FACT 84 in 24 Bits

The Durutti Column - Without Mercy

Ripped from a vinyl album released on Factory Records (FACT 84) in 1984 to high resolution 24-bit lossless flac audio. Vini's most eclectic piece of work has appeared here before, however I thought I'd have a go at a 24-bit rip and the results are pleasing. John Metcalfe toured with Vini for this album but it was Tuxedomoon's Blaine L. Reininger who played violin and viola during the actual recording sessions. Enjoy!

A Without Mercy I
B Without Mercy II

Valuable Passages

The Durutti Column - Valuable Passages

Originally released as a double cassette album on Factory Records (FACT 164) in 1986. Eventually released as a compact disc (FACD 164) in 1987 from which this rip was made in high quality lossless flac audio. A Durutti's Greatest hits package or a mixtape of Tony Wilson's favourite tracks to play in the car?

1 Sketch For Summer
2 Conduct
3 Sketch For Winter
4 Lips That Would Kiss
5 For Belgian Friends
6 Danny
7 Never Known
8 Jacqueline
9 The Missing Boy
10 Prayer
11 Spent Time
12 Without Mercy (Stanzas 4 To 7)
13 Without Mercy (Stanzas 10 To 12)
14 The Room
15 Tomorrow

Deux Triangles

The Durutti Column - Deux Triangles

Ripped from a 12" 33 rpm EP released on Factory Benelux Records (FBN 10) in 1982 to high resolution 24-bit lossless flac audio. Vini puts down his guitar for most of Deux Triangles which is very much a piano-based EP. Many will also note the rare appearance of the Vini Reilly bass line on Zinni. The lengthy b-side was a challenging rip, mainly due to the way my stylus dealt with the some of the frequencies and loudness during the brief out of tune piano stabs. This track has had some ten seconds of cosmetic surgery which only the very keen of ear will notice. For friends in Edinburgh.

A1 Favourite Painting
A2 Zinni
B1 Piece For Out Of Tune Grande Piano

Bottom Line Sequences

The Durutti Column - Live At The Bottom Line New York

Originally released as a cassette album on Reach Out International Records (A-157) in 1987. Ripped here from a 1993 compact disc reissue on the same label. Vini Reilly, Bruce Mitchell and John Metcalfe perform live in front of a very appreciative audience at The Bottom Line in New York. I have this on cassette too ...somewhere!

1 Prayer
2 Arpeggiator
3 Our Lady Of The Angels
4 Pol In B
5 Miss Haymes
6 For Mother
7 Requiem
8 Jacqueline
9 Elevator Sequence
10 Missing Boy
11 Tomorrow

The Christmas Post

Cocteau Twins - Snow

Ripped from a compact disc single released on Fontana Records (COCCD 1) in 1993 to high quality lossless flac audio. It may not be snowing where you are this year, however Grangemouth's finest do their very best to get us in a seasonal spirit.

1 Winter Wonderland
2 Frosty The Snowman

Paul Haig / Durutti Column - Scottish Christmas

Originally released as a 7" vinyl single on Les Disques Du Crépuscule / Factory Benelux (XM 1) in 1985. Recreated here from lossless flac digital audio files.

A1 Paul Haig - Scottish Christmas
B1 Durutti Column - Christmas For Pauline
B2 Durutti Column - Snowflakes

The Roy Budd Trio - Have A Jazzy Christmas

Ripped from a vinyl released on Master Mix Records CHELP 9) in 1988 to high resolution 24-bit flac audio. With thanks to Steve, here is a seasonal rarity unusually released on a British dance/hip-hop label in the late eighties. Roy Budd was a British jazz pianist most famous for his soundtrack to Get Carter. Enjoy!


A1 We Three Kings
A2 Winter Wonderland
A3 Ding Dong Merrily On High
A4 Christmas Song
A5 Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
A6 Lieutenant Kije
B1 I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
B2 While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks By NIght
B3 Jingle Bells
B4 When You Wish Upon A Star
B5 White Christmas
B6 We Wish You A Merry Christmas

FACT 24 in 24 Bits

Various Artists - A Factory Quartet

Ripped from a double vinyl album released on Factory Records (FACT 24) in 1980 to high resolution 24-bit flac audio. Here is a much requested re-post using my original 24/96 files from a few years back.

The second Factory Records sampler was originally planned as a double 10" set, but thankfully the label settled on this beautifully packaged double album with an embossed polaroid-style sleeve. Like the first 7" sampler, each artist gets one side of vinyl to introduce themselves, though The Durutti Column had already appeared on the label. The diversity of the chosen artists is huge, ranging from the ethereal beauty of The Durutti Column, through the distorted jazz-rock of Blurt, to scouse dirge noise terrorists The Royal Family And The Poor. Kevin Hewick supplies a difficult mix of live sets, where perhaps his 1980 Graveyard sessions would have fitted better, but as history says, he never got to finish five songs (with New Order).

