Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays (2007)
All of a sudden, Joy Division and Manchester are popular again. With the release of 2 films about Joy Division and a fabulous documentary from BBC Four, Manchester From Joy Division to Happy Mondays provides a great history lesson of an interesting period in British music.
If you’ve seen 24 Hour Party People (2002) then you have some idea of what all the fuss is about. Steve Coogan does an incredible job of portraying Tony Wilson — founder/manager of The Haçienda nightclub and one of the founders of Factory Records. In the BBC Four documentary he is featured prominently. I was surprised to read that he died on August 10, 2007 of renal cancer.
Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays has some incredible interviews with Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Vini Reilly (who looks worse than Phil Spector) of The Durutti Column and more. There is some great footage of Joy Division and the early days at Factory Records. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t get enough of this film.
Stumble It!Posted in Movie Reviews and Music at 1:43 AM
Comments
Jay,
Manchester has change since its dominance of Industrial Revolution. Did you know that Factory records that released Joy Divsion albums and New Order did not have any other contracts then a verbal one. Maybe that’s why after the hey-day of New Wave or what ever you want to call it, they didn’t last. Anyways another “Blue Monday” in Manchester might come around soon! JB
Posted by: JB on October 25, 2007 7:28 PM
