At least when it came to the quality and relevance of the output from
Factory
, 1987 was no 1984. The liner notes to
LTM
's second year-specific roundup of the Manchester label's discography seem to admit as much, if without flatly stating it. There is a handful of enduring exceptions, highlighted by
New Order
's
"True Faith"
and
Happy Mondays
'
"24 Hour Party People."
Otherwise, the year was more about curiosities and one-off club flops, including a few that feature the fingerprints of label A&R chief and
Hacienda
DJ
Mike Pickering
, than classic or unjustly neglected releases. The most curious of the bunch is
Meat Mouth
"Meat Mouth Is Murder"
(yep), a cluttered rap 12" whose saving grace is a reference to
bIG fLAME
(the mightiest of the C-86 bands). Most definitely for the freakiest of the
freaks, exclusively so. ~ Andy Kellman