Durutti Column - Sunshine To Blue...Blue to Blackness - 2LP (Coloured) - Kooky/Lotta Continua 005
It's been some time since the last Durutti Column reissue on the band's other label stable - Kooky have presented RSD represses and an exclusive single in recent years - but this particular choice is something of a landmark. Originally released on CD in 2008, the oft-forgotten Sunshine To Blue hasn't been issued on vinyl before and this double blue, yellow and black mixed vinyl edition certainly makes up for it.
OK the grumble first. There's no sleevenotes to speak of, not even much in the way of credits or new images from the era. However, it looks great and does makes sense on this bigger format even if the original inform-booklet has been ignored in favour of the lovely colourful vinyl.
As it stands, STB..BTB is perhaps one of main protaganist and catalyst Vini Reilly's most rewarding post-Factory era albums. Opener Glimpse is a chilled acoustic instrumental take on an early song Party, a favourite of mine, a piece that sets the tone for much of the accompanying hour of music to follow. The predominantly acoustic mood continues throughout the rest of, what is now, side 1 - Contact has a familiar melancholic trademark, while somewhat more upbeat is Messages, featuring a delightful harmonica refrain.
Side 2's Ged is another older melody given some folksy fairy-dust, before Reilly's gently-stroked electric guitar begins to weave its way into the tapestry. Four tracks in and there's little evidence of any 'rocking out' and by the time the exquisite Ananda gently tumbles into earshot with its lightly tinkled piano courtesy of one-time muse Poppy Morgan, you're ready to settle down for the night.
And then along comes the jaunty but atmospheric reworking of L.C. favourite Never Known, with its out-of-character sub-dancehall beat and definitely in-character mournful vocal, making this the first actual song on the album.
Sides 3 and 4 feature more of Reilly's softly deadpan vocalising and more expressive instrumental works that recall his Without Mercy and Amigos Em Portugal projects, the best of which is the stoned-out So Many Crumbs and Monkeys! and Cup a Soup Romance, a track that appeared as a promo for Factory-related fanzine Scream City.
In fact, pretty much everything on Sunlight to Blue is exemplary, even if the whole thing feels like a compilation rather than a deliberately sequenced album. It certainly sounds as bright as sunshine on vinyl, making this new issue something of a triumph.