Customer Reviews

Return of the Dc

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Quite simply one of the most beautiful albums ever recorded. The complete antithesis to fellow Factory artists Joy Division, and yet a perfect complement at the same time. Much has been written about the circumstances of the recording session, but never have a series of improvisational noodlings sounded so cohesive. Ethereal, jazzy, sublime melodies that refuse to be relegated to the background. Every time I play this album I stop what I'm doing and listen. It is the only album I can think of that seems to exist out of time: it could have been recorded yesterday, or a hundred years from now.

I recommend you track down a John Cooper Clarke track called 'Belladonna' (from 'Snap, Carckle and Bop') which features another fine Vini Reilly guitar contribution.

I bought this album back when it came out, on vinyl in its sandpaper cover. Even though I have the remastered CD, I still love to play my beat-up vinyl version. Somehow the pops and ticks fit in comfortably with Martin Hannett's synth work.

The sandpaper cover and the title? Thank the Situationist International for the inspiration. The SI were a bunch of 60s French artist-radicals who were a big influence on the Punk Movement. Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood were fans, and you can see the influence in their punk fashions and in the Sex Pistols graphics of Jamie Reid. British SI member and noted art historian Tim Clark taught Art History at Leeds University and apparently counted members of Gang of Four and Mekons amongst his students, though they tend to deny a direct SI influence. And of course Factory Records' Tony Wilson was also an SI devotee...

The SI sporadically published a magazine called 'The International Situationist' - one issue had a sandpaper cover, the idea being that it would destroy everything around it.

They loved to subvert images from popular culture by manipulating them - 'detournement' was the term they coined. One such image was a film still of two cowboys on horseback that had been redrawn as a cartoon. Dialogue balloons were added, saying (my translation):

- What are you working on right now?
- Some reification
- I see, that's serious work, with heavy books and lots of papers on a large table
- No, I drift, mainly I drift.

This image was a sticker inserted in the Factory Sampler EP and was also a poster distributed to people on the Factory mailing list, I think.

The original image was a poster put up around Strasbourg University during a student strike in October 1966. The caption underneath read 'La retour de la colonne Durruti' - The return of the Durruti column.

Note the different spelling. Who was Durruti and what was the Durruti Column? If you're interested, google 'Buenaventura Durruti'...

The cowboy was a popular image during the punk era. McLaren and Westwood printed a Sex Pistols T-shirt featuring two naked cowboys, and the Gang of Four's first album cover contains a series of subverted western movie stills. For more information, I highly recommend Greil Marcus' book 'Lipstick Traces', and if you can find it, an article he wrote about the punk cowboy motif he wrote for Art Forum back in the mid-80s.

Maybe this review ain't much use, but I hope it's of interest!

1979's 'Return of' album kicked off the unique career of Vini Reilly. Originally an undistinguished post-punk group (only one recording, 2 songs on a long deleted 2 x 7" called 'The Factory Sampler') the band split (eventually the drummer and bassist joining Simply Red !!)and Vini was booked into a studio for just three days with maverick Joy Division producer Martin Hannett. The story goes that Hannett had just bought a new synth and was more interested in playing around with that than recording Reilly. However Reilly spontaneously came up with 'Sketch for Summer' after hearing the bird-like noises Hannett had concocted, and incredibly 7 other loose improvisations, mixing Reilly's fluid guitar with Hannetts primitive beats before the two got fed up with each other. (By the way Trk 7 and 9 are identical, just put through different effects.) This CD also includes two tracks by Hannett on his synth and DC's first single. The whole mood is wistful and vaguely melancholic, but due to the circumstances of its recording spontaneous and organic. I love it very much, and love to hear how groups start out, although a first time buyer might want to first check out DC's following release 'LC'.

Albums, like books, should never be judged by their covers, and the rough, sandpaper sleeve that originally housed The Return of the Durutti Column was the complete antithesis of the graceful jazz guitar music found within. This record was recorded and produced over a three day period back in 1978 by the legendary Martin Hannett. Hannett was just discovering the unknown pleasures and possibilities of synthesizers and the strange beats and vibrations he generated inspired some of Vini Reilly's loveliest improvisations. This is a simple album of instrumental tracks, yet it displays such astonishing depth. Vini Reilly's guitar style reminds me so much of the gorgeous arpeggiations that characterized Johnny Marr's best work with The Smiths. And the remastering, bonus tracks, and narrative liner notes make a perfect album more than perfect. Sometimes 5 stars just aren't enough.

