Section 25 Always Now Rar

Buy Section 25's album titled Always Now. Our Stores Are Open Book Annex Membership Educators Gift Cards Stores & Events Help. Auto Suggestions are available once you type at least 3 letters. Use up arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+up arrow) and down arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+down arrow) to review and enter to select. Section 25 – Always Now. Factory Benelux. Released 6th September 2019. Deluxe vinyl reissue of Section 25's 1981 debut album, also including singles, live shows, rarities and The Key Of Dreams, the band's second LP.Ian Canty listens to the sound of. Section 25 first LP 'Always Now' is dated 1981. The vynil LP I have is one of my favorites and probably one of the most played. Their name was always associated to Joy Division and there were a lot of contact point between the two bands. Ian Curtis produced their first single 'girls don't count' and Martin Hackett produced Joy Division studio.

Issued in late 2012, ‘Dark Light' was the eighth studio album by the cult independent combo SECTION 25.

Section 25 Always Now Rare

Founded by the Cassidy brothers Larry and Vin, SECTION 25 first came to wider attention with the acclaimed album ‘Always Now', which was released on Factory Records in 1981 and produced by Martin Hannett.

However, the band became best known for their seminal electro classic ‘Looking From A Hilltop' in 1984, when Larry Cassidy's wife Jenny Ross joined the band and featured on lead vocals.

Sadly the husband and wife team passed away in 2010 and 2004 respectively. In a fitting gesture, Vin Cassidy recruited his niece Bethany, daughter of the departed SECTION 25 couple to join the band full-time alongside regular guitarist Steve Stringer and bassist / porgrammer Stuart Hill.

Bethany had already featured on SECTION 25's 2009 album ‘Nature + Degree' and possessed a vocal style that was eerily reminiscent of her mother. ‘Retrofit', a 21st Century reworkings album released after Larry's passing included a new updated version of ‘Looking From A Hilltop', produced by Stephen Morris from NEW ORDER.

But the new SECTION 25 era was heralded in 2011 with the release of the ‘Invicta' EP via Fac51 The Hacienda, an imprint started by estranged NEW ORDER bassist Peter Hook.

It featured ‘Colour Movement Sex & Violence', a danceable synth led ditty which captured that classic hedonistic Manchester vibe and recalled THE OTHER TWO's ‘Tasty Fish'. Also featuring on the EP was a slightly more aggressive number entitled ‘Inner Chaos'; both songs were a sign of things to come.

Using a title and photo given to them by Factory graphic designer Peter Saville, the band had always intended to have the word ‘Light' in the title to reflect the poppy nature of the record. But SECTION 25 had a wider reputation for darker, heavier music, so the title was an indicator of their change in direction. ‘Dark Light' was also a technical term for the colour seen by the eye in perfect darkness, so it matched Saville's Polaroid image which was used on the artwork.

Largely co-produced with Alan Gregson and Derek Miller aka OUTERNATIONALE, ‘Dark Light' was a ten track set that signalled a spiritual return to the technopop flavours and pastoral textures of ‘From The Hip'. With the addition of another Cassidy in Joanna on backing vocals and keyboards, SECTION 25 transformed themselves into something almost as glossy as MARSHEAUX or MARNIE, certainly when compared to the raincoat demeanour of ‘Always Now' or even the more optimistic Bernard Sumner steered opus ‘From The Hip' from which ‘Looking from A Hilltop' spawned.

On the opening song ‘World's End', the gentle sequencers and soothing synths recalled the more ambient elements of ‘From The Hip', and introduced Bethany's sweet vocals as a more raspy version of Lauren Mayberry from CHVRCHES.

Following the sedate start, a dynamic punch in the face came courtesy of the feisty ‘My Outrage'. Crossing supreme pop with a post-punk sensibility, this was a prime girl power anthem signalling that 35 years after their formation, SECTION 25 now had the potential to appeal to a multi-generational audience.

