Hello, it's all about Manchester today, as the Mancunians mourn the 22 fans of Ariane Grande that were murdered by a Libyan suicide bomber, yes these muslim cowards just hate young women. As it happens priests in general seem to dislike women--ah yes monotheism the scourge of planet earth. We shouldn't be surprised then looking at the amount of violence directed at (young) women. We maybe looking at the origin of the Universe or try to grasp quantum physics nevertheless our species is still very primitive where might is right. (btw forgetting that a chimpanzee would dismember Arnold Schwarzenegger).
Today's artists are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England. The band is a project of guitarist and occasional pianist Vini Reilly who is often accompanied by Bruce Mitchell on drums and Keir Stewart on bass, keyboards and harmonica. They were among the first acts signed to Factory Records by label founder Tony Wilson. ..............N'Joy
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In 1978 Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, later partners in Factory Records, assembled a band around the remnants of local punk rock band Fast Breeder, drummer Chris Joyce and guitarist Dave Rowbotham. The name was derived from a misspelling of the Durruti Column, an anarchist military unit in the Spanish Civil War, named after Buenaventura Durruti. The name was also taken from a four-page comic strip entitled "Le Retour de la Colonne Durruti" ("The Return Of The Durruti Column") by André Bertrand, which was handed out amidst student protests in October 1966 at Strasbourg University. On 25 January, Vini Reilly, former guitarist for local punk rock band Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds, joined, followed some weeks later by co-member vocalist Phil Rainford and, by the end of February, bassist Tony Bowers arrived from Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias. The line-up was short-lived as Rainford was sacked in July, and replaced by actor Colin Sharp, who also became one of the songwriters. Rainford went on to produce for Nico and Suns of Arqa.
The Durutti Column played at the Factory club (organised by their managers), and cut two numbers for the first Factory Records release A Factory Sample, a double 7" compilation also featuring Joy Division, John Dowie and Cabaret Voltaire. On the eve of recording a debut album, the band broke up after a dispute about Wilson and Erasmus's choice of producer, Martin Hannett. Rowbotham, Bowers and Joyce went on to form The Mothmen (the latter two becoming members of Simply Red some years later), Sharp went on to form The Roaring 80s, SF Jive, and Glow, and also dedicated himself to acting; only Reilly remained. With everyone's departure, The Durutti Column defaulted to Reilly's solo project. Other musicians contributed to recordings and live performances as occasioned. Former Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias drummer Bruce Mitchell doubled as co-manager with Wilson throughout their career on Factory and for many years afterwards.
The first album, 1980's The Return of the Durutti Column (title inspired by a 1967 Situationist International poster that includes that phrase), was produced by Martin Hannett. Reilly: "...he more or less got sounds for me that no one else could understand that I wanted. And he understood that I wanted to play the electric guitar but I didn't want this horrible distorted, usual electric guitar sound and he managed to get that." The record featured a sandpaper sleeve (like the title of the record, inspired by a Situationist joke, a book – Guy Debord's Mémoires – with a sandpaper cover to destroy other books on the shelf). "I didn't even know it was going to be an album. It was just the case of jumping at the chance of being in the studio. I actually didn't get up in time, Martin had to physically get me out of bed to get me to the studio – that's how little I believed it would happen. I was still doing late night petrol station shifts. I was even more amazed when Tony presented me with a white label. I was completely baffled. 'What, this is really going to be an album? You must be insane! No-one's going to buy this!' And then Tony got the idea from the Situationists about the sandpaper book, and decided to do some with a sandpaper sleeve. It was Joy Division that stuck the sandpaper onto the card. I was mortified."
The music was unlike anything else performed by post-punk acts at the time. Reilly rooting himself in "new wave" with "...an attempt at experimental things"; the record contained nine gentle guitar instrumentals (later releases occasionally feature Reilly's soft and hesitant vocals) including elements from jazz, folk, classical music and rock. Reilly: "...I had a lot of classical training when I was young, guitar and formal training, the scales I write with and the techniques I use are classical techniques and scales – a lot of minor melodic and minor harmonic scales, which generally aren't used in pop music. Usually it's pentatonic". Hannett's production included adding electronic rhythm and other effects, including birdsong on "Sketch for Summer". The album was accompanied by a flexidisc with two tracks by Hannett alone.
LC ("Lotta Continua", Italian for "continuous struggle"), released in 1981, was recorded without Hannett, and introduced percussionist Bruce Mitchell, Reilly's most frequent musical partner and occasional manager. It was recorded on a four-track cassette deck at home (while it was slightly padded in the studio, the tape hiss is intact); among the first crisp, professionally released recordings made cheaply at home. The EP Deux Triangles, released in 1982, contained three instrumentals, with piano emphasised over guitar. Another Setting (1983) was again Reilly and Mitchell; in 1984 the band was expanded to include Richard Henry (trombone), Maunagh Fleming (cor anglais and oboe), Blaine Reininger (of Tuxedomoon; violin and viola), Mervyn Fletcher (saxophone), Caroline Lavelle (cello), and Tim Kellett (trumpet). The album Without Mercy, arranged by John Metcalfe, was intended as an instrumental evocation of the poem La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats.
