Factory's Finest
Just the usual reminder, half-way through our latest mid-story pause, that ‘Challenge 69’ will continue with ‘Track 22’ (and a surprising Abba theme!) next Saturday 22nd July.
In the meantime, Substack’s statistics suggest I don’t need to add a spoiler alert here, with those who have been keeping up to date with the story fully aware by now (after reading ‘Track 21’) that Factory Records, and their strange FAC cataloguing system, sat at the heart of the novel’s musical mystery (although more is yet to be revealed!)
Of course, if you still need to catch up, you can do so here:
'Challenge 69' - The Story So Far
The upshot of this ‘revelation’ is that the next installment will need to include a fair bit of exposition around the ‘offcuts’ and ‘rarities’ from the label’s history that ended up theming the various ‘challenges’. So to balance those books a bit in advance …
… and to prove that Tony Wilson, the eternal contrarian, was equally capable of unearthing the odd ‘banger’, here, in a chronologically correct order, is a short (by necessity!) but brilliant playlist of Factory’s Greatest Hits!
Barring a couple, you should be fairly familiar with these!
And to finish off, here’s a picture of the Peter Saville designed gravestone that marks the site of the only coffin ever to be granted a catalogue number (FAC501)!
RIP Tony (and thanks for letting me borrow you for my story).