Vini Reilly recruits ACR drummer Donald Johnson with a Martin Hannett production, and the three resulting tracks are among his best, For Belgian Friends being the highlight.

Hewick is joined onstage by ACR's Peter Terrell with his noisebox, but heckles and banter between Hewick and his audience spoil it for me. Blurt are an acquired taste, but like a post-punk Beefheart they pound a twisted beat with ear-splitting sax. The RFATP set is saved by Martin Hannett's presence in the production suite. It's a deep, dark noise funk-muck dirge, where the distorted guitars resemble early Section 25 whilst Joy Division's synths washaway deep in the mix.

Strangely, the album was never reissued for the CD generation, though some tracks have appeared as extras on various other reissues.

A1  The Durutti Column – For Mimi
A2  The Durutti Column – For Belgian Friends
A3  The Durutti Column – Self-portrait
B1  Kevin Hewick – Rubble
B2  Kevin Hewick – 1940
B3  Kevin Hewick – A Little Feeling
B4  Kevin Hewick – Forget
B5  Kevin Hewick – Morphia
B6  Kevin Hewick – The Enchanted Kiss
B7  Kevin Hewick – Haystack
C1  Blurt – Puppeteer
C2  Blurt – Dyslexia
C3  Blurt – Some Come
C4  Blurt – Benighted
D1  The Royal Family And The Poor – Dirge
D2  The Royal Family And The Poor – Vaneigem Mix
D3  The Royal Family And The Poor – Dirge
D4  The Royal Family And The Poor – Death Factory
D5  The Royal Family And The Poor – Dirge
D6  The Royal Family And The Poor – Rackets

Sporadic Prolific

Vini Reilly - The Sporadic Recordings

Ripped from a compact disc album released on TTTTTTTTT (SPORE 1) in 1989 to high quality lossless flac audio. A gorgeous compilation of late eighties Durutti Column sessions recorded at Manchester's Sporadic Studios with a few extras including a Piccadilly Radio session track, For Lucy H. 

1 Buddhist Prayer
2 Pathway
3 Nile Opera
4 Shirt No. 7
5 Kind Of Love
6 Rob Gray's Elegy
7  Misere
8 For Steven Patrick
9  We Stumble
10 Sketch For A Manchester Summer 1989
11 Arpeggiator II
12 Diazepam 5 mgs
13 But Was I...?
14 Pol In A-flat
15 Real Drums - Real Drummer
16 Another Mirror - Another Wall
17 30 Oldham Street
18 4.10 AM
19 For Lydia
20 Detail For Heidi And Jodie
21 Zinni's Dance
22 PPP Version
23 For Lucy H
24 4.30 AM
25 It's A Bright Guilty World - Part I
26 It's A Bright Guilty World - Part II
27 Nile Reprise
28 Diazepam 10 mgs

Easier Listening

Various Artists - Hommage À Duras

Ripped from a vinyl album released on Interior Music (IM 011) in 1987 to high resolution 24-bit flac audio. Here's a compilation of Factory Benelux and Les Disques Du Crépuscule artists sub-let to Belgian label Interior Music. Some of the tracks have appeared elsewhere but it is The Durutti Column tracks which should appeal to most. I haven't taken the time for comparisons or versions of Vini's work (he does like to give the same songs differing titles on other releases) although on listening most appear to have come from around his Without Mercy era. Listening to Richard Jobson's rambling poetry may not be to everybody's taste but he does seem to set the tone for the whole record. File under easier listening.

A1 Bartok - Lament
A2 Richard Jobson - The Lover
A3 Richard Jobson - Avalanche
A4 The Durutti Column / Blaine L. Reininger - The Sea Wall
A5 Richard Jobson - Days In The Trees
A6 Richard Jobson - The Kiss, The Dance And The Death
A7 The Durutti Column - The Square
B1 The Durutti Column / Blaine L. Reininger - La Douleur
B2 Winston Tong - Like The Others
B3 Richard Jobson - Under The Rain Clouds
B4 Richard Jobson - Theme From Des Journées Entiéres Sous Les Arbres
B5 Richard Jobson - Day Breaks
B6 The Durutti Column - Little Horses Of Tarquina
B7 Dislocation Dance - (The Next Year I Returned To) St Michelle (But Marie Was Gone And With Her My Childhood)

A Little Mercy

Durutti Column - Brighton University December 1984

Ripped from a first generation (M1) audience recording of Vini Reilly's Durutti Column onstage at The University of Brighton on the 15th December 1984. This is a rarely distributed recording of a very special gig focusing on the Without Mercy album, bookended by what Vini kindly refers to as some of his greatest hits. This tape has been captured digitally in high resolution 24/48000 flac audio for your enjoyment.

