The Hacienda 1982: Various Artists – book set review

The Hacienda 1982: Various Artists

(Cherry Red)

Out Now

4 CD Boxset

The Hacienda 1982, 4CD book set celebrating the roots of the legendary Manchester venue in it’s  40th anniversary year is available from Cherry Red

The Hacienda opened it’s doors on 21st May 1982. It would become iconic worldwide, forever associated with the music and popular culture of Manchester, and its most famous homegrown label, Factory Records. Despite popular opinion it had a life long before Madonna mimed for The Tube; before Hit Man And Her; before ecstacy, Acid House and gangsters. The first 6 months or so being explored here.

In the early days the music policy, while erring towards independent music of all sorts, was extremely varied and is reflected across the 65 tracks included in this box. You’re taken from the opening New York underground sound of Suicide to chart-toppers from Dexy’s, via soul, post-punk, reggae, goth, disco and glam rock among many other styles. As well as DJ’s such as Mike Pickering, Hewan Clarke and Jon Savage the club hosted a string of British and international artists on stage, many of this eclectic selection booked by the aforementioned Mr Pickering just before they went stellar (Culture Club being an example) who are also featured here.

Each disc is sequenced roughly as you would have heard a night at the club, building from more downbeat or adventurous material through to classic dancefloor fillers. These are interspersed with a smattering of various Manchester/Factory acts alongside ‘chart acts’, for example ABC; Simple Minds and Tears For Fears or ‘Indie’ acts of the day such as The Higsons; The Pale Fountains and Josef K.

What I really enjoy about this set is the eclecticness of the tracks highlighting and perhaps reinforcing Tony Wilson’s view that “Manchester kids have the best record collections”. As well as the music there is a gorgeous booklet containing a wealth of previously unseen photos of various events and gigs with notes for each track from celebrated Mancunian writer Mick Middles adding to context to each track included.

You may think that after 40 years some of this music would have dated but it really hasn’t. If anything it’s a magical mix which once again highlights how magical the Haçienda was and is the ultimate tribute to a landmark venue in the history of club culture.

All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him on Twitter as @iainkey