The Durutti Column are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England.[2] The band is a project of guitarist and occasional pianist Vini Reilly who is often accompanied by Bruce Mitchell on drums and Keir Stewart on bass, keyboards and harmonica. They were among the first acts signed to Factory Records by label founder Tony Wilson.
The Durutti Column played at the Factory club (organised by their managers), and cut two numbers for the first Factory Records release A Factory Sample, a double 7" compilation also featuring Joy Division, John Dowie and Cabaret Voltaire.[3] On the eve of recording a debut album, the band broke up after a dispute about Wilson and Erasmus's choice of producer, Martin Hannett.[3] Rowbotham, Bowers and Joyce went on to form The Mothmen (the latter two becoming members of Simply Red some years later), Sharp went on to form The Roaring 80s, SF Jive, and Glow, and also dedicated himself to acting; only Reilly remained.[3]
With everyone's departure, The Durutti Column defaulted to Reilly's solo project. Other musicians contributed to recordings and live performances as occasioned. Former Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias drummer Bruce Mitchell doubled as co-manager with Wilson throughout their career on Factory and for many years afterward.[citation needed]
1979–1990: Factory Records
The first album, 1980's The Return of the Durutti Column (title inspired by a 1967 Situationist International poster that includes that phrase), was produced by Martin Hannett. Reilly: "...he more or less got sounds for me that no one else could understand that I wanted. And he understood that I wanted to play the electric guitar but I didn't want this horrible distorted, usual electric guitar sound and he managed to get that." The record featured a sandpaper sleeve (like the title of the record, inspired by a Situationist joke, a book – Guy Debord's Mémoires – with a sandpaper cover to destroy other books on the shelf). "I didn't even know it was going to be an album. It was just the case of jumping at the chance of being in the studio. I actually didn't get up in time, Martin had to physically get me out of bed to get me to the studio – that's how little I believed it would happen. I was still doing late night petrol station shifts. I was even more amazed when Tony presented me with a white label. I was completely baffled. 'What, this is really going to be an album? You must be insane! No-one's going to buy this!' And then Tony got the idea from the Situationists about the sandpaper book, and decided to do some with a sandpaper sleeve. It was Joy Division that stuck the sandpaper onto the card. I was mortified."[6][7]
The music was unlike anything else performed by post-punk acts at the time. Reilly rooted himself in "new wave" with "...an attempt at experimental things";[8] the record contained nine gentle guitar instrumentals (later releases occasionally feature Reilly's soft and hesitant vocals) including elements from jazz, folk, classical music and rock. Reilly: "...I had a lot of classical training when I was young, guitar and formal training, the scales I write with and the techniques I use are classical techniques and scales – a lot of minor melodic and minor harmonic scales, which generally aren't used in pop music. Usually it's pentatonic". Hannett's production included adding electronic rhythm and other effects, including birdsong on "Sketch for Summer". The album was accompanied by a flexidisc with two tracks by Hannett alone.[2]
LC ("Lotta Continua", Italian for "continuous struggle"), released in 1981, was recorded without Hannett, and introduced percussionist Bruce Mitchell, Reilly's most frequent musical partner and occasional manager. It was recorded on a four-track cassette deck at home (while it was slightly padded in the studio, the tape hiss is intact); among the first crisp, professionally released recordings made cheaply at home.[9] The EP Deux Triangles, released in 1982, contained three instrumentals, with piano emphasised over guitar. Another Setting (1983) was again Reilly and Mitchell; in 1984, the band was expanded to include Richard Henry (trombone), Maunagh Fleming (cor anglais and oboe), Blaine Reininger (of Tuxedomoon; violin and viola), Mervyn Fletcher (saxophone), Caroline Lavelle (cello), and Tim Kellett (trumpet). The album Without Mercy, arranged by John Metcalfe, was intended as an instrumental evocation of the poem La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats.
Say What You Mean was a departure from roots with the addition of deep electronic percussion.[10] Kellett and Metcalfe remained (Metcalfe playing viola); they also appear alongside Reilly and Mitchell on Circuses and Bread (Factory Benelux in 1985) and Domo Arigato. The latter is a live album recorded in Tokyo and the first pop album released in the UK solely on the relatively new compact disc format (and also available on VHS and LaserDisc.)