Say What You Mean was a departure from roots with the addition of deep electronic percussion. Kellett and Metcalfe remained (Metcalfe playing viola); they also appear alongside Reilly and Mitchell on Circuses and Bread (Factory Benelux in 1985) and Domo Arigato. The latter is a live album recorded in Tokyo and the first pop album released in the UK solely on the relatively new compact disc format (and also available on VHS and LaserDisc.)
Kellett left to join Simply Red, but guested on The Guitar and Other Machines (1987), the first new UK album to be released on Digital Audio Tape (as well as the usual media of LP, audio cassette and CD). The Guitar and Other Machines has a far more direct sound than earlier records, with guest vocals from Stanton Miranda and Reilly's then partner, Pol, and the use of a sequencer and drum machine in addition to Mitchell's drumming. The album was produced by Stephen Street, who also produced Morrissey's solo album, Viva Hate (1988), on which Reilly played guitar. Reilly was neither properly credited, nor compensated for composing much of the music on this seminal album.
Vini Reilly (1989), also produced by Reilly and Street, features extensive use of sampling, with looped samples of vocalists (including Otis Redding, Tracy Chapman, Annie Lennox and Joan Sutherland) used as the basis for several tracks. Initial copies came with a 7" or CD single, "I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong", credited to "Vincent Gerard and Steven Patrick", in which a take of the Morrissey B-side "I Know Very Well How I Got My Name" dissolves into laughter after Reilly hits a wrong note.
On Obey the Time (1990) Mitchell played on only one track, the album being otherwise a solo recording by Reilly, heavily influenced by contemporary dance music. The album's title is a phrase uttered by the titular character of William Shakespeare's Othello toward his fiance, Desdemona in Act One, Scene Two: "I have but an hour of love, of worldly matters and direction, To spend with thee: we must obey the time." An accompanying single, "The Together Mix", featured two reworkings of album tracks by Together, Jonathon Donaghy and Suddi Raval (Donaghy was killed in a car crash in Ibiza before the single was released). This was to be the last Durutti Column record released by Factory, in early 1991.
1990 onwards: after Factory
For the first few years after the demise of Factory, the only Durutti Column album releases were Lips That Would Kiss (a 1991 collection of early singles, compilation contributions and unreleased material on the separate label Factory Benelux), and Dry (1991) and Red Shoes (1992), Italian collections of alternate versions and unreleased outtakes. Former member Dave Rowbotham was killed by an unknown assailant in 1991. He was later memorialised by the Happy Mondays in the song "Cowboy Dave."
In 1993 Tony Wilson attempted to revive Factory Records, and Sex and Death was the first release on Factory Too (a subdivision of London Records). The album was once again produced by Stephen Street, with Mitchell and Metcalfe, and it included, on the track "The Next Time", Peter Hook of New Order. Time Was Gigantic ... When We Were Kids, which followed in 1998, was produced by Keir Stewart, who also played on the album and has frequently worked with Reilly since. Fidelity was released between these albums in 1996 by Les Disques du Crépuscule and was produced by Laurie Laptop.
The eight albums recorded for Factory (The Return of the Durutti Column, LC, Another Setting, Without Mercy, Domo Arigato, The Guitar and Other Machines, Vini Reilly and Obey the Time) were re-released with additional material by Factory Too/London, under the banner Factory Once, between 1996 and 1998. In 1998, Durutti Column contributed "It's Your Life Baby" to the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon produced by the Red Hot Organization.
Factory Too effectively ended in 1998, and subsequent Durutti Column albums have been on independent labels Artful Records (Rebellion [2001], Someone Else's Party [2003], Keep Breathing [2006], Idiot Savants [2007]) or Kookydisc (Tempus Fugit [2004], Sunlight to Blue . . . Blue to Blackness [2008]). Kookydisc has also released two further volumes of The Sporadic Recordings (along with a slightly edited re-release of the first volume from 1989), remastered versions of two very scarce LPs from the early 1980s (Live At The Venue [2004] and Amigos Em Portugal [2005]), and two subscription-club discs of rare and unreleased material. A download-only release, Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital, It Was Heaven Sent), first appeared in 2005 via Wilson's project F4, which was marketed as the fourth version of Factory Records.
On 7 September 2009, Colin Sharp died from a brain haemorrhage. The instrumental suite Paean to Wilson, composed in 2009, was some of Reilly's most personal work, written for his late friend and most passionate supporter, the late Tony Wilson. Initially scheduled for limited release in 2009, it was granted wider distribution early the following year. In 2011, Reilly debuted Chronicle as a performance commissioned by Manchester's Bridgewater Hall and offered the music as a limited-edition CD at the show. The band's long-lost fourth album, Short Stories for Pauline, which was shelved by Wilson in favor of Without Mercy, was issued as a limited-edition vinyl release in 2012. Two years later, Chronicle LX:XL, a deluxe edition of Chronicle in honor of Reilly's 60th birthday, arrived on Kooky.
