RIP Larry Cassidy of Section 25

Just on my way home and heard this awful news from Kevin Hewick: seems to be confirmed.

http://johnrobb77.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/larry-cassidysection-25-rip/

RIP, Larry. You were one of a fucking kind. Thank you for everything.

i will listen to his music until i die. for whatever that is worth.

weird, i just bought my first section 25 record earlier today. bummer

Argh, fuck. RIP

RIP

This fucking year...

he was an awesome interview in 'shadowplayers', that factory records documentary

I've posted my own little tribute on John Robb's blog; it's waiting for moderation. Only met him once but he was a fucking *star*. Christ's teeth, this is shit, shit news.

This is terrible news. The biggest Factory head in my small circle of friends considered Section 25 the purest distillation of the Factory ethos; once, unbidden by me (I was at the time mainly listening to goth and thrash), he sent me from college a handwritten four-page explanation of why Section 25 achieved what other Factory bands only strove for. (It had to do with the general idea of iconography. lol college.) I hope that in the wake of his death more people hear and are inspired by the singular music he made - "Crazy Wisdom" is an all-timer for me.

Key of Dreams is one of my all time favorite desert island disks. A brilliant band...

I've just listened to that; and the Hilltop Megamix; and Inspiration. Cried like a fucking child. That both Larry and Jenny are gone now ... it just seems so sudden, so fucking wrong.

I really do feel for their children, too. To lose both parents in such a short space of time is devastating.

I've not been posting on or reading ILX recently because I've had so much work to do, and made a conscious decision to stay away so as not to get distracted. However: the fact there are people here who care so much -- who appreciate what a unique creative force Section 25 were -- is a small reminder why this place means so much to me. Thank you, fellow SXXV-ers: seriously, thank you.

(Gah, xpost: "that" being Crazy Wisdom. See: you take a few weeks away from ILX and you can't even fucking post properly any more ;)

GodDAMNit.

Those last couple of albums were really, really grand.

Saw them last October at Part Time Punks, and from the moment he stepped out on stage he owned it. An amazing performance.

he was an awesome interview in 'shadowplayers', that factory records documentary

He and his brother both, stole the show.

RIP.

Shit. It's just hit me -- sounds stupid, I know -- that I'm never going to fucking see them live now. CHRIST'S FUCKING TEETH. So many chances but I never quite got my arse in gear to go back to Blackpool (or to Brussels, which was a big plan at one point) to see them. Fucking twat.

very sad. saw them back in the mists of time - a force of nature!

Just now listening to For Against's cover of "Friendly Fires" from their album last year. It now seems like one of the best possible tributes.

It seems a bit ridiculous now, but Section 25 were the very last major Factory band I got into, but also the one I fell for the hardest. I pretty much followed the standard path, through New Order and Joy Division and Happy Mondays to the Durutti Column. Hell, I had all the Wake and Stockholm Monsters album before I'd heard any more S25 than "Hilltop" and "New Horizon".

Weirdly, the album that made me fall in love with them is one that is most different to the rest of their catalogue - Part-Primitiv. It's a tight, punky, but very melodic record, and I was instantly hooked. From there I consumed the catalogue as quickly as I could. From The Hip was a complete revelation, as was Love & Hate. I have a great respect for the sound of the first two albums but for me S25's true strength is their melodies. Songs like Reflection and Inspiration are amongst the most beautiful and uplifting music ever made.

What impressed me most about S25 is that they clearly continued to have great love and passion and excitement for the music they made even 30 years after they began. Their last album, while not perfect, is full of energy and incredible tunes. Coming after Part-Primitiv it felt like they were just continuing to get better and better, with the addition of Larry's daughter on vocals adding a wonderful surprise element to music that was far from going stale. Attachment and Remembrance are for me two of the best S25 songs. How many bands more than 30 years into their career can you say that about?

Larry and Vin's contribution to Shadowplayers is one of my favourite interviews of all time. He may have been a whinger, but he was also hilarious and witty, and so enjoyable to listen to speak.

I don't know what remained unfinished on their latest project but I do hope it comes out in one form or another. I for one am desperate to hear it. The world has been robbed of a tremendous talent and I hope that the remaining members continue to make music in one form or another.

RIP Larry.

this image brought me to tears

http://www.section25.com/images/xxxxSXXV.jpg

I hate to say it but I saw him in LA this summer and while he and most of the band were great, the guitarist was playing strangely noodly/classic rock guitar and a lot of people thought it ruined things and were generally dissapointed, including some of their party. I only mention this bit of negativity because the whole time I was so into what he was doing, and while a long time fan of most of their records, had only recently finally gotten Love and Hate and realized how amazing it was, that I was tempted to introduce myself and offer to leave the states and join them because there was so much potential to keep it going and I thought they just needed a perfect factory-esque guitarist like myself, someone who's really raw and bad but totally gets the SOUND.

Anyway, it was a great sound and they had a really fascinating career. While it was easy for people to dismiss them and other Factory players as JD/NO followers, I like how they followed a similar, parallel path and existed as a strange kind of mirror-image. Like they were the looser, more experimental, more unbridled and irrational version. Always Now's relationship to Joy Division, or From the Hip's relationship to New Order...I used to describe From the Hip as sounding like New Order tuning up, and I never meant that as an insult, I meant it like "this sounds like New Order (and being produced by Barney and using the same gear, it's hard to say it doesnt') but like if New Order just jammed and were free to improvise and have it sound perfect".

And while those two albums are definable to me in that regard, Key of Dreams and Love and Hate are the opposite, really weird and wonderful explorations within and outside the sounds you might expect.

anyway, my 2 cents... RIP.

Yeah, crap, I saw Section 25 in SF a few months ago and really enjoyed them. He was very sharp as a performer.

Aw, this is awful news. My condolences to his friends and family. Their latest record is so wonderful, too.

Statement @ Cerysmatic (unofficial Factory blog)

If I'm being honest, Section 25 were never up there with my favorite Factory related music... but RIP nonetheless. I'm sure they've released some fine, fine music, even if it hasn't hit the same sweet spot for me as it has you guys.

I have just stumbled across this news elsewhere on the web. Fuck.

A brilliant band back in the Factory days, but who would have ever expected that they would make their best records in the last few years? I kept meaning to go to one of the recent gigs but never got around to it, I meant to buy the last album to listen to on the train on the way to Glasgow last summer, so I could rave about it with Grimly, but didn't. Fuck.

Some great words from Grimly, Jim and Dan above - you've said it all better than I could. My favourite SXXV performances were at the New Order Movement gigs in 1981 - the 3-piece lineup of Larry/Vin/Paul were a brutally loud meld of Can, JoyDiv and PIL with an impenetrable air of mystery and supressed violence. Made Killing Joke sound like Belle and Sebastian! At Reading the joined NO on stage for NO's first ever encore which was a sort of mixture of In A Lonely Place and Girls Don't Count with Barney howling 'fuck off students' over the top.

And of course Looking From A Hilltop is one of the greatest singles of all time. Just listening to Reflection now:

Time passes by,
You wonder why,
It's not real, it's not real,
Look into my eyes,

It's not real

Rest in peace, Larry.