Kellett left to join Simply Red, but guested on The Guitar and Other Machines (1987), the first new UK album to be released on Digital Audio Tape (as well as the usual media of LP, audio cassette and CD).[11]The Guitar and Other Machines has a far more direct sound than earlier records, with guest vocals from Stanton Miranda and Reilly's then partner, Pol, and the use of a sequencer and drum machine in addition to Mitchell's drumming. The album was produced by Stephen Street, who also produced Morrissey's solo album Viva Hate (1988), on which Reilly played guitar. Reilly has said he was neither properly credited nor compensated for composing most of the music on Viva Hate.[12]
Vini Reilly (1989), also produced by Reilly and Street, features extensive use of sampling, with looped samples of vocalists (including Otis Redding, Tracy Chapman, Annie Lennox and Joan Sutherland) used as the basis for several tracks.[2] Initial copies came with a 7" or CD single, "I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong", credited to "Vincent Gerard and Steven Patrick", in which a take of the Morrissey B-side "I Know Very Well How I Got My Name" dissolves into laughter after Reilly hits a wrong note.
On Obey the Time (1990), Mitchell played on only one track, the album being otherwise a solo recording by Reilly, heavily influenced by contemporary dance music. The album's title is a phrase uttered by the titular character of William Shakespeare's Othello toward his fiance, Desdemona in Act One, Scene Two: "I have but an hour of love, of worldly matters and direction, To spend with thee: we must obey the time." An accompanying single, "The Together Mix", featured two reworkings of album tracks by Together, Jonathon Donaghy and Suddi Raval (Donaghy was killed in a car crash in Ibiza before the single was released). This was to be the last Durutti Column record released by Factory, in early 1991.
For the first few years after the demise of Factory, the only Durutti Column album releases were Lips That Would Kiss (a 1991 collection of early singles, compilation contributions and unreleased material on the separate label Factory Benelux), and Dry (1991) and Red Shoes (1992), Italian collections of alternate versions and unreleased outtakes.
Former member Dave Rowbotham was killed by an unknown assailant in 1991.[3] He was later memorialised by the Happy Mondays in the song "Cowboy Dave".
In 1993, Tony Wilson attempted to revive Factory Records, and Sex and Death was the first release on Factory Too (a subdivision of London Records). The album was once again produced by Stephen Street, with Mitchell and Metcalfe, and it included, on the track "The Next Time", Peter Hook of New Order. Time Was Gigantic ... When We Were Kids, which followed in 1998, was produced by Keir Stewart, who also played on the album and has frequently worked with Reilly since. Fidelity was released between these albums in 1996 by Les Disques du Crépuscule and was produced by Laurie Laptop.
The eight albums recorded for Factory (The Return of the Durutti Column, LC, Another Setting, Without Mercy, Domo Arigato, The Guitar and Other Machines, Vini Reilly and Obey the Time) were re-released with additional material by Factory Too/London, under the banner Factory Once, between 1996 and 1998.
Factory Too effectively ended in 1998, and subsequent Durutti Column albums have been on independent labels Artful Records (Rebellion [2001], Someone Else's Party [2003], Keep Breathing [2006], Idiot Savants [2007]) or Kookydisc (Tempus Fugit [2004], Sunlight to Blue . . . Blue to Blackness [2008]). Kookydisc has also released two further volumes of The Sporadic Recordings (along with a slightly edited re-release of the first volume from 1989), remastered versions of two very scarce LPs from the early 1980s (Live At The Venue [2004] and Amigos Em Portugal [2005]), and two subscription-club discs of rare and unreleased material. A download-only release, Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital, It Was Heaven Sent), first appeared in 2005 via Wilson's project F4, which was marketed as the fourth version of Factory Records.
A short Jeff Noon play adapted for BBC Radio 3, Dead Code - Ghosts of the Digital Age (BBC Radio 3, 2005), was partially soundtracked by The Durutti Column.
On 7 September 2009, Colin Sharp died from a brain haemorrhage.[13] Reilly suffered a stroke in 2011, following which he was left unable to play the guitar the way he did before.[14]
Phil Rainford
Phil Rainford is a British former singer and music producer, who formed part of the Manchester music scene, in late 1970s and early 1980s. He was the original singer of post-punk band The Durutti Column who were signed to Factory Records, having joined the band in early 1978.[15]
He was sacked in July of that year, for not being a considered correct choice.[16] He did not release any material with the band other than a couple of pieces on a Factory Records sample release. At the time he was also known as "Phil Raincoat".[17]
Phil Rainford later reappeared as producer for two albums for singer Nico: Live Heroes and Femme Fatale.[18] He engineered and mixed another Nico's live album, Do or Die: Diary 1982. Phil is one of the "stars"/driver in James Young's book about Nico's time in Manchester and touring Europe "Songs they Never Play on the Radio". He also mixed the Musical Revue album for Suns of Arqa, also known as Live with Prince Far-I, although his surname is curiously misspelled 'Qainford' on the credits.[16][19]
Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus.