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More debut albums should be so amusingly perverse with its titles -- and there's the original vinyl sleeve, which consisted of sandpaper precisely so it would damage everything next to it in one's collection. Released in the glow of post-punk fervor in late-'70s Manchester, one would think Return would consist of loud, aggressive sheet-metal feedback, but that's not the way Vini Reilly works. With heavy involvement from producer Martin Hannett, who created all the synth pieces on the record as well as producing it, Reilly on Return made a quietly stunning debut, as influential down the road as his labelmates in Joy Division's effort with Unknown Pleasures. Eschewing formal "rock" composition and delivery -- the album was entirely instrumental, favoring delicacy and understated invention instead of singalong brashness -- Reilly made his mark as the most unique, distinct guitarist from Britain since Bert Jansch. Embracing electric guitar's possibilities rather than acoustic's, Reilly fused a variety of traditions effortlessly -- that one song was called "Jazz" could be called a giveaway, but the free-flowing shimmers and moods always revolve around central melodies. "Conduct," with its just apparent enough key hook surrounded by interwoven, competing lines, is a standout, turning halfway through into a downright anthemic full-band rise while never being overbearing. Hannett's production gave his compositions a just-mysterious-enough sheen, with Reilly's touches on everything from surfy reverb to soft chiming turned at once alien and still warm. Consider the relentless rhythm box pulse on "Requiem for a Father," upfront but not overbearing as Reilly's filigrees and softly spiraling arpeggios unfold in the mix -- but equally appealing is "Sketch for Winter," Reilly's guitar and nothing more, a softly haunting piece living up to its name. The 1996 reissue is the edition to search for, containing six excellent bonus tracks. Two are actually solo Hannett synth pieces from the sessions, but others include an initial tribute to Joy Division's Ian Curtis, "Lips That Would Kiss," and "Sleep Will Come," featuring the group's first vocal performance thanks to A Certain Ratio member Jeremy Kerr.
The Durutti Column - The Return Of The Durutti Column (flac 244mb)
01 Sketch For Summer 3:02
02 Requiem For A Father 5:07
03 Katharine 5:29
04 Conduct 5:02
05 In “D” 1:40
06 Jazz 1:39
07 Sketch For Winter 2:25
08 Collette 2:23
09 Sketch For Winter (Mix) 2:26
Related Works
10 Lips That Would Kiss 3:49
11 Madeleine 3:04
12 First Aspect Of The Same Thing 3:41
13 Second Aspect Of The Same Thing 2:59
14 Sleep Will Come 1:48
15 Experiment In Fifth 3:35
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After some abortive collaborations, Reilly hooked up with a regular drummer, talented fellow Mancunian Bruce Mitchell, to create LC, Durutti's second full release. Self-produced by Reilly but bearing the unmistakable hints of his earlier work with Martin Hannett, LC, named after a bit of Italian graffiti, extends Reilly's lovely talents ever further, resulting in a new set of evocative, carefully played and performed excursions on electric guitar. Mitchell's crisp but never overly dominant drumming actually starts the record off via "Sketch for Dawn I," added to by a simply captivating low series of notes from Reilly that builds into a softly triumphant melodic surge, repeating a core motif again and again. His piano playing adds a perfect counterpart, while the final touch are his vocals -- low speak-singing that sounds utterly appropriate in context, mixed low and capturing the emotional flavor at play via delivery rather than lyrical content. As great as Return is, this is perhaps even better, signaling a full flowering of Reilly's talents throughout the album. Mitchell proves him time and again to be in perfect sync with Reilly, adding gentle brio and understated variation to the latter's compositions. Nowhere is this more apparent than on "The Missing Boy," the album's unquestioned highlight. Written in memory of Ian Curtis of Joy Division, on it Mitchell adds quick, sudden hits contrasting against the low, tense atmosphere of the song, while fragile piano notes and Reilly's own regret-tinged, yearning vocals complete the picture. For all the implicit melancholy in Durutti's work, there's a surprising amount of life and energy throughout -- "Jaqueline" is perhaps the standout, with a great central melody surrounded by the expected Reilly elaborations and additions in the breaks. As with the rest of Durutti's mid-'90s reissues, the expanded version of LC appears full to the brim with intriguing bonus tracks galore. The first three capture an abortive collaboration with another Manc drummer, funk performer Donald Johnson. A contribution to a holiday album, "One Christmas for Your Thoughts," finds Reilly back with drum machines, while the very first Reilly/Mitchell collaborations, "Danny" and "Enigma," round out this excellent release.
