Psychic TV

Haçienda is the complete recording of Psychic TV's first show at the Haçienda, the Manchester club run by Factory Records and New Order, on 5 November 1984. Until Cold Spring released it in 2013, the concert was available only on an unofficial cassette. It catches the group at a moment of change, with early versions of songs that would soon take a more polished, psychedelic pop form.

For this show Psychic TV were a four-piece: Genesis P-Orridge, Alex Fergusson, John Gosling (Zos Kia, Coil) and Paul Reeson. The same four had played Pandora's Music Box at De Doelen in Rotterdam six weeks earlier, a concert Cold Spring released as Paramartha. The Haçienda set runs to ten tracks, from an eleven-minute Intro to the thirteen-minute Thee Shining. In between come Enochian Calls, I Like You, Unclean Monks, Unclean, Roman P., Southern Comfort, Godstar and Thee Starlit Mire.

According to the Compulsion review, the long intro is made of experimental sounds and atmospheres, and much of what follows rides on a spare, steady drum beat. Tapes carry much of the sound, with guitar and P-Orridge's improvised vocals laid on top. Enochian Calls and Unclean Monks are austere. Roman P. and Godstar appear in early, slowed-down versions. The first is all improvised jangling guitars and rolling drums, the second is pushed by pumping bass and Fergusson's wayward guitar. The improvised Thee Starlit Mire, inspired by Austin Osman Spare, and Thee Shining leave P-Orridge free to run wild.

Reviewing this CD with two other Cold Spring live releases, Compulsion wrote that "this is very much Psychic TV in a transitional phase". The reviewer also noted the bootleg character of all three discs, which keep the introductions and some rough sound. He found this Godstar hard to square with the polished single that reached the edge of the charts a year later. Cold Spring announced this disc in November 2013 together with two other complete concerts, recorded at the Hammersmith Palais in May 1985 and at the Marquee in May 1986, and offered the three CDs also as a package.

CD released by Cold Spring (CSR187CD) on 9 December 2013 in an edition of 1000 copies, with previously unseen photographs and layout by Abby Helasdottir. Ten tracks, mastered by Martin Bowes at The Cage, Coventry.