SECTION 25
ltm catalog

From Blackpool, Section 25 recorded with Factory Records between 1979 and 1987. Initially mentored by Joy Division, their keynote albums are Always Now (1981), produced by Martin Hannett and housed in an iconic Peter Saville sleeve, and From the Hip (1984), produced by Bernard Sumner of New Order, and featuring the classic electro single Looking From a Hilltop. The band regrouped in 2001 and released a new studio album, Part-Primitiv, in 2007. To read detailed band biography click here. To purchase CDs and DVDs click here.


DIRTY DISCO (BEST OF) LTMCD 2515 £10
The first 'best of' collection from SXXV, marking 30 years (1978-2008), featuring tracks from all phases, line-ups and albums, as well as an exclusive new 'lounge' version of Knew Noise. Featured producers include Martin Hannett, Bernard Sumner, Donald Johnson and Ian Curtis. Booklet includes archive images and an SXXV appreciation by fellow Blackpool lad John Robb. 15 tracks, 67 minutes of music. Full tracklist: Knew Noise, Up To You, Dirty Disco, New Horizon, Haunted, Wretch, Sakura, Warhead, Beating Heart, Looking From A Hilltop (Remix), Reflection, Bad News Week, Power Base, Winterland II, Knew Noise (Lounge Version).

Reviews: "Vin and Larry Cassidy's band were not built for mainstream success, but still they recorded some titanic music between 1979 and 1988. Variously produced by Ian Curtis, Martin Hannett and Bernard Sumner, early songs conform to the Factory aesthetic of urgent basslines and stern vocals. Later they became more synthetic and rhythmic and merged live instruments with technology. A new 'lounge' version of Knew Noise represents the band's present incarnation. Four stars - Q Recommends" (Q, 06/2008); "Factory's forgotten sons unearthed and compiled. Section 25 shed gloomy post-punk and embraced a new electronic future. The gloomy guitars and dub bass of Knew Noise were recorded before Metal Box, while the Sumner-produced 1985 single Looking From A Hilltop was a truly prophetic moment" (Uncut, 06/2008); "The first ever Best Of compilation from the band, collecting eight album tracks and key singles. LTM have done much to help re-establish the Blackpool-based group, and that's only fair given all the interest afforded more widely known Factory Records acts in recent times. Section 25 were every bit the post-punk innovators as their mentors Joy Division. In fact, after Joy Division became New Order Bernard Sumner produced the band's third album, From The Hip (1984) following in the footsteps of Martin Hannett who had overseen their debut Always Now. You might find the electropop tone of the band's later, more recent work a little jarring with their roots, but certainly, those brash early emissions sound incredibly vital in 2008" (Boomkat, 02/2008)


ALWAYS NOW + SINGLES LTMCD 2308 £10
70 minute remaster of the cult 1981 debut album originally released as Fact 45, produced by Martin Hannett at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row studio. This remastered CD includes 9 bonus tracks, including all tracks from the singles Girls Don’t Count (Fac 18) and Haunted (FBN 3) as well as rare compilation tracks and album outtake Human Puppets. The re-modelled artwork faithfully reproduces the original Peter Saville sleeve design and contains contemporary images and detailed sleevenotes. 19 tracks in total. Full tracklist: Freindly Fires, Dirty Disco, cp, Loose Talk (Costs Lives), Inside Out, Melt Close, Hit, Babies in the Bardo, Be Brave, New Horizon, Haunted, Charnel Ground, Human Puppets, Knew Noise, Up to You, Girls Don't Count, Oyo Achel Ada, After Image, Red Voice.

Reviews: "Their most complete statement, several complementary shades of gloomy" (Q Magazine, 11/91); "A modern redevelopment of psychedelia" (Melody Maker, 1/92); "One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed" (Q magazine, 03/06); "Section 25 were great at grim insistance, and hard to top" (eMusic, 09/06); "Superb reissue. Section 25 seem to have been forever trapped between austere Factory cultishness 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, 02/07)


THE KEY OF DREAMS + SINGLES LTMCD 2310 £10
Expanded remaster of the second studio album, originally released by Factory Benelux (FBN 14) in 1982. 14 tracks in total, including the entire self-produced album plus hard-to-find compilation tracks (Hold Me) and the singles The Beast, Sakura and Je Veux Ton Amour. Original artwork reproduced, full sleevenotes, digitally remastered from the original master tapes. Full tracklist: Always Now, Visitation, Regions, The Wheel, No Abiding Place, Once Before, There Was A Time, Wretch, Sutra, The Beast, Sakura, Je Veux Ton Amour, Sakura (Matrix Mix), Hold Me.

