

New Order - World in Motion: Mastered/pressed by Nimbus.

As always, corrections are welcome!

-Mike