"The Return of the Durruti Column" was my introduction to the work of Vini Reilly / Durruti Column. A friend of mine played it for me in Brisbane, Australia, and I loved it so much I made a tape of it and listened to it over and over again as I travelled through the tropical rainforest and pristine beaches of Far North Queensland. It went very well with the landscape.

Nowadays we might call the sound "electronica" and/or "ambient," and both those terms apply to a certain extent. But unlike most recent ambient-type music, which is very electronic in origin, the Durruti Column's sound is built around the wonderful guitar-playing of Vini Reilly, processed a bit, often accompanied only by what I take to be a drum machine. The result is spare, quiet and measured almost to the point of being ambient, but is much more melodic than most of the current wave of ambient music.

I really dig it. If you want to make a very cool and slightly bent combo, do what I did and record "Return" on one side and Thin Marble Giant's "Colossal Youth" on the other.

While indeed a truly wonderful, five star classic release, it is important to note a major mistake in this issue. While the track listing on the CD packaging does reflect the contents of the original album, the CD itself is in fact missing one track, and has two others mislabelled. "Beginning" does not appear on this disc. Track 5 is actually what is listed as track 9, "In D", and track 9, rather than "In D", is an alternate mix of "Sketch For Winter" (track 7).

Even 20 years later, Vini Reilly's debut album still is the best example of his unique style, an effortlessly blending mix of post-punk guitar pop, jazz-rock, and classical music. As Vini himself said, his intention was to play the guitar like no one else. Probably it sound pretentious, but indeed, there's nothing else like this in pop music. By using multi-tracking techniques and other recording procedures, Vini creates a music which is subtle, intense, melancholy, and transparent at the same time. "Sketch for summer" and "Requiem.." offer strange machine-generated rhythms, while "Beginning", "Jazz", and "Katharine" feature a real backing band. Listening to "In D", you'll feel that Vini is able to do more with one guitar than others can to with a complete band. This edition of the debut album also contains some fine bonus tracks, and the sound quality is a big improvement upon the original CD. My rating: Essential buy for all fans of British pop music.

Originally a punk outfit during the late '70s, the original members of The Durutti Column broke off to form their own group, leaving guitarist Vini Reilly all alone. Guided by manager Tony Wilson, Reilly came out with "The Return Of The Durutti Column" in 1979, releasing it on Wilson's own Factory Records.

The incredibly talented Mancunian gave us an incredible debut, proving that he was in fact "The Durutti Column". Most of the songs on the record are solo guitar, but Martin Hannett's production gives the album a unique edge. Hannett's synth sounds fit perfectly with Reilly's echoing and dreamy guitar.

From the bird hummings on "Sketch For Summer", the synth beats on "Requiem For A Father", the guitar genius of "Katharine" to the cold reflections of "Sketch For Winter", you can't go wrong with The Durutti Column's debut. Every song on the album is bright, bold and even mysterious, and don't be surprised to find yourself playing the album over and over again.

The extra tracks on "The Return Of The Durutti Column" reissue make the debut even stronger. "Lips That Would Kiss" and "Madeleine" are the powerful bonus tracks, whilst Hannett's own "First Aspect Of The Same Thing" and "Second Aspect Of The Same Thing" will leave you speechless (as will the beautiful "Sleep Will Come").

If you are looking to get into The Durutti Column and experience Reilly's wonderful guitar, then the debut is the place to start. While The Durutti Column continue to improve dramatically over the course of the next few albums, you should first experience the magic and brilliance of "The Return Of The Durutti Column". Highly recommended.

the return of the durutti column? well, i suppose there's a logical explanation to that title. generally, a debut release is intended to pave new ground with something heretofore unheard. and generally, that's exactly the point of departure for vini reilly, martin hannett, and the durutti column on this debut effort. each sound -- from chirping, to pumping, to chiming, to blessing...a point of departure for the avid listener. this album is beautiful, and (as i write this) lays a ground work for 20 or 30 more years of beauty to come. and, as i listen to it in this moment, i hear each sound coming back to me as one i've loved might one day return to me. hmm -- the return of the durutti column...the sound of returning...