Section 25 - Always Now

Factory Benelux is proud to present a deluxe 5 disc vinyl box set edition of Always Now, the debut album by cult Factory Records group Section 25, produced by legendary sonic architect Martin Hannett and sleeved by Peter Saville. 

Recorded as a trio at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row studio in London in January 1981, Always Now combined austere post-punk rhythm and noise with elements of Can, Krautrock and modern psychedelia. Key tracks include Friendly Fires, Dirty Disco and New Horizon, along with C.P. (a collaboration with Hannett) and Hit (extensively sampled by Kanye West for the track F.M.L. on his 2016 album The Life of Pablo).

Disc 2 gathers together several non-album singles from 1980 and 1981, including Charnel Ground, Je Veux Ton Amour and debut EP Girls Don’t Count – the latter produced by mentors Rob Gretton and Ian Curtis (of Joy Division). 

Disc 3 offers a complete live show professionally recorded at Groningen (Netherlands) on 26 October 1980, as part of a Factory package tour. 

Disc 4 is part-improvised second studio album The Key of Dreams, recorded and produced by the band themselves a few months after Always Now, and released by Factory Benelux in June 1982. 

Disc 5 consists of further experimental material recorded in 1981 and self-released on a cassette called Illuminus Illumina. This final disc closes with an extended (and previously unreleased) live encore jam recorded with all four members of New Order at Reading University on 8 May 1981. 

All tracks are newly re-mastered from the original quarter-inch tapes. The first 1000 copies of the box set are pressed in coloured vinyl: disc 1 (black); disc 2 (clear); disc 3 (yellow); disc 4 (red); disc 5 (silver). The outer case in printed in PMS 123 with spot varnish. 

The 16 page booklet features unseen images by noted photographer Philippe Carly and texts by founder members Larry and Vin Cassidy. Also included is the first ever interview with guitarist Paul Wiggin, whose sudden departure in late 1981 saw Tony Wilson try (and fail) to recruit pre-Smiths teenager Johnny Marr as replacement. 

“One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed” (Uncut); “In 1980 their bass-driven mantras were thoughtlessly dismissed as second-rate Joy Division, but hindsight judges them more kindly. The wind-dried skeins of their blasted guitar harmonics and skimped electronics gauntly cling to the songs’ skeletal frames. With telltale titles like Babies in the Bardo their Buddhist interests hang heavy over these early stirrings. But, combining a bass-led drone with a characteristic groaning vocal, Charnel Ground succinctly pins down Section 25's pre-disco appeal” (The Wire) 

Vinyl box set tracklist: Disc 1: A1. Friendly Fires A2. Dirty Disco A3. C.P. A4. Loose Talk (Costs Lives) A5. Inside Out A6. Melt Close B1. Hit B2. Babies in the Bardo B3. Be Brave B4. New Horizon Disc 2: A1. Knew Noise A2. Up To You A3. Girls Don’t Count A4. After Image A5. Human Puppets B1. Charnel Ground B2. Haunted B3. Je Veux Ton Amour B4. One True Path Disc 3: A1. Loose Talk (Costs Lives) (live) A2. Human Puppets (live) A3. Knew Noise (live) A4. Friendly Fires (live) A5. Girls Don’t Count (live) B1. New Horizon (live) B2. Haunted (live) B3. You’re On Your Own (live) B4. One Step Backward (live) Disc 4: A1. Always Now A2. Visitation A3. Regions A4. The Wheel A5. No Abiding Place A6. Once Before B1. There Was a Time B2. Wretch B3. Sutra Disc 5: A1. Fallen Monument A2. Are You There? A3. Virtually Everything A4. Tape Loop A5. Subferior A6. In the Garden of Eden A7. Cry B1. Red Voice B2. Floating B3. Reading Uni Jam with New Order 1981

2xCD information:

Factory Benelux presents a re-mastered and expanded edition of Always Now, the first album by Section 25, originally issued on Factory Records in 1981 and produced by Martin Hannett.

Recorded as a trio at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row studio in London, Always Now combined austere post-punk rhythms with elements of Can, Krautrock and modern psychedelia. Key tracks include Friendly Fires, Dirty Disco, New Horizon and Hit (sampled by Kanye West on The Life of Pablo), along with non-album singles Charnel Ground, Je Veux Ton Amour and Girls Don't Count - the latter produced by Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton (of Joy Division).

Disc 2 offers a wealth of illuminating bonus tracks, all previously unreleased. These include a three song John Peel session from January 1981, a complete live show professionally recorded at Groningen (Netherlands) in October 1980, and alternate versions of several album tracks newly re-mastered from the original quarter-inch tapes.

This expanded 2xCD edition is housed in a miniature version of the folding pochette wallet designed by Peter Saville, famously one of the most expensive sleeves produced by Factory. The package includes inner sleeves and red I Ching seal sticker.

CD tracklist: (disc 1)

1. Friendly Fires
2. Dirty Disco
3. C.P.
4. Loose Talk (Costs Lives)
5. Inside Out
6. Melt Close
7. Hit
8. Babies In the Bardo
9. Be Brave
10. New Horizon
11. Haunted
12. Charnel Ground
13. Human Puppets
14. Knew Noise
15. Up To You
16. Girls Don't Count
17. Oyo Achel Ada
18. After Image
19. Red Voice

CD tracklist: (disc 2)

1. One True Path (BBC)
2. Babies In the Bardo (BBC)
3. Hit (BBC)
4. Je Veux Ton Amour
5. Loose Talk (live 26.10.1980)
6. Human Puppets (live 26.10.1980)
7. Knew Noise (live 26.10.1980)
8. Friendly Fires (live 26.10.1980)
9. Girls Don't Count (live 26.10.1980)
10. New Horizon (live 26.10.1980)
11. Haunted (live 26.10.1980)
12. You're On Your Own (live 1.11.1980)
13. Floating (demo)
14. Friendly Fires (outtake)
15. One True Path (outtake)