The Durutti Column - LC (flac 437mb)
01 Sketch For Dawn (1) 5:15
02 Portrait For Frazier 3:32
03 Jacqueline 2:18
04 Messidor 2:32
05 Sketch For Dawn (2) 4:34
06 Never Known 6:46
07 The Act Committed 5:03
08 Detail For Paul 2:00
09 The Missing Boy 6:35
10 The Sweet Cheat Gone 2:49
11 Danny 3:38
12 Enigma 3:01
13 For Mimi 4:33
14 For Belgian Friends 5:23
15 Self-Portrait 4:41
16 Favourite Painting 5:00
17 Zinni 6:01
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The Durutti Column - LC Bonus (flac 344mb)
01 Mavuchka 5:10
02 Experiment In Fifth 3:34
03 Portrait For Paul 6:27
04 The Act Committed 6:16
05 Portrait For Frazier 5:05
06 Never Known 7:10
07 Untitled LC Demo 3:40
08 For Patti 2:41
09 Weakness And Fever 5:22
10 The Eye And The Hand 2:29
11 Party 3:30
12 One Christmas For Your Thoughts 4:26
13 Homage To Martinů 3:09
14 Sleep Will Come 1:45
15 Piece For An Ideal 2:08
16 Piece Of Out Of Tune Grand Piano 2:41
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Continuing -- perhaps to a fault -- the sound and style of LC, Another Setting is a quite fine effort from Reilly and Mitchell, which makes up for quality what it lacks in surprising reinvention. Whereas LC was a clear leap forward from an impressive start, Another Setting tries slight variations instead, otherwise sticking to the same combination of Reilly's elegant guitar work; Mitchell's subtle, effective drum lines; and a dollop of distanced singing and keyboard work from Reilly on top of that partnership. Given that this combination is already so distinctly and uniquely the band's, though, it's hard to complain too much when hearing numbers like the gently tense "Bordeaux" and the emotional, oboe-tinged crawl of "Smile in the Crowd," later covered by Depeche Mode's Martin Gore. Opening track "Prayer" is actually one of the best things he's done, a softly rising, meditative piece with soft synth horns mixing with a brief Reilly guitar part just so. "Francesca," meanwhile, demonstrates his skills at combining a central melody with subtle improvisation and development throughout the rest of the track, again double-tracking his pieces to create a hypnotic effect. These and many other moments clearly signal where a fair amount of Cocteau Twins' work would eventually go, not to mention other later avatars of experimental guitar calm like Talk Talk and Piano Magic. Mitchell's standout moments crop up throughout, one of the best being "The Beggar." Giving just enough drumming heft and power to be as anthemic as an early U2 song without sounding ridiculously overwrought at all, it's a grand fusion of Durutti's general restraint and a more straightforward punch. The sometimes easy-to-miss humor in Durutti also remains present, as the title of one Morricone-tinged number puts it, "For a Western."
The Durutti Column - Another Setting (flac 380mb)
01 Prayer 3:27
02 Response 1:32
03 Bordeaux 3:34
04 For A Western 2:50
05 The Beggar 4:59
06 Francesca 3:04
07 Smile In The Crowd 5:04
08 You've Heard It Before 4:40
09 Dream Of A Child 5:24
10 Second Family 2:40
11 Spent Time 4:21
+
12 I Get Along Without You Very Well 3:39
13 Love Fading 4:09
14 For Noriko 4:07
15 Bordeaux (Live At WOMAD) 6:06
16 The Beggar (Live At La Cigale) 4:38
17 Piece For Out Of Tune Piano 12:55
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The Durutti Column's Live at the Venue was initially released as a limited edition of 4,000 vinyl copies in 1983. This 2004 edition is an even rarer beast, because it's limited to 1,000 copies. The new edition is a copy of one of the original vinyl records, as the master no longer exists. The legend of the original recording is as interesting as Vini Reilly's performance. After a low-key yet thrilling set, Reilly and company were approached by a live-recordings dealer who traveled in a cream Rolls Royce. The gent had mysteriously come upon a soundboard mix of the concert, and he was eager to put it to market. He forked over the necessary cash, and the contract was forged on a napkin. Whether or not he was exercising good business sense, Reilly was wielding his guitar with grace in this era; that's not to say there was ever a time when he didn't. His bandmates offer fine electronic and percussive accompaniment. Listening to these 11 songs is the next best thing to being in the room with the young musical experimenter. The track listing features a fine sampling of songs from The Return of the Durutti Column, LC, and Another Setting, as well as variations on themes and melodies that would feature later in his career. The quality of the recording is quite good, as one would expect from a soundboard bootleg; the respectful audience is heard only in restrained applause between songs. Reilly's vocals are clean and clear, and his every strum and pick shine through. It's quite interesting to hear how similar a live Durutti Column performance is to a studio recording. It's this sense of similarity that makes Live at the Venue somewhat inessential for fans. Inessential, but still enlightening.
Done as part of an ultimately failed distribution attempt in the country of the title, Amigos finds Reilly working very much in the mode of Another Setting, creating five fine pieces that combine his lovely guitar work with piano and other instruments. Though all titles are in Portuguese as well, nothing appears to be specifically about the country or its own musical style -- it's simply Reilly, working solo in this instance, creating some stripped-down work still with that typical hint of Durutti magic. The opening number, the title track itself, actually features some of the most active and busy piano he'd yet recorded, still with just enough control to make it slot in with the remainder of the music. Keyboards also dominate other tracks, including "Lisboa," one of his most straightforwardly beautiful (as opposed to darkly so) numbers, and the concluding waft of "Estoril A Noite."
The Durutti Column - Live At The Venue + Amigos Em Portugal (flac 422mb)
01 Party 2:45
02 Mother From Spain 3:03
03 Jacqueline 5:48
04 Conduct 2:40
05 Sketch For Summer 2:29
06 The Beggar 5:01
07 Never Known 5:04
08 The Missing Boy 6:02
09 Sigh Becomes A Scream 5:40
10 Self Portrait 3:21
11 Friends In Belgium 3:03
Amigos Em Portugal
01 Amigos Em Portugal 3:58
02 Menina Ao Pé Duma Piscina 3:23
03 Lisboa 4:10
04 Sara E Tristana 2:56
05 Estoril À Noite 2:52
06 Vestido Amarrotado 3:48
Dedications For Jacqueline
07 Wheels Turning 2:53
08 Lies Of Mercy 2:46
09 Saudade 2:28
10 Games Of Rhythm 2:07
11 Favourite Descending Intervals 4:50
12 To End With 1:23
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Today's artists are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England. The band is a project of guitarist and occasional pianist Vini Reilly who is often accompanied by Bruce Mitchell on drums and Keir Stewart on bass, keyboards and harmonica. They were among the first acts signed to Factory Records by label founder Tony Wilson. ..............N'Joy
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In 1978 Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, later partners in Factory Records, assembled a band around the remnants of local punk rock band Fast Breeder, drummer Chris Joyce and guitarist Dave Rowbotham. The name was derived from a misspelling of the Durruti Column, an anarchist military unit in the Spanish Civil War, named after Buenaventura Durruti. The name was also taken from a four-page comic strip entitled "Le Retour de la Colonne Durruti" ("The Return Of The Durruti Column") by André Bertrand, which was handed out amidst student protests in October 1966 at Strasbourg University. On 25 January, Vini Reilly, former guitarist for local punk rock band Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds, joined, followed some weeks later by co-member vocalist Phil Rainford and, by the end of February, bassist Tony Bowers arrived from Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias. The line-up was short-lived as Rainford was sacked in July, and replaced by actor Colin Sharp, who also became one of the songwriters. Rainford went on to produce for Nico and Suns of Arqa.
