Compilations like The Factory Singles aren’t meant to tell the whole story of anything: familiar rushes, quick hits, skippable stuff is what the brief is here. The career arc the Happy Mondays enjoyed by definition makes it’s span brief, one rooted in a half decade in which they rose and then fell at almost equal velocities.
Stripped of pretty much all their context it’s remarkable that the likes of Kinky Afro, Step On and Loose Fit were so ubiquitous at the time, or why. Shaun Ryder was after all a street poet and at it’s commercial peak the group’s music was still a pop-unfriendly concoction of scuzzy funk, acid house and stoned post punk. At the core of their appeal was a dance adjacency that meant it was only a short leap from the madness of their 1988 second album Bummed to the rave friendliness of Paul Oakenfold’s crossover Wrote For Luck remix, a transformation now recognised as that movement’s ground zero.
There’s still much to love on either side of that apex as Freaky Dancin’, 24 Hour Party People and the late blooming Judge Fudge attest to, whilst completing the package a deluxe helping of remixes both old and new provides flex after flex of blinder reminders. The Factory Singles doesn’t tell the Happy Mondays story, but if you want a bite size portion of good time nostalgia, just add Bez and your sorted.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 
This looks like a good comp. “Just add Bez and your sorted”. Love it. I bought Pills Thrill when it came out and was into the whole baggy scene somewhat and as you say it’s their commercial (and creative in my book) peak. Haven’t heard it for years but I must get this comp.
LikeLike