Circuses & Bread [FBN 154] | The Durutti Column

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Durutti Column \ Circuses & Bread [FBN 154 / CD]

Factory Benelux presents expanded 2xLP and CD editions of Circuses & Bread, the seventh studio album by Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column. Originally released by Factory Benelux in 1986, the album is now newly remastered with 6 bonus tracks including Italian EP Greetings 3.

Produced by Vini Reilly, the album also features contributions from Bruce Mitchell (drums and percussion), John Metcalfe (viola) and Tim Kellett (trumpet). Stand-out tracks include vocal song Tomorrow (also released as a single), extended instrumental meditation Blind Elevator Girl - Osaka, and All That Love and Maths Can Do. Recording was split between Strawberry and Revolution studios, the finished album appearing first on vinyl via Factory Benelux in April, followed by a CD version on Factory six months later.

Bonus tracks on this 2020 remaster include all 4 tracks from Italian import EP Greetings Three, rare compilation track The Aftermath, and the previously unreleased original mix of Our Lady of the Angels, prepared by Stu 'Jammer' James before the track was mixed for release as a single by producer Stephen Street.

The vinyl version is a 2xLP set pressed on clear and orange vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve. The CD is housed in a six panel digipack. Both versions retain the original cover art by 8vo, as well as liner notes and archive photography.

Vinyl (2xLP) tracklist:

A1. For Pauline
A2. Tomorrow
A3. Dance II
A4. For Hilary
A5. Street Fight
B1. Royal Infirmary
B2. Black Horses
B3. Dance I
C1. Blind Elevator Girl - Osaka
C2. The Aftermath
C3. Our Lady of the Angels (Stu James Mix)
D1. Florence Sunset
D2. All That Love and Maths Can Do
D3. San Giovanni Dawn
D4. For Friends In Italy

CD + digital tracklist:

1. For Pauline
2. Tomorrow
3. Dance II
4. For Hilary
5. Street Fight
6. Royal Infirmary
7. Black Horses
8. Dance I
9. Blind Elevator Girl - Osaka
10. All That Love and Maths Can Do
11. Florence Sunset
12. San Giovanni Dawn
13. For Friends In Italy
14. The Aftermath
15. Our Lady of the Angels (Stu James Mix)

Available as a 2xLP set, digipack CD, and digital (MP3 or FLAC). To order any format please select correct shipping option (UK, Europe or Rest of World) and click on Add To Cart button below cover image. Digital copies are supplied via link sent by email.

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

Reviews:

"It remains a triumph, comprising nine delicate instrumental filigrees that range from the micro timing of For Pauline to the extended majesty of one of Reilly's greatest ever tracks, Blind Elevator Girl (Osaka). Like all Durutti Column albums, it's a secret world to get lost in and there are bonus tracks aplenty... Essential listening" (Record Collector, 02/2021)

"Circuses and Bread is a story of unpigeonholeable eclecticism, circular guitar motions (All That Love and Maths Can Do), plaintive piano and sampled gunfire (Street Fight), and synth repetitions, brass histrionics and plucked harmonics (Blind Elevator Girl - Osaka). Their music has always been not of their time, and it still is, which is what makes The Durutti Column so beguiling" (Electronic Sound, 03/2021)

"Circuses & Bread finds Reilly again constructing layers of repetitive guitar figures with varying mixtures of other ingredients - drums, viola, piano, vocals, horns, sound effects - to help differentiate the tracks. In two groundbreaking tracks, Hilary is the loudest, most aggressive thing he has ever recorded, while Royal Infirmary, a sombre mood piece played on piano and punctuated by the sound of rifle fire, has no guitar at all" (Trouser Press)

"Accompanying single Tomorrow is just fine, and like all the best Durutti Column weaves itself around the mind, slips in and out of the heart, and still has a sliver of edge to it that never really makes it 'easy' to listen to. Vini Reilly is a great man" (NME, 05/1986)

"A prevailing humanity pulses throughout this dry-run for the baroque, orchestral insularity of Without Mercy" (Plan B, 03/2008)

"On this 1985 set Reilly's attempts to break his trademark delicacy are little short of thrilling. Comes with a raft of extra tracks. 4 stars" (Record Collector, 04/2008)

"Vini Reilly produces a wistful sound amidst the experimentation, with Tomorrow and Blind Elevator Girl standing out" (SubCulture, 03/2008)

"Like many of the band's records from around this time, it covers a lot of ground, from intricately orchestrated instrumentals and delicate songs to more abstract tracks that must have been a huge influence on Disco Inferno and Bark Psychosis. The album is rounded out by ten worthwhile bonus tracks, half of which are previously unreleased" (Exclaim!, 09/2008)