Factory Records wasn't just ahead of their time in the musical sense – their graphic design was top-notch, and you can still see people biting it to this day. Just look at the list of designers who worked on their shit (and went on to become some of the more influential designers of the last part of the century): Peter Saville, Central Station, 8vo, Mark Farrow, etc. This book exhaustively documents the covers, singles and poster artwork of Factory Records, with rarely seen sleeves, rough designs and insightful commentary throughout. Face it: nowadays, EVERYONE needs to be stepping their cover art game up. Consider this your #1 reference. Full color; 220 pages.

reviewed by Chris Lemon-Red