release date: Feb. 1980
format: cd (fact 14)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,05]
producer: Martin Hannett
label: Factory Records - nationality: England, UK
Tracklist: 1. "Sketch for Summer" (5 / 5) - 2. "Requiem for a Father" - 3. "Katharine" - 4. "Conduct" (5 / 5) - 5. "Beginning" (4 / 5) - 6. "Jazz" - 7. "Sketch for Winter" (4 / 5) - 8. "Collette" (4 / 5) - 9. "In 'D' "
[ full album ]
Studio debut album by The Durutti Column released on Factory Records and produced by Martin Hannett. The strange title The Return of the Durutti Column, which suggest a former release, is actually the debut album by this band / artist. Originally, The Durutti Column was a band consisting of several members at the time of formation in 1978 but in reality it is and became a one-man project only, as the guitarist, composer (and almost only musician on the debut except for producer Martin Hannett), Vini Reilly was the only member remaining after only two years in 1980. Although, he was the only remaining member of the band, as he got recording sessions, he decided to keep the band name, and maybe therefore one may speak of a 'return', i.e. 'The return of the band called The Durutti Column' whom you thought were long gone...' which explains the title.
I listened to this release in the early '80s but didn't really appreciate it until about a decade later. It's music for a mature listener's ear but once you find the beauty, it's unlike anything else and you just want more of the same. The album was released by Factory Records as all his albums were up until the early 1990s. The debut album includes two of his masterpieces "Sketch for Summer" and "Conduct" - I never grow tired of listening to those two. This release has been re-issued as a remastered 1996 bonus tracks edition but I really only recommend the original release, or at least the original track list. The bonus tracks are 'outtakes' from the original sessions but I find it somewhat hard to appreciate something that was found superfluous then. Also, the additional tracks appear to be producer Martin Hannett's experiments with samplers and synthesizers more than Reilly's own compositions.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
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| 1980 Original sandpaper cover | 1996 Remastered Bonus Tracks Edition |
