DURUTTI COLUMN - WITHOUT MERCY 4CD/2LP DELUXE / M24J (ANTHOLOGY) - FACTORY BENELUX
BOTH OUT NOW
Without Mercy was my Durutti Column baptism back in 1985, a good year or so after its release. A surprising record in many ways, it was not only a radical departure for the artist but also for the label. Previously, Factory's established roster hadn't ventured far from its self-made shoreline of gritty post-punk, synth-pop and quirky funk, yet here was its prodigal son and heir making an album against the grain with a mini-orchestra of strings, brass and drum machines. A notorious music-press ad taken out by Factory during this period gamely declared 'The Durutti Column piss on the Art of Noise'. Quite a claim and a justified one in the end as this multi-disc edition ably demonstrates.
Mercifully, guitarist Vini Reilly and drummer Bruce Mitchell successfully created something of a masterpiece in Without Mercy, an album that Factory boss Tony Wilson had always wanted them to make. No vocals, just pretty little melancholic passages strung together without hearing the joins. Originally there were nineteen individual 'stanzas', designed to provide a soundtrack to a reading of John Keats' La Belle Dame sans Merci, before the smarter idea of creating two lengthier rhapsodies was borne out, one per side.
A few familiar melodies permeate its grooves thoughout, a couple of which had formed much of the hard-to-find Amigos Em Portugal import, some of which appears on this expanded edition. Talented friends and performers were added to the mix, including Simply Red's trumpter Tim Kellett, Tuxedomoon's Blaine L Reininger and De Danaan's cellist Caroline Lavelle, with long-standing Durutti mainstay John Metcalfe keeping things tight and Wilson on hand to co-produce it.
Divided into a classical side and a meatier, beatier second side, Without Mercy is a remarkable body of work that shies away from being just another po-faced classical album. In a fairer world, this intricate yet easy-to-follow album would have challenged the likes of Tubular Bells or Oxygene for crossover sales but it wasn't to be. Instead, its smart Matisse-adorned sleeve sat on the racks of chainstores and merely appealed to an already limited audience.
The second half of WM itself employed some hefty DMX syndrums that instantly remind the listener that The Durutti Column were right up there in the '80s when it came to technology. The middle portion is almost designed for clubs with congas, shakers and dubbed-up blissed-out keyboards added to the melee. The idea of stripping back everything was triumphantly explored further on 1989 set Obey The Time and the later Fidelity album.
The bonus material has been expertly curated with two rare live concerts (the London version of The Missing Boy is essential), several related outtakes and compilation tracks from the period and a couple of rarities recorded with Tuxedomoon pianist Steven Brown and experimentalist Benjamin Lew. Highlights include the sublime Reininger collab The Sea Wall, the mournful All That Love And Maths Can Do and the brassy E.E..
Informative liner notes from key players plus photos and an attention to detail that shames major labels completes this flawless package. Avant-garde classical jazz? Who cares - this is music.
Also issued this month is a new compilation of Durutti Column, M24J. Named after the group's mythical management team Movement of the 24th January (actually Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus), this double-CD set pulls together key tracks from debut-album Return of the Durutti Column right up to his recent-ish homage A Paean To Wilson. Key tracks include the superb epic Catos Con Guantes and the woozy Art and Frieght from Obey The Time. A must-have 'best of'.
BOTH OUT NOW
Without Mercy was my Durutti Column baptism back in 1985, a good year or so after its release. A surprising record in many ways, it was not only a radical departure for the artist but also for the label. Previously, Factory's established roster hadn't ventured far from its self-made shoreline of gritty post-punk, synth-pop and quirky funk, yet here was its prodigal son and heir making an album against the grain with a mini-orchestra of strings, brass and drum machines. A notorious music-press ad taken out by Factory during this period gamely declared 'The Durutti Column piss on the Art of Noise'. Quite a claim and a justified one in the end as this multi-disc edition ably demonstrates.
Mercifully, guitarist Vini Reilly and drummer Bruce Mitchell successfully created something of a masterpiece in Without Mercy, an album that Factory boss Tony Wilson had always wanted them to make. No vocals, just pretty little melancholic passages strung together without hearing the joins. Originally there were nineteen individual 'stanzas', designed to provide a soundtrack to a reading of John Keats' La Belle Dame sans Merci, before the smarter idea of creating two lengthier rhapsodies was borne out, one per side.
A few familiar melodies permeate its grooves thoughout, a couple of which had formed much of the hard-to-find Amigos Em Portugal import, some of which appears on this expanded edition. Talented friends and performers were added to the mix, including Simply Red's trumpter Tim Kellett, Tuxedomoon's Blaine L Reininger and De Danaan's cellist Caroline Lavelle, with long-standing Durutti mainstay John Metcalfe keeping things tight and Wilson on hand to co-produce it.
Divided into a classical side and a meatier, beatier second side, Without Mercy is a remarkable body of work that shies away from being just another po-faced classical album. In a fairer world, this intricate yet easy-to-follow album would have challenged the likes of Tubular Bells or Oxygene for crossover sales but it wasn't to be. Instead, its smart Matisse-adorned sleeve sat on the racks of chainstores and merely appealed to an already limited audience.
The second half of WM itself employed some hefty DMX syndrums that instantly remind the listener that The Durutti Column were right up there in the '80s when it came to technology. The middle portion is almost designed for clubs with congas, shakers and dubbed-up blissed-out keyboards added to the melee. The idea of stripping back everything was triumphantly explored further on 1989 set Obey The Time and the later Fidelity album.
The bonus material has been expertly curated with two rare live concerts (the London version of The Missing Boy is essential), several related outtakes and compilation tracks from the period and a couple of rarities recorded with Tuxedomoon pianist Steven Brown and experimentalist Benjamin Lew. Highlights include the sublime Reininger collab The Sea Wall, the mournful All That Love And Maths Can Do and the brassy E.E..
Informative liner notes from key players plus photos and an attention to detail that shames major labels completes this flawless package. Avant-garde classical jazz? Who cares - this is music.
Also issued this month is a new compilation of Durutti Column, M24J. Named after the group's mythical management team Movement of the 24th January (actually Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus), this double-CD set pulls together key tracks from debut-album Return of the Durutti Column right up to his recent-ish homage A Paean To Wilson. Key tracks include the superb epic Catos Con Guantes and the woozy Art and Frieght from Obey The Time. A must-have 'best of'.