The excellent ‘Pitch Black Box' was a cool and bouncy dance track in the vein of NEW ORDER, with sax lines making the overall sound unusual yet familiar. Seductive Blackpool accented spoken vocals provided another enigmatic counterpoint, coming over like how LITTLE BOOTS should have sounded with her more club-focussed direction, post-‘Hands'. The lyrics certainly expressed some flirty assertiveness, with a call to 'be abusive, intrusive, corruptive…'

‘Love Cuts' took a rumbling machine bass and solid beat to provide a stern groove while with a less intense and looser rhythm construction, ‘Colour Movement Sex & Violence' worked well in its new format, although its appeal was not quite as immediate as the original radio friendly single take. However, the propulsive female/ male vocal duel of ‘Inner Drive' became more accomplished its dreamier ‘Dark Light' version and realised its potential.

Section 25 Always Now Rarest

Like a North-by-North West REPUBLICA, ‘78' took on a rockier stance coupled with a Eurodance flavour, while held together by a percussive mantra, ‘Letter to America' was more sinister, with Steven Stringer's deadpan male voice providing opposition to the more innocent female vocals. Curling with rhythm guitar syncopating over a pulsing electronic backbone, ‘Memento' kept the album's consistent club friendly vibe going before the final song ‘Early Exit'.

Cl ps3 eye driver windows 10. A melancholic number featuring great live drums from Vin and coloured by a mood of reflection possibly in reference to Bethany's parents, this was undoubtedly another of the album's highlights. Full of hope despite the sadness, ‘Early Exit' was a fitting album closer in the euphoric vein of NEW ORDER's ‘Dream Attack' or listening today as a more recent reference, ‘Superheated'!

Utilising live and computerised instrumentation coupled to a vibrant freshness thanks to the new blood, SECTION 25 evolved while literally retaining its core DNA. A fine addition to the Cassidy Family tradition, with its defiant sense of optimism and willingness to move on, ‘Dark Light' certainly merits investigation by anyone remotely interested in quality synthpop.

‘Dark Light' was released by Factory Benelux and is available direct from http://www.factorybenelux.com/dark_light_fbn145cd.html

Text by Chi Ming Lai
23rd February 2016

Section 25 Always Now [FBN 3-045]

Factory Benelux is proud to present a deluxe 5-disc vinyl box edition of Always Now, the debut album by Section 25, originally issued on Factory Records in 1981 and produced by Martin Hannett.

Fmc wheel balancer manual. 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 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 (clear vinyl) 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 (silver vinyl) offers a complete live show professionally recorded at Groningen (Netherlands) on 26 October 1980, as part of a Factory package tour.

Disc 4 (yellow vinyl) 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 (red vinyl) 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 (black, clear, silver, yellow, red); the outer case is printed in PMS 123C with spot varnish.

A limited quantity of 100 copies is available with two bonus postcards, one an original painting by Larry Cassidy bearing his printed signature on the reverse, and newly signed by Vin Cassidy and Paul Wiggin. This bundle also includes two A4 prints of posters for Belgian concerts by Section 25 in 1980 (Plan K 04/1980 and ULB 10/1980).

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

Disc 2:

1. Knew Noise
2. Up To You
3. Girls Don't Count
4. After Image
5. Human Puppets
6. Charnel Ground
7. Haunted
8. Je Veux Ton Amour
9. One True Path

Disc 3:

1. Loose Talk (live 26.10.1980)
2. Human Puppets (live 26.10.1980)
3. Knew Noise (live 26.10.1980)
4. Friendly Fires (live 26.10.1980)
5. Girls Don't Count (live 26.10.1980)
6. New Horizon (live 26.10.1980)
7. Haunted (live 26.10.1980)
8. You're On Your Own (live 1.11.1980)
9. One Step Backward (live 18.4.1981)

Disc 4:

1. Always Now
2. Visitation
3. Regions
4. The Wheel
5. No Abiding Place
6. Once Before
7. There Was a Time
8. Wretch
9. Sutra

Disc 5:

1. Fallen Monument
2. Are You There?
3. Virtually Everything
4. Tape Loop
5. Subferior
6. In the Garden of Eden
7. Cry
8. Red Voice
9. Floating
10. Reading Uni Jam with New Order (8.5.1981)

Available as a boxed 5xLP vinyl set and digital download (MP3). 2xCD version also available here. To order please select correct shipping option and click on Add To Cart button below the cover image, or else you can order from our friends at Burning Shed

Reviews:

'Surely we don't need to tell you about Always Now, the debut from Blackpool's Section 25, when this gobsmackingly good deluxe five-disc vinyl box set does all the talking you need. Alongside the album (remastered from the original 1/4 inch tapes) it collects the singles and EPs, a live set, the part-improvised second studio album The Key of Dreams and further experimental material recorded in 1981. The first 1000 come on coloured wax. Utterly essential' (Electronic Sound, 10/2019)

'Martin Hannett's production on Always Now - his crowning achievement - doesn't wrap the music in his trademark sepulchral opulence. Rather a starkly lit, intimate space is conjured, seemingly real but somehow alien, a space that feels like it's being dreamed as you listen, with the players as disembodied, spectral presences' (The Wire, 06/2015)

'The rhythm-focused first album by Section 25 is a vital mid-point between the bass-driven side of PiL's Metal Box and minimalist Joy Division workouts like I Remember Nothing. A Krautrock-y spaciness brings trippy disorientation. Back in 1981 much distracted from the music, but heard now without the baggage overlooked Always Now stands the test of time with aplomb. Its case is enhanced by the copious bonuses on this double set, which include an impressively high fidelity 1980 live show. 4 stars' (Mojo, 05/2015)

'This widescreen version of their impressive debut is essential. Not only has it been taken from the original master tapes and replicates Peter Saville's original matchbook-like sleeve, but it also features a John Peel session plus a live gig from 1980 as well as album outtakes. If Joy Division were Factory's crown jewels, Section 25 were an uncut diamond. Four stars' (Record Collector, 06/2015)

'One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed' (Q Magazine, 03/2006)

'A feast of serrated guitars over dub-spacious production, gloom rock that exults in its own monumental miserabilism. Mere period depresso-rock? No. Always Now and other tracks here could be the work of an aspirant contemporary experimental outfit. In fact leading Brit indie band Friendly Fires took their name from track one, side one' (Classic Pop, 06/2015)

'A work that is really one of the key releases of the time along with the Joy Divs and Public Image. Listen to it now and it sounds like a modern record' (Louder Than War, 12/2012)

'Their most complete statement. Several complementary shades of gloomy' (Q Magazine, 11/1991)

'A modern redevelopment of psychedelia' (Melody Maker, 01/1992)

'Stone tablets from a distant, mist-shrouded age' (Uncut, 08/2000)

'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 tell-tale titles like Babies in the Bardo their Buddhist interests hang heavy over these early stirrings.. Combining a bass-led drone with a characteristic groaning vocal, Charnel Ground succinctly pins down Section 25's pre-disco appeal' (The Wire, 06/2002)

'Section 25 were great at grim insistence, and hard to top' (eMusic, 09/2006)

'Superb reissue. Section 25 seem to have been forever trapped between austere Factory cultish-ness and the actual thrust of this amazing, other music. Always Now has a sound closer to a Can hybrid, but no-one wanted to notice. Recommended' (Boomkat, 02/2007)

'The causes and conditions that made the 78-81 post-punk explosion possible were absolutely unique. These exceptional circumstances allowed an enormous diversity to pervade the movement. From the lo-fi YeYe-isms of the Marine Girls or the Mo-dettes to the Pop Group's deeply intense stop-start nursery noise jazz brilliance, from the genre-bending crunching aural crankiness of This Heat to the loosely-sketched ambient punk of Section 25, from Swell Maps' electric-socket licking frantic frizz punk to the Brian Wilson-in-pastels goose bump sigh pop of the Raincoats, never before has a relatively small and contained movement encompassed such variety, quality and power' (The Observer, 10/2016)