The Durutti Column played at the Factory club (organised by their managers), and cut two numbers for the first Factory Records release A Factory Sample, a double 7" compilation also featuring Joy Division, John Dowie and Cabaret Voltaire. On the eve of recording a debut album, the band broke up after a dispute about Wilson and Erasmus's choice of producer, Martin Hannett. Rowbotham, Bowers and Joyce went on to form The Mothmen (the latter two becoming members of Simply Red some years later), Sharp went on to form The Roaring 80s, SF Jive, and Glow, and also dedicated himself to acting; only Reilly remained. With everyone's departure, The Durutti Column defaulted to Reilly's solo project. Other musicians contributed to recordings and live performances as occasioned. Former Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias drummer Bruce Mitchell doubled as co-manager with Wilson throughout their career on Factory and for many years afterwards.
The first album, 1980's The Return of the Durutti Column (title inspired by a 1967 Situationist International poster that includes that phrase), was produced by Martin Hannett. Reilly: "...he more or less got sounds for me that no one else could understand that I wanted. And he understood that I wanted to play the electric guitar but I didn't want this horrible distorted, usual electric guitar sound and he managed to get that." The record featured a sandpaper sleeve (like the title of the record, inspired by a Situationist joke, a book – Guy Debord's Mémoires – with a sandpaper cover to destroy other books on the shelf). "I didn't even know it was going to be an album. It was just the case of jumping at the chance of being in the studio. I actually didn't get up in time, Martin had to physically get me out of bed to get me to the studio – that's how little I believed it would happen. I was still doing late night petrol station shifts. I was even more amazed when Tony presented me with a white label. I was completely baffled. 'What, this is really going to be an album? You must be insane! No-one's going to buy this!' And then Tony got the idea from the Situationists about the sandpaper book, and decided to do some with a sandpaper sleeve. It was Joy Division that stuck the sandpaper onto the card. I was mortified."
The music was unlike anything else performed by post-punk acts at the time. Reilly rooting himself in "new wave" with "...an attempt at experimental things"; the record contained nine gentle guitar instrumentals (later releases occasionally feature Reilly's soft and hesitant vocals) including elements from jazz, folk, classical music and rock. Reilly: "...I had a lot of classical training when I was young, guitar and formal training, the scales I write with and the techniques I use are classical techniques and scales – a lot of minor melodic and minor harmonic scales, which generally aren't used in pop music. Usually it's pentatonic". Hannett's production included adding electronic rhythm and other effects, including birdsong on "Sketch for Summer". The album was accompanied by a flexidisc with two tracks by Hannett alone.
LC ("Lotta Continua", Italian for "continuous struggle"), released in 1981, was recorded without Hannett, and introduced percussionist Bruce Mitchell, Reilly's most frequent musical partner and occasional manager. It was recorded on a four-track cassette deck at home (while it was slightly padded in the studio, the tape hiss is intact); among the first crisp, professionally released recordings made cheaply at home. The EP Deux Triangles, released in 1982, contained three instrumentals, with piano emphasised over guitar. Another Setting (1983) was again Reilly and Mitchell; in 1984 the band was expanded to include Richard Henry (trombone), Maunagh Fleming (cor anglais and oboe), Blaine Reininger (of Tuxedomoon; violin and viola), Mervyn Fletcher (saxophone), Caroline Lavelle (cello), and Tim Kellett (trumpet). The album Without Mercy, arranged by John Metcalfe, was intended as an instrumental evocation of the poem La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats.
Say What You Mean was a departure from roots with the addition of deep electronic percussion. Kellett and Metcalfe remained (Metcalfe playing viola); they also appear alongside Reilly and Mitchell on Circuses and Bread (Factory Benelux in 1985) and Domo Arigato. The latter is a live album recorded in Tokyo and the first pop album released in the UK solely on the relatively new compact disc format (and also available on VHS and LaserDisc.)
Kellett left to join Simply Red, but guested on The Guitar and Other Machines (1987), the first new UK album to be released on Digital Audio Tape (as well as the usual media of LP, audio cassette and CD). The Guitar and Other Machines has a far more direct sound than earlier records, with guest vocals from Stanton Miranda and Reilly's then partner, Pol, and the use of a sequencer and drum machine in addition to Mitchell's drumming. The album was produced by Stephen Street, who also produced Morrissey's solo album, Viva Hate (1988), on which Reilly played guitar. Reilly was neither properly credited, nor compensated for composing much of the music on this seminal album.
