Durutti Column:
Chronicle XL Deluxe:
Kookydisc:
CD x 2 + booklet, badges, inserts:
Out now:
★★★★★★★★★☆
If you happen to hear fleeting glimpses of this 'comeback' album booming out of a car-window somewhere in Manchester sometime soon, chances are the occupant will be Durutti Column's mainstay drummer and visionary Bruce Mitchell. According to the accompanying sleeve-notes written by Mitchell, "I play it all the time...during driving around town..." and "we've arrived at ... a beautiful piece of work..." - how right he is.
This sumptuous double CD package in a box was due to be issued in April for Record Store Day but was delayed a little to get the packaging just right - it's certainly been worth the wait because the finished article is rather special. Originally billed as a project dedicated to friends in the form of images and music, two life-changing events in guitarist Vini Reilly's life threw the whole thing off its axis and it became "Chronicle".
A relationship breakdown was only the start - far more debilitating was his first stroke, affecting his speech and his hands and preventing much in the way of progress. But Reilly is recovering - slowly, assuredly (he's too stubborn to give in) - and with the aid of various catalogue remasters and reissues, including a sandpaper-sleeved vinyl release of debut-album Return Of The Durutti Column earlier this year, as well as his friends and family, interest in Durutti Column's music has gathered apace.
All of which means that, despite being a limited release, Chronicle XL is set to become the stuff of DC legend.
Fans of the band will be familiar with disc one - it's a new-and-improved version of the CD and set performed in Manchester in 2011 at Bridgewater Hall and includes some of his most intimate material of his career so far. Most of the tracks have been re-titled, a couple removed (or restructured to the other disc) and highlights include the opening and closing versions of Fanfare, Ananda (now called Pancho and Poppy) and the lip-trembling Synergetic, a track that recalls his sample-laden work on the Vini Reilly album. Sadly, the strident Jeeves and Wooster seems to have been replaced with a shorter reprise version, but it's a mere quibble - I wasn't a huge fan of the original running order or the mood of the first version. This is a marked upgrade.
The real deal here though is the second volume of recordings. Most are brand new tracks, a few are subtle retakes of previously-issued pieces and all, without exception, are captivating. Striking new singer Caoilfhionn 'Keelin' Rose Birley lends a fragile and pretty vocal to a few songs, including the stop-what-you-are-doing opener Free From All Chaos and the epic Electrostatic, a track packed full of Reilly riffery and easily up there with some of his best guitar-work, while Big Bill Rance name-checks its key contributor and singer, a chap whose resonate voice seems tailor-made for Reilly's elegiac guitar-work - more of him please.
Of the older more familiar material reshaped on the second disc, Hotel Calderon (aka Martin Jackson Was Here) is bewilderingly wonderful. Utilising the backing track from Sex and Death's For Colette and galvanized by Bruce Mitchell's insistent funeral-march drumming, Reilly's threnodial fret-work envelops the already-subtle track, now bolstered with a few vocal harmonies and turned into eight mesmeric minutes. 30 Oldham Street (aka Dry) has also been given a tweak and extra vocal as Dry On The Rocks (hopefully not a portent of the bar's fortunes) while The Final Cut (now Juan Montero & The Drum) rounds things off with Mitchell and Reilly sparring with Spanish guitar and rumbling drums.
The whole package is topped off with rare downloadable audio, plus inserts, badges, booklet and discs housed in 'Obey The Time' style pochettes. A lot of work and love has gone into this, believe me. Probably a few tears too.
Comeback? Who mentioned comeback? Chronicle XL is brilliant business as usual.
A limited number will be available at selected physical stores soon.
Chronicle XL Deluxe:
Kookydisc:
CD x 2 + booklet, badges, inserts:
Out now:
★★★★★★★★★☆
This sumptuous double CD package in a box was due to be issued in April for Record Store Day but was delayed a little to get the packaging just right - it's certainly been worth the wait because the finished article is rather special. Originally billed as a project dedicated to friends in the form of images and music, two life-changing events in guitarist Vini Reilly's life threw the whole thing off its axis and it became "Chronicle".
A relationship breakdown was only the start - far more debilitating was his first stroke, affecting his speech and his hands and preventing much in the way of progress. But Reilly is recovering - slowly, assuredly (he's too stubborn to give in) - and with the aid of various catalogue remasters and reissues, including a sandpaper-sleeved vinyl release of debut-album Return Of The Durutti Column earlier this year, as well as his friends and family, interest in Durutti Column's music has gathered apace.
All of which means that, despite being a limited release, Chronicle XL is set to become the stuff of DC legend.
Fans of the band will be familiar with disc one - it's a new-and-improved version of the CD and set performed in Manchester in 2011 at Bridgewater Hall and includes some of his most intimate material of his career so far. Most of the tracks have been re-titled, a couple removed (or restructured to the other disc) and highlights include the opening and closing versions of Fanfare, Ananda (now called Pancho and Poppy) and the lip-trembling Synergetic, a track that recalls his sample-laden work on the Vini Reilly album. Sadly, the strident Jeeves and Wooster seems to have been replaced with a shorter reprise version, but it's a mere quibble - I wasn't a huge fan of the original running order or the mood of the first version. This is a marked upgrade.
The real deal here though is the second volume of recordings. Most are brand new tracks, a few are subtle retakes of previously-issued pieces and all, without exception, are captivating. Striking new singer Caoilfhionn 'Keelin' Rose Birley lends a fragile and pretty vocal to a few songs, including the stop-what-you-are-doing opener Free From All Chaos and the epic Electrostatic, a track packed full of Reilly riffery and easily up there with some of his best guitar-work, while Big Bill Rance name-checks its key contributor and singer, a chap whose resonate voice seems tailor-made for Reilly's elegiac guitar-work - more of him please.
Of the older more familiar material reshaped on the second disc, Hotel Calderon (aka Martin Jackson Was Here) is bewilderingly wonderful. Utilising the backing track from Sex and Death's For Colette and galvanized by Bruce Mitchell's insistent funeral-march drumming, Reilly's threnodial fret-work envelops the already-subtle track, now bolstered with a few vocal harmonies and turned into eight mesmeric minutes. 30 Oldham Street (aka Dry) has also been given a tweak and extra vocal as Dry On The Rocks (hopefully not a portent of the bar's fortunes) while The Final Cut (now Juan Montero & The Drum) rounds things off with Mitchell and Reilly sparring with Spanish guitar and rumbling drums.
The whole package is topped off with rare downloadable audio, plus inserts, badges, booklet and discs housed in 'Obey The Time' style pochettes. A lot of work and love has gone into this, believe me. Probably a few tears too.
Comeback? Who mentioned comeback? Chronicle XL is brilliant business as usual.
A limited number will be available at selected physical stores soon.