Reviews: "Some mesmerising trance vehicles, they sometimes spin off heartstopping klanging harmonics pitched somewhere between Public Image and The Grateful Dead's Dark Star" (The Wire, 6/02); "Earmarked by an expansive tension that separated the ambient and minimalist Kraftwerkian elements of their music" (Q Magazine, 11/91); "Provided you are absolutely knackered or smashed, this record will make a lasting impression on you" (Vinyl Magazine, 7/82)


FROM THE HIP + SINGLES LTMCD 2414 £10
Deluxe digital remaster of classic 1984 vintage electronica produced by Bernard Sumner of New Order, including both 12” remixes of the durable US club hit Looking From a Hilltop (FAC 108), together with previously unreleased 12” mixes of Beating Heart and Back to Wonder (FAC 68). Also features two mixes of Dirty Disco II. 74 minutes, 15 tracks. Original Peter Saville artwork. Full tracklist: The Process, Looking From a Hilltop, Reflection, Prepare to Live, Program for Light, Desert, Beneath the Blade, Inspiration, Looking From a Hilltop (12" Restructure), Looking From a Hilltop (12" Megamix), Dirty Disco II, Dirty Disco II (Pre-Mix), Beating Heart (12" Remix), Back to Wonder (12" Version), Beating Heart (12" Vesrion).

Reviews: "It sounds resolutely modern even now, like the precursor of House and Techno. From the Hip is the group's masterpiece" (The Wire, 6/2002); "Although the former Blackpool guitar band's pulsating Looking From a Hilltop became an unlikely hit in New York clubs, their Bernard Sumner-produced electronica experiment was initially ignored. However, sampled by Orbital and the Shamen, From the Hip's trance states and 303 drum machines now sound like an accidental prototype for techno" (The Guardian, 11/2007); "Lovingly repackaged… Unveils the band as a spiked synthetic pop unit of considerable merit" (Melody Maker, 1/1992); "Interesting forays into ambient textures and also an instant club classic in Hilltop" (Record Collector, 11/98); "Beautifully pale and wan" (Q Magazine, 8/1999); "This is the gleaming, future-dwelling SXXV" (Uncut, 8/00); "For me, Looking From A Hilltop is the most important electro record of the early Eighties" (Boomkat, 02/07))


LOVE AND HATE + SINGLES LTMCD 2318 £10
Extended 72 minute digital remaster of the FACT 160 album together with many bonus tracks, including a Bernard Sumner remix of Bad News Week (FAC 157), as well as Crazy Wisdom and The Guitar Waltz from the FBN 45 maxi. Also featured are four instrumental demo versions, and the previously unheard song Just To Be With You. Sleevenotes include detailed band biography. Full tracklist: Sweet Forgiveness, Bad News Week, Crazy Wisdom, The Guitar Waltz, Sprinkling Petals Into Hell, Warhead, Gymnopedies, Shit Creek No Paddle, Conquer Me, The Last Man In Europe, Carcrash, Bad News Week (12"), Crazy Wisdom (demo), The Guitar Waltz (demo), The Last Man In Europe (demo), Carcrash (demo), Just to Be With You.

Reviews: "The mood that produced titles like Shit Creek-No Paddle meant gung-ho presence. Harder staccato edges and fleshier arrangements helped escape the New Order shadow" (Q Magazine, 8/1999); "A superlative collection of Dalek folk songs and abrasive proto-techno… surprisingly prescient and potent back catalogue" (Uncut, 8/00); "Nuff bonus cuts, original versions, charming sleevenotes, good job. Why weren't they massive?" (Boomkat, 02/07)


PART-PRIMITIV LTMCD 2500 £10
Combining raw post-punk power and retro-futurist electro moves, this 2007 studio album features Larry Cassidy, Vin Cassidy, Ian Butterworth and Roger Wikeley, as well as two tracks written and sung by Jenny Cassidy. 13 tracks, this marks a stunning return to form. A strictly limited edition of 100 signed copies is available from LTM mailorder. Full tracklist: Winterland I, Can't Let Go, Poppy Fields, She's So Pretty, Dream, Power Base, Better Make Your Mind Up, Gene, Roma, Cry, Ludus Cantus, Nick, Winterland II.