Vini Reilly (1989), also produced by Reilly and Street, features extensive use of sampling, with looped samples of vocalists (including Otis Redding, Tracy Chapman, Annie Lennox and Joan Sutherland) used as the basis for several tracks. Initial copies came with a 7" or CD single, "I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong", credited to "Vincent Gerard and Steven Patrick", in which a take of the Morrissey B-side "I Know Very Well How I Got My Name" dissolves into laughter after Reilly hits a wrong note.
On Obey the Time (1990) Mitchell played on only one track, the album being otherwise a solo recording by Reilly, heavily influenced by contemporary dance music. The album's title is a phrase uttered by the titular character of William Shakespeare's Othello toward his fiance, Desdemona in Act One, Scene Two: "I have but an hour of love, of worldly matters and direction, To spend with thee: we must obey the time." An accompanying single, "The Together Mix", featured two reworkings of album tracks by Together, Jonathon Donaghy and Suddi Raval (Donaghy was killed in a car crash in Ibiza before the single was released). This was to be the last Durutti Column record released by Factory, in early 1991.
1990 onwards: after Factory
For the first few years after the demise of Factory, the only Durutti Column album releases were Lips That Would Kiss (a 1991 collection of early singles, compilation contributions and unreleased material on the separate label Factory Benelux), and Dry (1991) and Red Shoes (1992), Italian collections of alternate versions and unreleased outtakes. Former member Dave Rowbotham was killed by an unknown assailant in 1991. He was later memorialised by the Happy Mondays in the song "Cowboy Dave."
In 1993 Tony Wilson attempted to revive Factory Records, and Sex and Death was the first release on Factory Too (a subdivision of London Records). The album was once again produced by Stephen Street, with Mitchell and Metcalfe, and it included, on the track "The Next Time", Peter Hook of New Order. Time Was Gigantic ... When We Were Kids, which followed in 1998, was produced by Keir Stewart, who also played on the album and has frequently worked with Reilly since. Fidelity was released between these albums in 1996 by Les Disques du Crépuscule and was produced by Laurie Laptop.
The eight albums recorded for Factory (The Return of the Durutti Column, LC, Another Setting, Without Mercy, Domo Arigato, The Guitar and Other Machines, Vini Reilly and Obey the Time) were re-released with additional material by Factory Too/London, under the banner Factory Once, between 1996 and 1998. In 1998, Durutti Column contributed "It's Your Life Baby" to the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon produced by the Red Hot Organization.
Factory Too effectively ended in 1998, and subsequent Durutti Column albums have been on independent labels Artful Records (Rebellion [2001], Someone Else's Party [2003], Keep Breathing [2006], Idiot Savants [2007]) or Kookydisc (Tempus Fugit [2004], Sunlight to Blue . . . Blue to Blackness [2008]). Kookydisc has also released two further volumes of The Sporadic Recordings (along with a slightly edited re-release of the first volume from 1989), remastered versions of two very scarce LPs from the early 1980s (Live At The Venue [2004] and Amigos Em Portugal [2005]), and two subscription-club discs of rare and unreleased material. A download-only release, Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital, It Was Heaven Sent), first appeared in 2005 via Wilson's project F4, which was marketed as the fourth version of Factory Records.
On 7 September 2009, Colin Sharp died from a brain haemorrhage. The instrumental suite Paean to Wilson, composed in 2009, was some of Reilly's most personal work, written for his late friend and most passionate supporter, the late Tony Wilson. Initially scheduled for limited release in 2009, it was granted wider distribution early the following year. In 2011, Reilly debuted Chronicle as a performance commissioned by Manchester's Bridgewater Hall and offered the music as a limited-edition CD at the show. The band's long-lost fourth album, Short Stories for Pauline, which was shelved by Wilson in favor of Without Mercy, was issued as a limited-edition vinyl release in 2012. Two years later, Chronicle LX:XL, a deluxe edition of Chronicle in honor of Reilly's 60th birthday, arrived on Kooky.
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More debut albums should be so amusingly perverse with its titles -- and there's the original vinyl sleeve, which consisted of sandpaper precisely so it would damage everything next to it in one's collection. Released in the glow of post-punk fervor in late-'70s Manchester, one would think Return would consist of loud, aggressive sheet-metal feedback, but that's not the way Vini Reilly works. With heavy involvement from producer Martin Hannett, who created all the synth pieces on the record as well as producing it, Reilly on Return made a quietly stunning debut, as influential down the road as his labelmates in Joy Division's effort with Unknown Pleasures. Eschewing formal "rock" composition and delivery -- the album was entirely instrumental, favoring delicacy and understated invention instead of singalong brashness -- Reilly made his mark as the most unique, distinct guitarist from Britain since Bert Jansch. Embracing electric guitar's possibilities rather than acoustic's, Reilly fused a variety of traditions effortlessly -- that one song was called "Jazz" could be called a giveaway, but the free-flowing shimmers and moods always revolve around central melodies. "Conduct," with its just apparent enough key hook surrounded by interwoven, competing lines, is a standout, turning halfway through into a downright anthemic full-band rise while never being overbearing. Hannett's production gave his compositions a just-mysterious-enough sheen, with Reilly's touches on everything from surfy reverb to soft chiming turned at once alien and still warm. Consider the relentless rhythm box pulse on "Requiem for a Father," upfront but not overbearing as Reilly's filigrees and softly spiraling arpeggios unfold in the mix -- but equally appealing is "Sketch for Winter," Reilly's guitar and nothing more, a softly haunting piece living up to its name. The 1996 reissue is the edition to search for, containing six excellent bonus tracks. Two are actually solo Hannett synth pieces from the sessions, but others include an initial tribute to Joy Division's Ian Curtis, "Lips That Would Kiss," and "Sleep Will Come," featuring the group's first vocal performance thanks to A Certain Ratio member Jeremy Kerr.