James Martin Hannett was a British record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, Magazine, John Cooper Clarke, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Happy Mondays. His distinctive production style embraced atmospheric sounds and electronics.
Vincent Gerard "Vini" Reilly is an English musician and leader of the post-punk group the Durutti Column. He is known for his distinctively clean, fluid guitar style, which stood out from his punk-era contemporaries in its incorporation of jazz, folk, and classical elements. In addition to his work under that group, Reilly has also collaborated with artists such as Morrissey, John Cooper Clarke, Pauline Murray, Anne Clark, and others.
John Metcalfe is a British-based composer, arranger and violist, member of the Duke Quartet and a former member of the band The Durutti Column.
The Mothmen were a short-lived post-punk band from England, formed around 1979 by Dave Rowbotham, Chris Joyce and Tony Bowers, shortly after they left The Durutti Column, including ex-Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias singer Bob Harding.
The Nosebleeds were a punk band formed in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England in 1976. During their early days, they were known as Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds, until the departure of singer Ed Banger. The band is well known in modern rock history for the later successes of its individual members, notably Morrissey, Billy Duffy, Vini Reilly, and Toby Toman. They released two studio albums.
The Invisible Girls were a British rock band, formed in Salford, Greater Manchester in 1978, to provide a musical backdrop to the recorded output of Salford punk poet John Cooper Clarke. The band's nucleus was Joy Division and New Order producer Martin Hannett and keyboardist Steve Hopkins, with contributions from, amongst others, Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks and Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe. The band also played on the first solo album by Pauline Murray, the eponymous Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls and some singles, and later with Nico for the single "Procession".
The Return of the Durutti Column is the debut studio album by English band The Durutti Column. It was released in January 1980, through record label Factory.
Shadowplayers is the title of both a 2006 documentary film and a 2010 book by James Nice of LTM Recordings, tracing the detailed history of Factory Records and the Manchester post-punk music scene between 1978 and 1981.
A Factory Sample is a 7-inch double sampler EP released in January 1979 by Factory Records of Manchester, England. Funded by a small inheritance which had recently been bequeathed to Tony Wilson, it was the first vinyl recording to be released by the label. The cover of the EP is made of rice paper, dyed silver and sealed inside a thin plastic bag.
Dave Rowbotham was an English rock musician who played guitar and bass with various Manchester bands in the 1970s and the 1980s, and as a studio musician.
Motivation was a short-lived band formed in Manchester, England by bassist and probably leader Steve Garvey, guitarist Dave Rowbotham, drummer Snuff and vocalist Dave Price. Garvey was a former Buzzcocks, Teardrops and Bok Bok member, while Rowbotham was previously in The Durutti Column and then in The Mothmen.
"Searching for Heaven" is the third and final single from Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls, released in April 1981 on Illusive Records. It was produced by Martin Hannett.
Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls is the only album made by Penetration singer Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls, John Cooper Clarke's backing band. It was released in September 1980 on the RSO label.
Chris Joyce is an English musician, known for being the drummer with various groups and with Simply Red in the 1980s.
Colin Ainsley Sharp was an English actor, biographer, percussionist and singer-songwriter, who was part of the Manchester music scene of the late 1970s and dedicated to arts in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Royal Family and the Poor are a band from Liverpool, England, centred on multi-instrumentalist Mike Keane. After recording two singles and two albums for Factory Records in the 1980s, they continued to release music into the 21st century.
LC is the second studio album by English band The Durutti Column. It was released in November 1981 through Manchester record label Factory.
Without Mercy is the fourth studio album by English band The Durutti Column, released in October 1984 on Factory Records. After the band and label boss Tony Wilson were unanimous in their dislike of Another Setting (1983), Wilson pushed the band towards progressing to a new, classical-inspired sound. The band went on to record Short Stories for Pauline, which went unreleased when Wilson refused to release it, though one track, "Little Mercy", kept Wilson's attention. He asked the band to use it as the foundation for a different album, ultimately becoming Without Mercy.
Obey the Time is the eighth studio album by English band The Durutti Column, released in 1990 by Factory Records. Conceived during the middle of the popularity of acid house in the band's native Manchester, band leader Vini Reilly chose to combine acid house, and other electronic dance music styles, with his signature guitar playing on a new album. He created the album in his home studio with engineer Paul Miller. Drummer Bruce Mitchell only plays on one song, with his slot being filled by drum machines on the remaining tracks. As such, critics have described Obey the Time as a Vini Reilly solo album.
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