Domo Arigato [FBN 52] | The Durutti Column

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The Durutti Column \ Domo Arigato [FBN 52 / CD]

Factory Benelux presents an expanded 4x disc edition of Domo Arigato, the acclaimed live album by Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column, recorded in Tokyo in April 1985.

Domo Arigato followed on the heels of ambitious 'modern classical' album Without Mercy a year earlier, and saw composer/guitarist Vini Reilly and percussionist Bruce Mitchell augmented by John Metcalfe on viola and Tim Kellet on trumpet. Their show-cum-recital at the Gotanda Kan'i Hoken Hall on 25 April was recorded digitally and filmed on two 35mm cameras. 'Mixing down was fun,' recalled Durutti manager/mentor Anthony H. Wilson. 'We were on a flight out next morning so Nippon Columbia hired a mobile studio recording truck and we mixed from midnight to 6 a.m.'

In fact the group always considered this somewhat hurried mix imperfect, and so for this greatly expanded 2017 reissue Factory Benelux have returned to the original soundboard tapes and remastered the entire 90 minute performance, in the process restoring the original running order.

Disc 1 of the 4 CD set presents the original digital mix from 1985, while Discs 2 and 3 include the 2017 soundboard remaster plus a previously unreleased gig from Tokyo Loft Club on 29 April 1984. Disc 4 is an NTSC format Region 0 DVD featuring a pristine transfer of the original Japanese laserdisc edition of Domo Arigato, which is the filmed version of the show with the 1985 digital mix.

A double gatefold vinyl edition is also available and contains a bonus 7" single, Dedications for Japan, in a facsimile picture sleeve. The 18 live tracks on the double vinyl format are all taken from the 2017 soundboard remaster and present the entire 1985 show (except for Dream of a Child and Blind Elevator Girl, which for reasons of space appear only on the CD version).

CD+DVD tracklist:

Disc 1 (CD)

1. Sketch for Summer
2. Sketch for Dawn
3. Mercy Theme
4. A Little Mercy
5. Jacqueline
6. Dream of a Child
7. Mercy Dance
8. The Room
9. E.E.
10. Blind Elevator Girl
11. Tomorrow
12. For Belgian Friends
13. The Missing Boy
14. Self Portrait
15. Audience Noise

Disc 2 (CD)

1. Sketch for Summer
2. Sketch for Dawn
3. Party
4. Never Known
5. Mercy Theme
6. A Little Mercy
7. Jacqueline
8. Dream of a Child
9. Mercy Dance
10. A Silence
11. The Room
12. E.E.
13. Pauline
14. Conduct
14. Tomorrow

Disc 3 (CD)

1. Blind Elevator Girl
2. The Beggar
3. For Belgian Friends
4. The Missing Boy
5. Self Portrait
+
6. Sketch for Dawn
7. Sketch for Summer
8. Jacqueline (1984)
9. Without Mercy (version) (1984)
10. Love Fading (1984)
11. Take Some Time Out/Messidor (1984)
12. Never Known (1984)
13. Dream of a Child (1984)

Disc 4 (DVD)

1. Sketch for Summer
2. Sketch for Dawn
3. A Little Mercy
4. Mercy Dance
5. The Room
6. E.E.
7. Blind Elevator Girl
8. For Belgian Friends
9. The Missing Boy

2xLP + 7" tracklist:

Disc 1

A1. Sketch for Summer
A2. Sketch for Dawn
A3. Party
A4. Never Known
A5. Mercy Theme
A6. Pauline
B1. Jacqueline
B2. Mercy Dance
B3. Tomorrow
B4. For Belgian Friends
B5. Self-Portrait

Disc 2

C1. A Silence
C2. The Room
C3. E.E.
C4. Conduct
D1. Tomorrow
D2. The Beggar
D3. For Belgian Friends
D4. The Missing Boy
D5. Self Portrait

Disc 3 (7")

E1. Love Fading
F1. For Noriko

Available as a 4xCD box set. Vinyl is currently out of stock. To order CD box set please select correct shipping option (UK, Europe, or Rest of World) and click on Add To Cart button below cover image.

Or, you can order with the option of tracked shipping from our friends at Burning Shed (click here to order)

Reviews:

"Tony Wilson, I'm told, believes vinyl will soon become obsolete and has therefore released this 70 minute, four-piece Durutti concert on compact disc only. But I wonder whether people will let such aesthetically sexless items replace records..." (NME, 1985)

"This 4 disc document of Vini Reilly's trip to Japan in 1985 contains the original album mix, a 2017 remaster with six extra tracks, DVD, and bonus tracks from 1984. Northern pre-post-rock wondrousness galore - 4 stars" (Mojo, 07/2017)

"Reilly assembles a slimmed-down version of the Durutti Column used on 1984's Without Mercy, with Bruce Mitchell providing tom-tom heavy drum tattoos and elegant vibraphone patterns; John Metcalfe playing exploratory solos on the viola; and trumpeter Tim Kellett switching between martial funky horn blasts and Mariachi flourishes. Favourites like Sketch for Summer see Reilly get that distinctive, throbbing style through a Space Echo, while on Jacqueline he sounds like a cross between Pat Metheny and The Edge. Tracks like Mercy Dance and E.E. see him switch to Fender Rhodes and DX7, on which he plays similarly hypnotic, minimalist patterns. Extras include a nine track DVD plus two CDs remastered from the original soundboard tapes" (Uncut, 07/2017)

"Now spread over 4 discs, the original 1985 digital transfer of Domo Arigato is here (for comparison reasons if little else) alongside the entire concert, which has now been expanded and remastered from the original soundboard tapes. Songs now appear in the originally intended running order and sound considerably more professional, punchier and (a)live again. There are liberal sprinklings of Bruce Mitchell's pattering percussion and flittering drum-fills - check Jacqueline for example - plus Tim Kellet's expressive trumpet motifs and John Metcalfe's pastoral viola passages but the focal point is Vini Reilly's all-styles guitar playing and deft synth touches. Even vocally, Reilly sounds confident and less sorrowful than normal and clearly Japan was rubbing off. Highlights include the oft-ignored electro-beats of E.E., the pretty Pauline and the various explorative Mercy versions. Add in Sketch for Summer and Sketch for Dawn and you have the makings of a greatest hits."

"Also included on discs 3 and 4 is an extra unreleased show from the year before plus a new separate DVD version of the 1985 concert footage. The images give an indication of the two-way love shared by both band and fans, while the live footage itself is crystal clear and demonstrative of Reilly and Mitchell's cognitive and expressive interplay, all captured perfectly. Housed in a box reproducing the original 8vo cover design, the CD version precedes a lavish double-vinyl edition (with bonus 7" facsimile of the rare Dedications For Japan single" (Flipside, 04/2017)