The Durutti Column - The Return Of The Durutti Column (flac 244mb)
01 Sketch For Summer 3:02
02 Requiem For A Father 5:07
03 Katharine 5:29
04 Conduct 5:02
05 In “D” 1:40
06 Jazz 1:39
07 Sketch For Winter 2:25
08 Collette 2:23
09 Sketch For Winter (Mix) 2:26
Related Works
10 Lips That Would Kiss 3:49
11 Madeleine 3:04
12 First Aspect Of The Same Thing 3:41
13 Second Aspect Of The Same Thing 2:59
14 Sleep Will Come 1:48
15 Experiment In Fifth 3:35
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After some abortive collaborations, Reilly hooked up with a regular drummer, talented fellow Mancunian Bruce Mitchell, to create LC, Durutti's second full release. Self-produced by Reilly but bearing the unmistakable hints of his earlier work with Martin Hannett, LC, named after a bit of Italian graffiti, extends Reilly's lovely talents ever further, resulting in a new set of evocative, carefully played and performed excursions on electric guitar. Mitchell's crisp but never overly dominant drumming actually starts the record off via "Sketch for Dawn I," added to by a simply captivating low series of notes from Reilly that builds into a softly triumphant melodic surge, repeating a core motif again and again. His piano playing adds a perfect counterpart, while the final touch are his vocals -- low speak-singing that sounds utterly appropriate in context, mixed low and capturing the emotional flavor at play via delivery rather than lyrical content. As great as Return is, this is perhaps even better, signaling a full flowering of Reilly's talents throughout the album. Mitchell proves him time and again to be in perfect sync with Reilly, adding gentle brio and understated variation to the latter's compositions. Nowhere is this more apparent than on "The Missing Boy," the album's unquestioned highlight. Written in memory of Ian Curtis of Joy Division, on it Mitchell adds quick, sudden hits contrasting against the low, tense atmosphere of the song, while fragile piano notes and Reilly's own regret-tinged, yearning vocals complete the picture. For all the implicit melancholy in Durutti's work, there's a surprising amount of life and energy throughout -- "Jaqueline" is perhaps the standout, with a great central melody surrounded by the expected Reilly elaborations and additions in the breaks. As with the rest of Durutti's mid-'90s reissues, the expanded version of LC appears full to the brim with intriguing bonus tracks galore. The first three capture an abortive collaboration with another Manc drummer, funk performer Donald Johnson. A contribution to a holiday album, "One Christmas for Your Thoughts," finds Reilly back with drum machines, while the very first Reilly/Mitchell collaborations, "Danny" and "Enigma," round out this excellent release.
The Durutti Column - LC (flac 437mb)
01 Sketch For Dawn (1) 5:15
02 Portrait For Frazier 3:32
03 Jacqueline 2:18
04 Messidor 2:32
05 Sketch For Dawn (2) 4:34
06 Never Known 6:46
07 The Act Committed 5:03
08 Detail For Paul 2:00
09 The Missing Boy 6:35
10 The Sweet Cheat Gone 2:49
11 Danny 3:38
12 Enigma 3:01
13 For Mimi 4:33
14 For Belgian Friends 5:23
15 Self-Portrait 4:41
16 Favourite Painting 5:00
17 Zinni 6:01
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The Durutti Column - LC Bonus (flac 344mb)
01 Mavuchka 5:10
02 Experiment In Fifth 3:34
03 Portrait For Paul 6:27
04 The Act Committed 6:16
05 Portrait For Frazier 5:05
06 Never Known 7:10
07 Untitled LC Demo 3:40
08 For Patti 2:41
09 Weakness And Fever 5:22
10 The Eye And The Hand 2:29
11 Party 3:30
12 One Christmas For Your Thoughts 4:26
13 Homage To Martinů 3:09
14 Sleep Will Come 1:45
15 Piece For An Ideal 2:08
16 Piece Of Out Of Tune Grand Piano 2:41
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Continuing -- perhaps to a fault -- the sound and style of LC, Another Setting is a quite fine effort from Reilly and Mitchell, which makes up for quality what it lacks in surprising reinvention. Whereas LC was a clear leap forward from an impressive start, Another Setting tries slight variations instead, otherwise sticking to the same combination of Reilly's elegant guitar work; Mitchell's subtle, effective drum lines; and a dollop of distanced singing and keyboard work from Reilly on top of that partnership. Given that this combination is already so distinctly and uniquely the band's, though, it's hard to complain too much when hearing numbers like the gently tense "Bordeaux" and the emotional, oboe-tinged crawl of "Smile in the Crowd," later covered by Depeche Mode's Martin Gore. Opening track "Prayer" is actually one of the best things he's done, a softly rising, meditative piece with soft synth horns mixing with a brief Reilly guitar part just so. "Francesca," meanwhile, demonstrates his skills at combining a central melody with subtle improvisation and development throughout the rest of the track, again double-tracking his pieces to create a hypnotic effect. These and many other moments clearly signal where a fair amount of Cocteau Twins' work would eventually go, not to mention other later avatars of experimental guitar calm like Talk Talk and Piano Magic. Mitchell's standout moments crop up throughout, one of the best being "The Beggar." Giving just enough drumming heft and power to be as anthemic as an early U2 song without sounding ridiculously overwrought at all, it's a grand fusion of Durutti's general restraint and a more straightforward punch. The sometimes easy-to-miss humor in Durutti also remains present, as the title of one Morricone-tinged number puts it, "For a Western."