Reviews: "A vibrant, fierce collection of songs played with all the intense, live-wire energy one could want, and well worth the wait" (All Music Guide, 5/07); "The music on Part-Primitiv is informed by all phases of the band's back-catalogue, incorporating their early post-punk impulse alongside their later disposition towards electronic music. She's So Pretty is one of the band's closest brushes with pop music, while Power Base is a surprisingly straight-forward venture into techno, with its rampaging drum machine" (Boomkat, 5/07); "Haunting, melancholic beauty - part post-rock, part trance" (Plan B, 6/07); "Absolutely brilliant. The music remains true to their unique aesthetic in maintaining both the unsettling postpunk of their beginnings, and the electro-pop of the second incarnation" (Chaindlk.com, 6/07); "Fantastic album!" (Peter Hook, 2007)


SO FAR LTMDVD 2429 £12 (DVD)
So Far gathers together live and studio footage from 1980 to 1985. The original post-punk trio are captured live at the ICA in London in June 1980, while the later five-piece electro line-up at Minneapolis First Avenue in January 1985. In addition to these two complete concerts, extracts from shows at Chicago Metro, Manchester Hacienda and London Riverside are also included, as well as studio clips for Not So Real and Looking From a Hilltop. The fascinating Chicago Metro footage reveals Section 25 as a vital formative influence on early techno. Region 0, 5.1 sound, NTSC format, 2 hours 30 minutes of footage. Full tracklist: Knew Noise, After Image, Number One, Friendly Fires, Girls Don't Count, Untitled, Charnel Ground, Haunted, Dirty Disco, Not So Real (SSRU), Warhead (Hacienda), Looking From A Hilltop, Beneath the Blade (Riverside), Inspiration (Riverside), Program For Light (Hacienda), Backstage footage (Metro), Hilltop Megamix (Metro), Dirty Disco II (Metro), The Process, Looking From A Hilltop, Prepare to Live, Crazy Wisdom, Beneath the Blade, Inspiration, Reflection, Program For Light, Dirty Disco II, Bad News Week.

Reviews: "So Far charts the development of one of the most unjustly overlooked Factory bands. The ICA footage from 1980 offers dense, urgent yet opaque music, while the electro material from Chicago and Minneapolis in 1985 is nothing less than hypnotic and points to the future. This DVD is one of the most welcome surprises all year" (Magic, 03/05)


COMMUNICANTS LTMDVD 2496 £12 (DVD)
This DVD offers a professional multi-camera shoot of Section 25's triumphant homecoming show at Blackpool Empress Ballroom in October 2006 (as guests of New Order), as well as bonus performances from Brussels, Dublin, Athens, Paris, London and Poulton. The 70 minute DVD also features interview material with Larry and Vin, and footage shot on the road. As well as SXXV classics such as Dirty Disco, Friendly Fires, New Horizon and Looking From A Hilltop, newer songs Gene and Can't Let Go are also featured. Edited by Stuart Hill. NTSC Region 0 disc. Full tracklist: Up To You, Friendly Fires, Be Brave, Wretch, New Horizon, Gene, Can't Let Go, Looking From A Hilltop, Dirty Disco, Hit, New Horizon, Be Brave, Wretch, Friendly Fires, Looking From A Hilltop, Interviews.

Reviews: to follow!


A FACTORY NIGHT (ONCE AGAIN) LTMDVD 2519 £12
Section 25 perform 10 songs on this in-concert souvenir of A Factory Night (Once Again) at the legendary Plan K venue in Brussels on 15 December 2007, shot with five cameras on High Definition. The DVD also includes performances by Crispy Ambulance, The Names, Kevin Hewick and Peter Hook. For further details click here.


DEUS EX MACHINA LTMCD 2316 £10
70 minute CD comprising rare studio demos and live material recorded in February 1985 on the second North American tour, and at The Hacienda (2/1983) and Preston Guildhall (10/1985). All are superb mix-desk quality recordings. Full tracklist: Tchaiko, Loving No-One, Days Pass By, Firefly, 4TMI, The Process, Looking From a Hilltop, Beneath the Blade, Inspiration, Program For Light, Slinky, Sweet Forgiveness, Deus Ex Machina.

