Needle Time

  Various Artists - A Factory Quartet [FACT 24 UK 1980 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Time now for a brand new rip of an old ESWA favourite.... The second Factory Records sampler was originally planned as a double 10" set, but thankfully the label settled on this beautifully packaged double album with an embossed polaroid-style Garrod & Lofthouse sleeve.  Like the first 7" sampler, each artist gets one side of vinyl to introduce themselves, though The Durutti Column had already appeared on the label, this was Vini Reilly with a different line-up. The diversity of the chosen artists is huge, ranging from the ethereal beauty of The Durutti Column, through the distorted jazz-rock of Blurt, to scouser dirge noise terrorists The Royal Family And The Poor. Kevin Hewick supplies a difficult mix of live sets, where perhaps his 1980 Graveyard sessions would have fitted better, but as history says, he never got to finish five songs (with New Order), Hewick has dined out on Haystack for ye...

  Royal Family & The Poor - The Project ~ Phase 4 [PHASE 004 UK 1988 24-Bit FLAC] Briefly maintaining an Ambrose Reynolds connection, he played bass with Royal Family & The Poor, here is a new rip of this post-Factory Records EP from Mike Keane's scouse occultists. The gentle Restrained In A Moment is taken from an original 1982 recording session with Gary Daley from China Crisis. The over-dramatic  When The Shadow Falls opens side two, however the majestically melodic Behind The Veil stands out as one of Keane's best compositions.  My other RFATP rips are here . A1 Restrained In A Moment B1 When The Shadow Falls B2 Behind The Veil

The Royal Family & The Poor - We Love The Moon [FACT 140 UK 1986 24-Bit FLAC] ...subtitled The Project : Phase Two This is a very dark record, unlike everything else on Factory Records, even more than the debut Temple Of The 13th Tribe - which is a pop record by comparison. The opening Visions lures you into a false sense of security as its gentle pop follows on from where the debut left off. Mike Keane was aided and abetted by fellow scouser Ambrose Reynolds (from Pink Industry) and Mother Destruction's Karen Halewood for his second album which delves deeper into Keane's fascination with the occult and other weird shit. White Stains , Pagan Ways and Heartbeat are the other most creative pieces herein, Transparent builds in obscure eastern textures, Sex Goddess is just pure disturbing. It still concerns me to this day why they left the full version of the title track off this album, the short orchestral version is excellent but we were stuck with a crackly ...

Royal Family And The Poor - The Project Phase 1 [FACT 95 UK 1984 24-Bit FLAC] ....subtitled  The Temple Of The 13th Tribe I will admit that I just can't get on with all the infatuation of the occult which encompasses and shrouds most of the Michael Anthony Keane fronted Royal Family And The Poor back catelogue. Other bands did it a lot better and with more originality. You need to dig deeper behind the imagery, and if you probe deep enough, it will become clear that Keane is decent songwriter who can put together a decent tune or two. There are one or three gems on this record, the gently soothing  I Love You and The Dawn Song work well, the accomplished synth-pop of  Discipline is full of New Orderesque elements and a fond stand out for me is Power Of Will . Peter Hook produces under the Be Music moniker and can be heard adding vocals to  Radio Egypt  and  Motherland .... and I can only wonder if the same instruments were borrowed for both th...

Royal Family And The Poor - Art On 45 [FAC 43 UK 1982 24-Bit FLAC] Levi Windsor (aka Arthur McDonald) teams up with Donald Johnson and A Certain Ratio to deliver a heavy funk groove on this obscure and much over looked Factory Records twelve inch single. Levi's poetic rant hits close to the bone with its ironic stab to the heart of early eighties Britain, in particular the band's native city of Liverpool, which really was a bit of a dump back then. Levi was to abdicate from the Royal Family shortly afterwards, leaving Mike Keane and his guitar to take up the reins with production help from New Order's Peter Hook on the two dour b-side tracks. A1 Art On 45 B1 Dream B2 Dominion