Blurt

"Born in 1943, musician, poet and self-confessed 'performance junkie' Ted Milton had been around several creative blocks before meeting Tony Wilson in 1978. As a verse writer, his work appeared in the Paris Review and Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain (1969), while as a left-field puppeteer in the Seventies he performed with Mr Pugh's Puppet Theatre and the Blue Show, as well as supporting Ian Dury on tour in 1978. He also contributed a puppetry scene to Terry Gilliam's 1977 comic film Jabberwocky. Few early Factory artists could boast such a colourful background.

"Ted Milton first met Tony Wilson following one of his puppetry performances, when Wilson was scouting for acts to book on the Granada TV arts and events programme So It Goes. Milton duly appeared on the show in the summer of 1978, a memorable edition which also featured the group Wire. Wilson went on to found Factory Records, whose first release, the iconic A Factory Sample (FAC 2), appeared in January 1979. Meanwhile Ted Milton took up the saxophone, and formed Blurt in Stroud (a town in rural Gloucestershire) towards the end of 1979, together with brother/drummer Jake Milton and guitarist Pete Creese. Jake had previously played with psychedelic group Quintessence, and also Eric Clapton. Early critiques compared the trio with James Chance, Captain Beefheart, Wild Man Fischer, The Pop Group, Tom Waits and any number of left-field jazz icons, though their stripped-back, noisy, avant-garde sound defied easy categorization."

- from sleevenotes to LTMCD 2526 The Factory Recordings