Sketch For Dawn
Jacqueline
Mercy Intro
Without Mercy
Mercy Theme
Mercy Dance
E.E.
The Room
Ornithology
Prayer
The Beggar
Missing Boy

Shades Of Faith

Durutti Column - Shades Of Faith

Vini Reilly has always tended on the prolific side with his output. Leaving aside all the regular albums, EPs and live albums, there are three Sporadic Recordings collections and the Subscription Group releases on Kooky. There are further collections of demos on the re-releases of LC on the Factory Benelux imprint and the Vini Reilly albums and the For Factory Records box set on Kooky.

In the recent past Vini has been beset by health and financial problems, which led him to sell a collection of CDRs via Kingbee Records of Manchester. Here for your enjoyment are the unreleased tracks from the Kingbee CDRs. The tracks were collected, remastered and collated by a group of people on three continents separated by distance, but connected by their love of the music of the Durutti Column and a desperate need to get out a bit more regularly.

These tracks were donated to ESWA on the understanding that they were made available to all fans of Vini Reilly's music and not to those who would attempt to sell them whether for personal profit or otherwise.

All tracks are in high quality 16bit/44.1khz FLAC audio.

1. Shades Of Faith

2. Creole

3. Somewhere (Demo)

4. Gun (ruff)

5. Gathering Dust (Demo)

6. Just Poppy

7. How Unbelievable (Without Ambient Ending)

8. Or Are You Just a Technician/Chant (Extended)

Thank you to those who made these recordings available.

Another Setting

Durutti Column - Another Setting

Everybody should have their favourite Durutti Column album. I choose Another Setting. For me it is Reilly's most diverse and complex, it is ever so slightly pretentious with it's arty template sleeve design and ID-style credits (Perfume by Jovan, and Clothes by Lucinda Byre), and because of the way Vini intertwines what is just three or four songs with brief moments of semi-classical virtuosity. 

There are just four musicians on the record, and it is the cor anglais of Manaugh Fleming on the opening Prayer and the beautiful Second Family which sets this album apart from LC. The two proper songs, Bordeaux and The Beggar are among the Durutti's best and most familiar, and although many critic Reilly's voice, his monotony and melancholy seem to fit the mood and melody on both perfectly. Unfortunately Smile In The Crowd is not Reilly's at his best, it is him at his most miserable and the song cannot be saved by wonderful guitar and cor anglais interludes, or even Simon Topping's out-of-tune trumpet. The closing Spent Time is one of Reilly's simplest yet most charming and reflective compositions.

Ripped from a 1998 CD reissue of an original album released on Factory Records (FACT 74) in 1983 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A1. Prayer
A2. Response
A3. Bordeaux
A4. For A Western
A5. The Beggar
B1. Francesca
B2. Smile In The Crowd
B3. You've Heard It Before
B4. Dream Of A Child
B5. Second Family
B6. Spent Time

I Get Along Without You Very Well

Durutti Column - I Get Along Without You Very Well

Aside from a few EPs and limited releases, it took Vini Reilly four years to release his first single, and with the help of Tony Wilson's estranged wife Lindsay, he chose an apt cover of Hoagy Carmichael. It's a simple melody backed with electric piano, Reilly's wonderful guitar and subtle chimes, seemingly dedicated to the end of Wilson's marriage. Production is credited to Be Music, though it is not clear which member of New Order was at the mixing desk.

Ripped from a rather well worn 7" single released on Factory Records (FAC 64) in 1983 to high quality lossless FLAC audio.

A. I Get Along Without You Very Well
B. Prayer

A Factory Quartet

Various Artists - A Factory Quartet

The second Factory Records sampler was originally planned as a double 10" set, but thankfully the label settled on this beautifully packaged double album with an embossed polaroid-style sleeve. Like the first 7" sampler, each artist gets one side of vinyl to introduce themselves, though The Durutti Column had already appeared on the label. The diversity of the chosen artists is huge, ranging from the ethereal beauty of The Durutti Column, through the distorted jazz-rock of Blurt, to scouse dirge noise terrorists The Royal Family And The Poor. Kevin Hewick supplies a difficult mix of live sets, where perhaps his 1980 Graveyard sessions would have fitted better, but as history says, he never got to finish five songs (with New Order).
Vini Reilly recruits ACR drummer Donald Johnson with a Martin Hannett production, and the three resulting tracks are among his best, For Belgian Friends being the highlight.
Hewick is joined onstage by ACR's Peter Terrell with his noisebox, but heckles and banter between Hewick and his audience spoil it for me. Blurt are an acquired taste, but like a post-punk Beefheart they pound a twisted beat with ear-splitting sax. The RFATP set is saved by Martin Hannett's presence in the production suite. It's a deep, dark noise funk-muck dirge, where the distorted guitars resemble early Section 25 whilst Joy Division's synths washaway deep in the mix.
Strangely, the album was never issued for the CD generation, though some tracks have appeared as extras on various other reissues. Here for the first time, it's a lovely clean 24/96000 rip.

