This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Call it Everything You Could Ever Want to Know About the Old-School Manchester Scene but Really Didn’t Care Enough to Ask.
This soundtrack to the historically based music flick 24 Hour Party People is — much like the film itself — somewhat obsessed with the post-punk sounds emanating from Manchester in the late ’70s and ’80s, as documented by the folks at the ground-breaking indie label Factory Records. Which means that this 18-song disc consists mostly of overly familiar tracks from Happy Mondays, Joy Division and their descendants New Order, along with a couple of Clash and Sex Pistols cuts to anchor them in a wider context. There is a bit of fresh fare — the Mondays’ title track and New Order’s Here To Stay get remixed, and there’s a recent live version of New Order’s New Dawn Fades featuring Moby and Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante — but on the whole, this is one party you’ve probably already been to.