The Durutti Column - Another Setting (flac 380mb)
01 Prayer 3:27
02 Response 1:32
03 Bordeaux 3:34
04 For A Western 2:50
05 The Beggar 4:59
06 Francesca 3:04
07 Smile In The Crowd 5:04
08 You've Heard It Before 4:40
09 Dream Of A Child 5:24
10 Second Family 2:40
11 Spent Time 4:21
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12 I Get Along Without You Very Well 3:39
13 Love Fading 4:09
14 For Noriko 4:07
15 Bordeaux (Live At WOMAD) 6:06
16 The Beggar (Live At La Cigale) 4:38
17 Piece For Out Of Tune Piano 12:55
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The Durutti Column's Live at the Venue was initially released as a limited edition of 4,000 vinyl copies in 1983. This 2004 edition is an even rarer beast, because it's limited to 1,000 copies. The new edition is a copy of one of the original vinyl records, as the master no longer exists. The legend of the original recording is as interesting as Vini Reilly's performance. After a low-key yet thrilling set, Reilly and company were approached by a live-recordings dealer who traveled in a cream Rolls Royce. The gent had mysteriously come upon a soundboard mix of the concert, and he was eager to put it to market. He forked over the necessary cash, and the contract was forged on a napkin. Whether or not he was exercising good business sense, Reilly was wielding his guitar with grace in this era; that's not to say there was ever a time when he didn't. His bandmates offer fine electronic and percussive accompaniment. Listening to these 11 songs is the next best thing to being in the room with the young musical experimenter. The track listing features a fine sampling of songs from The Return of the Durutti Column, LC, and Another Setting, as well as variations on themes and melodies that would feature later in his career. The quality of the recording is quite good, as one would expect from a soundboard bootleg; the respectful audience is heard only in restrained applause between songs. Reilly's vocals are clean and clear, and his every strum and pick shine through. It's quite interesting to hear how similar a live Durutti Column performance is to a studio recording. It's this sense of similarity that makes Live at the Venue somewhat inessential for fans. Inessential, but still enlightening.
Done as part of an ultimately failed distribution attempt in the country of the title, Amigos finds Reilly working very much in the mode of Another Setting, creating five fine pieces that combine his lovely guitar work with piano and other instruments. Though all titles are in Portuguese as well, nothing appears to be specifically about the country or its own musical style -- it's simply Reilly, working solo in this instance, creating some stripped-down work still with that typical hint of Durutti magic. The opening number, the title track itself, actually features some of the most active and busy piano he'd yet recorded, still with just enough control to make it slot in with the remainder of the music. Keyboards also dominate other tracks, including "Lisboa," one of his most straightforwardly beautiful (as opposed to darkly so) numbers, and the concluding waft of "Estoril A Noite."
The Durutti Column - Live At The Venue + Amigos Em Portugal (flac 422mb)
01 Party 2:45
02 Mother From Spain 3:03
03 Jacqueline 5:48
04 Conduct 2:40
05 Sketch For Summer 2:29
06 The Beggar 5:01
07 Never Known 5:04
08 The Missing Boy 6:02
09 Sigh Becomes A Scream 5:40
10 Self Portrait 3:21
11 Friends In Belgium 3:03
01 Amigos Em Portugal 3:58
02 Menina Ao Pé Duma Piscina 3:23
03 Lisboa 4:10
04 Sara E Tristana 2:56
05 Estoril À Noite 2:52
06 Vestido Amarrotado 3:48
Dedications For Jacqueline
07 Wheels Turning 2:53
08 Lies Of Mercy 2:46
09 Saudade 2:28
10 Games Of Rhythm 2:07
11 Favourite Descending Intervals 4:50
12 To End With 1:23
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7 comments:
Thank you, Rho!
Great stuff- just need "The Guitar and other Machines" and the chill out is complete.
Hi!! Could you please re-up this Live Venur + Amigos ? Oh thx......
And PLEASE.. also re-up the LC Bonus ... thanks soo much
Re-ups appreciated, but despite what the links page says, none of the supposedly still active Multi links for LC are currently working. (The Polish one might be, but if there's a way to get that without paying for it, I'm not seeing it.)
Sorry Jacqueline LC didn't get the new link, it happens but it's there now...Njoy
Mwah. No worries. You're the best. :)
Depositfiles seems to be down too right now, but that's nothing to do with you. Links work, but download box won't appear. Noticed it yesterday when going there from somewhere else. Hopefully it'll clear up soon. Have seen it happen before with them.
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