Factory Records, the Manchester label responsible for releasing music from Joy Division, New Order, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays and plenty more, is set to celebrate its 40th anniversary later this year.
The label will mark the anniversary with the release of two box sets as well as an exhibition at Chelsea Space in London.
The box sets, titled Use Hearing Protection: Factory Records 1978-1979 and Factory: Communications 1978-1992, will pull together classic material from the label alongside rare and previously unheard music from its artists.
The Use Hearing Protection: Factory Records 1978-1979 box set includes four vinyl records, three posters, a short film, Factory stationery and an egg-timer design. It also comes with a 60-page book featuring photos by Kevin Cummins and interviews with Joy Division, Tony Wilson and more. It will be released on October 11.
The Factory: Communications 1978-1992 box set covers the entire 15-year history of the label until it closed down. It features 63 tracks spread across eight vinyl records. The tracks were originally collected together on a 4 CD box set in 2009 with curation by writer Jon Savage. It also features rare material from across the label’s vast archive. A release is set for November 8.
The exhibition, titled ‘Use Hearing Protection FAC 1 – 50 / 40’, will focus on the label’s visual design. It closely covers the label’s early years between 1978 and 1982. It will run at London’s Chelsea Space from September 13 – October 25. Find more information here.
You can find out more about the two box sets here.
