The story of Manchester’s Factory Records has been well documented in both film and literature, with Factory bosses Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, Rob Gretton and graphic designer Peter Saville credited with the label’s success, and Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays the main Factory breadwinners. From the outside it appears a chaotic, male-dominated arena. Audrey Golden’s I Thought I Heard You Speak changes that perception, and adds new dimensions to the Factory story.
Golden has interviewed the women who worked or recorded for the label, many pretty much airbrushed out of the story until now. Gillian Gilbert is the only member of New Order not to have penned an autobiography, but she adds plenty here – while Factory’s communications director Tina Simmons, PR Jayne Houghton, and Central Station co-founder and designer Karen Jackson are among many others quoted.
If one, therefore, expects to read of a misogynistic environment at Factory, Gilbert observes that if other industries and labels were “Benny Hill country”, her experience “was never like that”. Houghton further recalls, “nobody had the ability to control the Mondays and it was bonkers, it was chaos. But behind all of that, morally, they were gentlemen.” Label director Tina Simmons’ concerns about overspending largely fell on deaf ears, and Factory faced bankruptcy by the early 90s.
From Joy Division to New Order, Palatine Road to Charles Street, Haçienda to Dry 201, Golden has uncovered a goldmine of new material. Offering a long-overdue voice to the women that were working day and night on the Factory frontline, I Thought I Heard You Speak is an early contender for music book of the year.
I Thought I Heard You Speak: Women At Factory Records, Audrey Golden (White Rabbit)
Price: £25. Info: here
words DAVID NOBAKHT
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