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The Durutti Column \ Vini Reilly + WOMAD Live [FBN 244 / CD]


Factory Benelux presents expanded 2xLP and 2xCD editions of Vini Reilly, the seventh studio album by Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column. Originally released by Factory Records in 1989, the album has now been newly remastered with 23 bonus tracks including companion single WOMAD Live.

Produced by Vini Reilly and Stephen Street (The Smiths, Morrissey, Blur), the original working title of the Vini Reilly album was The Durutti Column Sampler. ‘People describe them as found samples and found voices,’ explained Vini at the time. ‘I always build up a catalogue of interesting loops and voice samples and stuff. Then I forget where I got them from a lot of the time, which is quite convenient… A lot of the time I manipulate the sample anyway, so it’s singing my tune, rather than the original tune.’

Stand-out tracks include Otis, Love No More and My Country. ‘The tune always comes from playing the guitar,’ added Vini. ‘As soon as I pick a guitar up I’ll come up with a tune. I don’t know whether it’s good or bad - but there’s always a tune there.’

The sleeve itself samples Bob Dylan circa Highway 61 Revisited, showcasing an iconic portrait by Mark Warner. Indeed much about the album flirts with mainstream culture, being a deliberate attempt to position Reilly as a ‘pop’ artist following his chart-topping collaboration with Morrissey on Viva Hate. This collaboration was further celebrated on bonus track For Steven Patrick.

Other bonus tracks on this 2020 double-disc remaster include a multitude of demos and outtakes from the same period (some previously issued on The Sporadic Recordings in 1989), plus all four tracks from pristine performance CD WOMAD Live. Recorded at the WOMAD Festival in Cornwall in August 1988, the core Durutti duo of Vini Reilly and Bruce Mitchell are here augmented by Andy Connell on keys and Chinese opera singer Liu Sola.

The vinyl version is a 2xLP set pressed on black vinyl with a bonus clear vinyl 7-inch single. The gatefold sleeve is printed on white matt board, with this edition limited to 1000 copies.


2xCD tracklist:

Disc 1

1. Love No More
2. Pol in G
3. Opera I
4. People's Pleasure Park
5. Red Square
6. Finding the Sea
7. Otis
8. William B
9. They Work Every Day
10. Opera II
11. Homage to Catalonia
12. Requiem Again
13. My Country
14. Otis (WOMAD live)
15. English Landscape Tradition (WOMAD live)
16. Finding the Sea (WOMAD live)
17. Bordeaux (WOMAD live)

Disc 2

1. Opera II (demo)
2. Finding the Sea I
3. PPP (demo)
4. Juan Montero Sketch I
5. Sample Tune
6. Finding the Sea II
7. Juan Montero Sketch II
8. William B (demo)
9. Sketches on Stratocaster
10. Dry
11. Paradise Passage Road
12. Les Preger's Tune
13. Buddhist Prayer
14. Misere
15. Real Drums - Real Drummer
16. Pathway
17. Rob Grey's Elegy
18. Shirt No. 7
19. For Steven Patrick


Optional Disc 3

1. I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong


Vinyl (2xLP + 7") tracklist:

A1. Love No More
A2. Pol in G
A3. Opera I
A4. People's Pleasure Park
A5. Finding the Sea
B1. Otis
B2. They Work Every Day
B3. Opera II
B4. Homage to Catalonia
B5. Requiem Again
B6. My Country
C1. Red Square
C2. William B
C3. Paradise Passage Road
C4. Dry
C5. My Country (Monarchy Mix)
D1. Otis (WOMAD live)
D2. English Landscape Tradition (WOMAD live)
D3. Finding the Sea (WOMAD live)
D4. Bordeaux (WOMAD live)
E1. I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong
F1. For Steven Patrick


ALL FORMATS ARE CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK. Available as a 2xLP + 7" set, and 2xCD set + bonus single-track CD (not in shops). Vinyl is currently out of stock. To order any format please select correct shipping option (UK, Europe of 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)

Vini Reilly [FBN 244]

Reviews:

"A timeless, neo-classical, ambient and - well - other masterpiece from the opening acoustic guitar and operatic voices of Love No More. Pol In G finds Reilly channelling Bill Evans's Conversations With Myself, kneading some amazing samples into his musical dough. People's Pleasure Park is, at its heart, surreal funk. This augmented Factory Benelux reissue is stupendous as we get mouth-watering demos of Opera, PPP and William B, outtakes, and four live tracks recorded at the 1989 WOMAD festival. 4 stars" (Record Collector, 03/2020)

"Over the years Reilly has created some transcendent music. Vini Reilly, from 1989, was going to be called the Durutti Column Sampler, but used Reilly's name in a bid to position him in the mainstream. Opera I and II help to convey the eclecticism on offer: the former is an exultant work that samples soprano Joan Sutherland, the latter a fine crack at flamenco from a non-Andalusian guitarist. WOMAD Live too captures the tension, the magic, and the beautiful things you can do with a sampler" (Electronic Sound, 04/2020)

"Less of an intentionally confusing title than might be thought, Reilly for all intents and purposes is Durutti no matter the changes through the years - Vini Reilly does signal another new phase of the band's work, moving into a full embrace of technological possibilities via an Akai sampler. With Reilly and Mitchell joined by a slew of guests - Swing Out Sister keyboardist Andy Connell; singers Pol, Rob Gray, and Liu Sola; and even former member John Metcalfe on the epic surge Finding the Sea - Durutti this time around pursued the organic/machine combination to even more successful conclusions than on The Guitar. Reilly's singing has often come in for criticism (unwarranted, really, considering how his soft approach effortlessly suits the general atmosphere of Durutti's work), so the slew of sampled and borrowed snippets from other vocalists and musicians that pepper the album makes for an intriguing change. Love No More, the album opener, shows how the approach can work, with acoustic guitar to the fore and echoed, truly haunting snippets of what sound like soul and opera singers wafting through the mix. Another full-on highlight is Otis, with Pol's live singing and Connell's keyboards combining with a brisk synth loop, building Mitchell drums, and an astonishing, uplifting Reilly guitar line. Mitchell's overall work on percussion is less prominent than before but still present, while Reilly's guitar efforts are again simply wonderful, further testing new approaches on both acoustic and electric that call to mind everyone from John Fahey to Bootsy Collins. If that last comparison seems strange, give the loud and funky People's Pleasure Park a listen, then marvel at how Sola's lovely singing and Reilly's further guitar runs transform it yet again" (All Music Guide, 1996)

"Vini Reilly has carved his own unique trench from which he's pretty untouchable. The Durutti soundscape has always been windswept and interesting; you've always been able to see your breath. But never have the drums been locked so securely inside the music cupboard as on this departure. The emphasis here is on cinematic atmospherics: the fistful of dollars that is Homage to Catalonia, the religious workout of Opera II or the surprising bar-room blues of People's Pleasure Park. He might have run out of album titles, but Vini hasn't lost 'it' yet - Britain's master instrumentalist is still your ambience man supreme" (NME, 1989)