An expanded 5xCD box set edition of Always Now, the debut album by cult Factory Records group Section 25, produced by legendary sonic architect Martin Hannett (with artwork by Peter Saville).

 

Recorded at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row studio in London in January 1981, Always Now combined austere post-punk rhythm and noise with elements of Krautrock and modern psychedelia. 

 

As well as the core album, Disc 1 also includes several non-album singles from 1980 and 1981 and debut EP Girls Don’t Count (produced by mentors Rob Gretton and Ian Curtis of Joy Division).

 

Disc 2 offers a complete live show from Groningen recorded on 26 October 1980, and a John Peel Session recorded in January 1981.

 

Disc 3 consists of 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 4 consists of further experimental material recorded in 1981 (self-released on a cassette called Illuminus Illumina). The  disc closes with an extended live encore jam recorded with all four members of New Order at Reading University on 8 May 1981.

 

Disc 5 captures the band live on tour in Europe and North America in early 1982. The set was originally intended for release as a live album on Factory America.

 

The 32 page booklet features unseen images by noted photographer Philippe Carly and texts by founder members Larry and Vin Cassidy. Also included is the first ever interview with guitarist Paul Wiggin, whose sudden departure in late 1981 saw Tony Wilson try (and fail) to recruit pre-Smiths teenager Johnny Marr as replacement.

 

“One of the best albums Britain's second city has unleashed” (Uncut); “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 telltale titles like Babies in the Bardo their Buddhist interests hang heavy over these early stirrings. But, combining a bass-led drone with a characteristic groaning vocal, Charnel Ground succinctly pins down Section 25's pre-disco appeal.” - The Wire