Zip File (64 MB)
Fine Time
Factory Records Fac 223
Produced by New Order
November 1988
Tracklisting:
1. Fine Time (12" Version)
2. Don't Do It
3. Fine Line
4. Fine Time (Silk Mix)
5. Fine Time (Messed Around Mix)
6. Fine Time (7" Edit)
1 sourced from Factory UK 45 RPM 12" single FAC 223
2 - 6 sourced from PolyGram Canada CD single 827 277-2
Notes from the restorer:
Acid house arrives, and New Order embrace it. The sleeve deserves an award for the 'most obvious drug reference that anyone ever got away with'.One of my favorites.
I don't have much else to say about this one… I know it's a favourite of many, but I always thought it was one of the weaker tracks from the Technique album.
I didn't know that the 12" version was slightly different from the LP version until £50 Note pointed it out to me. Whether by accident or design, there are a few variations in the mix, and this version has never appeared on CD. The rest of the tracks were lifted from the Canadian CD single, which contains all the other versions. However, it has a few quirks: Fine Line and Don't Do It have their channels reversed compared to the UK 12", and all the tracks are EQd somewhat strangely, as if the release was geared for AM radio. The bass is reduced and there's a big boost in the upper mids, making it sound rather tinny. These oddities have been undone to the best of my abilities.
The band was accused of jumping on the acid house bandwagon, but considering the slick dance/rock hybrid they'd been perfecting over the five previous years, I see it more as a defining statement. Recording had commenced in Ibiza, which was a haven for European clubgoers. The band owned The Haçienda, which was finally starting to explode as a nightclub instead of a live venue, going on to become one of the greatest clubs in the world, ever. Madchester was beginning with the likes of Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, and all the other baggy bands. Fine Time anchors them in the middle of a scene they largely facilitated, and was the perfect lead single for the album that would follow three months later.
Thanks again guys, great job. Always loved that Silk mix, especially the ending.
ReplyDeleteGreat work. Did the Factory UK CD single have the channels reversed ala the 12"? That was one of my first CD purchased and it got played to death.
ReplyDelete@D - BrunoRepublic will have to verify that, but I believe the UK CD was alright - the channel swap was only on the Canadian disc.
ReplyDeleteThe Factory UK CD single matches the UK 12", which I took to mean that the Canadian CD single has them reversed.
ReplyDeleteSome say this was the one of there best singles to
ReplyDeletedate besides
Round and Round
and as i must say you guys are still putting Rhino/WB remasters to bloody Shame.
they still have not done anything about all the glichtes in there cds
One of my favourites and one I have been looking forward to.
ReplyDeleteI've just had a look at my CD single and see I have the Canadian version..... funny how I bought it in an East Grinstead record shop!
Great job with your masters... looking forward to the next installment.
It was a fine time.
ReplyDeleteExceptional! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI always wondered whether the sheep noises on Fine Time were a bit of self-deprecation!
ReplyDeleteWho remembers this on TOTP, complete with Bernard's Bez-esque [couldn't really be called]
dancing?
Fine Times to be young and in the North these were. Life's never really been the same since.
@ Rob-M: LINK :)
ReplyDeleteI have this on a fan-made DVD.
Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletehaving a problem with this one. Zip won't open. gives an error message saying "decompression failed".
ReplyDeleteIt's one of my favourite singles of theirs too.
All the links work, this is just a common problem with Mediafire. Keep trying.
ReplyDeleteSuperb. For a long time, I used "Don't Do It" on the original CD as a test track for auditioning HiFi equipment.
ReplyDeleteStill having problems with this zip file. All of the others work except this one. And it's one of my favourite singles!
ReplyDeleteHere's an alternate link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.50poundnote.net/neworder/finetime-itunes.zip
Thanks for this, and thanks for all of these! I've been digitising all of my old NO singles, but a) I am talentless at this kind of thing, and b) I think I must have been permanently pissed in the late 80's, as my Fine Time and Round and Round 12"s seem to be covered with 20 year old beer stains and are unplayable! Kudos to you for such a well conceived and impressively executed project...
ReplyDelete