Harmony by The Wake

Factory Benelux presents an expanded edition of 'Harmony', the debut album by influential Scottish group The Wake, originally released by Factory Records in December 1982.

The group formed in Glasgow in 1981 after singer/guitarist Caesar left Altered Images, and joined Factory the following year. 'Harmony' was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport with producer Chris Nagle (Martin Hannett's preferred engineer), by which time The Wake comprised Caesar (vocals, guitar), Carolyn Allen (keyboards), Steven Allen (drums) and Bobby Gillespie (bass).

On release as Fact 60 the original 7 track mini album earned a 5 star review in Sounds magazine, hailed as the missing indiepop link between Factory and Postcard Records.

Bonus tracks on this extended remaster include dub-informed second single Something Outside b/w Host (FBN 24), and their popular John Peel session from July 1983 - these being the last recordings to feature Gillespie before his departure for The Jesus and Mary Chain and Primal Scream.

Also included is debut single On Our Honeymoon, released on the band's own Scan 45 label in January 1982.

"The first genuine record I can think of for months. Favour is, believe it or not, a hit single for Factory if they cared. If I played it to you and told you it was the new New Order 45 you'd almost certainly say at first how much they've improved... They are on that soaring pitch of optimism, somewhere between Transmission and Glittering Prize. When you hear it, you'll recognise it at once and move away from the recent, gorgeously indecent chart rubbish. This is awake" (Sounds, 1982)

"The Wake excel in melancholy, raising sparseness to an art form, a kind of rain-spattered beauty" (Philadelphia Weekly, 2001)

"The Wake were as immersed in Glasgow's Postcard pop as they were in Mancunian angst. There's a distinct Josef K gnarling here, while the circular radiance of Favour foretells Primal Scream's Imperial" (Uncut, 2002)

"The songs veer from unsteady, joyous defiance to a broody keyboard-drenched bruised melancholy. Great stuff! The charm of Harmony still hits the spot and has one dancing around the living room" (Tangents, 2001)

"The Drill is an affectionate eulogy to New Order's Everything's Gone Green as if played by Josef K" (In Love With These Times, 2002)

"A fine example of dour, slow and sombre" (eMusic, 2006)

factorybenelux.com