Reviews: "Long raincoats and perfect, pioneering beats" (Melody Maker, 8/1998); "Terrific!" (Uncut, 8/00); "Groundbreaking early use of a Roland TB-303 bass-line machine, employing the squiggling sound that was to be found in the clubs during the summer of acid house" (Record Collector, 11/1998)


FROM THE HIP-IN THE FLESH LTMCD 2325 £10
Full-length live CD from the 1985 North American tour, which established the band as the pioneers of techno. Eleven tracks, 72 minutes, mastered from original soundboard tapes. Full sleevenotes and a striking variation on the original Fact 90 cover design. Full tracklist: The Process, Looking From a Hilltop, Prepare to Live, Program for Light, Beneath the Blade, Reflection, Desert, Inspiration, Dirty Disco II, Crazy Wisdom, Bad News Week.

Reviews: "It sounds even more prescient than the studio album - Program for Light is like the Run DMC/Aerosmith video re-enacted by Marshal Jefferson and Gang of Four" (The Wire, 6/02); "In 1985 at the Danceteria I saw a British group called Section 25 playing to fledgling B-boys in the downstairs space. I'd never heard drum machines through a PA and had no idea how punishing they could be. I couldn't hear a single word but I couldn't get their weird sound out of my head... The whole scene floated the fjord between the icy Factory scene in England and uptempo NYC edit tracks by Big Apple Productions and the Latin Rascals. Charging and droning, blowing my tiny mind." (Sasha Frere-Jones, The Wire, 12/01)


LIVE IN AMERICA AND EUROPE 1982 LTMCD 2312 £10
Digitally remastered from tapes originally intended for album release on Factory US in 1982. This cherry-picked 72 minute set includes excellent versions of many early Section 25 tracks, plus several numbers never studio recorded and a jam through Haunted with tourmates Crispy Ambulance. Full tracklist: God’s Playground, Babies in the Bardo, Trident, Dirty Disco, Sakura, Inside Out, One True Path, Floating, The Beast, You Leave Me No Choice, Warhead, Haunted.

Reviews: "Rolling drums, mantra-like drones and driving sequencers achieve a compelling atmosphere" (Record Collector, 11/1998)


ILLUMINUS ILLUMINA LTMCD 2326 £10
Full-length 72 minute archive CD of early material plus 1980-1981 jams by the original three-piece group. CD issued free with initial copies of THE NIGHT WATCH compilation CD. Full tracklist: New Horizons Intro, Are You There?, Floating, There Was a Time, Rigi Rigi, Mirror, You're On Your Own, Friendly Fires, Opening, Virtually Every, Fallen, Tape Loop, Cry, Subferior, In the Garden of Eden, Never Mind the Sex Pistols Here's the Bollocks, Just to See Your Face.


UMBRELLAS IN THE SUN LTMDVD 2400 £12
Section 25 perform New Horizon on this definitive two hour compilation DVD, which also features rare archive clips from Antena, A Certain Ratio, Josef K, Cabaret Voltaire, Marine, Section 25, The Names, Durutti Column, New Order, Crispy Ambulance, Minny Pops, Malaria!, Berntholer, Tuxedomoon, Thick Pigeon, Paul Haig, Kalima, Stockholm Monsters, Quando Quango and Swamp Children. For more details of this DVD click here.


SHADOWPLAYERS LTMDVD 2391 £12
Vin and Larry Cassidy of Section 25 are interviewed in this feature length (two hour) documentary DVD, which traces the early history of iconic Manchester record label Factory Records between 1978 and 1981. Shadowplayers features new, candid interviews with Anthony H. Wilson (Factory founder), Peter Saville (designer), Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order), Martin Moscrop (A Certain Ratio), Vini Reilly (Durutti Column), Simon Topping (A Certain Ratio), Howard Devoto (Buzzcocks/Magazine), Vin and Larry Cassidy (Section 25), Lindsay Reade, Richard Boon, Chris Watson (Cabaret Voltaire), Alan Hempsall (Crispy Ambulance), Wally Van Middendorp (Minny Pops), The Names, Annik Honore (Factory Benelux), Richard Jobson, Killing Joke, Graham Massey (Biting Tongues/808 State), Ann Quigley (Swamp Children) and Stanton Miranda (Thick Pigeon), For further details click here. To purchase DVD click here.

Note also that an exclusive Section 25 Recording - Part Primitiv - from 2001 appears exclusively on the LTM compilation Black Music (LTMCD 2347).

Go to Section 25 biography

Go to shopping/mailorder

Return to ltm homepage