Ripped from a double vinyl album released on Factory Records (FACT 24) in 1980 to high resolution 24-bit FLAC audio.


A1. The Durutti Column – For Mimi
A2. The Durutti Column – For Belgian Friends
A3. The Durutti Column – Self-portrait
B1. Kevin Hewick – Rubble
B2. Kevin Hewick – 1940
B3. Kevin Hewick – A Little Feeling
B4. Kevin Hewick – Forget
B5. Kevin Hewick – Morphia
B6. Kevin Hewick – The Enchanted Kiss
B7. Kevin Hewick – Haystack
C1. Blurt – Puppeteer
C2. Blurt – Dyslexia
C3. Blurt – Some Come
C4. Blurt – Benighted
D1. The Royal Family And The Poor – Dirge
D2. The Royal Family And The Poor – Vaneigem Mix
D3. The Royal Family And The Poor – Dirge
D4. The Royal Family And The Poor – Death Factory
D5. The Royal Family And The Poor – Dirge
D6. The Royal Family And The Poor – Rackets

Durutti Column - WOMAD Live

Recorded live at the World of Music and Dance Festival in St. Austell, Cornwall in 1988. This limited edition 4 track mini-album is long deleted.

For this show, Vini and Bruce were joined onstage by ACR and Swing Out Sister keyboardist Andy Connell.

They also dragged a Chinese opera singer Liu Sola onstage to warble along to Otis and completely ruin Finding The Sea.

The live renditions of English Landscape Tradition and Bordeaux are both very very special.

WOMAD Live : ripped from a compact disc released on Factory Records (FACD 234) in 1989
1. Otis
2. English Landscape Tradition
3. Finding The Sea
4. Bordeaux

Hear

Vincent Gerard & Stephen Patrick - I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong

This single sided 7" single was given away free by Factory Records with initial pressings of the Durutti Column album Vini Reilly.

Many will say this is a Morrissey rarity, I disagree, it's a rather special Durutti Column rarity ;-)

FACT244+

Durutti Column - Piccadilly 1987

In March 1987, Durutti Column recorded a three track session for the Tony Michaelides Show on Manchester's Piccadilly Radio. Here is that session in full....

1. When The World
2. Bordeaux Sequence
3. For Lucy H.

Pure Genius

Paul Haig & Durutti Column - Les Disques du Crepuscule/Factory Benelux 1985 Christmas Gift

A Very Merry Christmas to all followers and fellow bloggers.

Les Disques du Crepuscule & Factory Benelux 1985 Christmas Gift : originally released on a 7" vinyl single on Factory Benelux (XM 1) in 1985
A1. Paul Haig - Scottish Christmas
B1. Durutti Column - Christmas For Pauline
B2. Durutti Column - Snowflakes

Enjoy!

Durutti Column - Greetings Three

Greetings Three : ripped from a 12" EP released on Materiali Sonori (MASO 7003) in 1986
A1. Florence Sunset
A2. All That Love And Maths Can Do
B1. San Giovanni Dawn
B2. For Friends In Italy

Listen

Durutti Column - Short Sories About Pauline (Unreleased Factory Album)

Short Stories About Pauline was scheduled to be released in 1984 on Factory Benelux and allocated catelogue no. FBN36. As a whole piece, it fits well between the classic Another Setting LP and the sessions which produced Say What You Mean EP, Without Mercy LP and the lush Circuses and Bread LP, in what was an extremely productive period for Vini Reilly.

Rumour is that it was shelved in 1985, as Factory wanted to concentrate on the Domo Arigato live release, which was to be exclusively on a new format, the compact disc. A more realistic theory is that it was to have a been a filler release prior to the Without Mercy concept but got lost in the myre following significant delays with the sleeve of Without Mercy.

Tracks from this shelved project have been subsequently released on out-take and demo compilations, but here they are in their entirity.

From the unreleased Factory Benelux album, Short Stories About Pauline (FBN36),

1. At First Sight
2. A Silence
3. Journeys By Vespa
4. Limitations and Invitations
5. Model
6. Duet
7. Destroy She Said
8. Take Some Time Out
9. Mirror A
10.Cocktail
11.Telephone Call
12.Mirror B
13.A Room In Southport
14.College

This has now been officially released