Vini Reilly double vinyl for Record Store Day 2020

Factory Benelux presents an expanded double vinyl edition of Vini Reilly, the acclaimed seventh studio album originally released by Factory Records in 1989. Just 1000 copies have been pressed for Record Store Day on 18 April 2020.

The sleeve itself famously samples Bob Dylan circa Highway 61 Revisited, showcasing an iconic portrait by Mark Warner. Indeed much about the album flirts with mainstream culture, being a deliberate attempt to position Reilly as a 'pop' artist following his chart-topping collaboration with Morrissey on Viva Hate. This collaboration is further explored on the bonus 7" single (pressed in crystal clear vinyl), which features rare outtake I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong and exquisite homage For Steven Patrick.

Bonus tracks on this 2020 double-disc remaster include several never before issued on vinyl, including William B and Red Square from the extended CD version of Vini Reilly, plus all four tracks from pristine performance CD WOMAD Live. Recorded at the WOMAD Festival in Cornwall in August 1988, the core Durutti duo of Vini Reilly and Bruce Mitchell are here augmented by Andy Connell on keys and Chinese opera singer Liu Sola.

See also: Official Record Store Day [->]

Vini Reilly [Factory Benelux, FBN 244 CD]

Factory Benelux presents an expanded 2CD edition of Vini Reilly, the acclaimed seventh studio album. Originally released by Factory Records in 1989, the album has now been newly remastered with 23 bonus tracks including companion single WOMAD Live.

Produced by Vini Reilly and Stephen Street (The Smiths, Morrissey, Blur), the original working title of the Vini Reilly album was The Durutti Column Sampler. "People describe them as found samples and found voices," explained Vini at the time. "I always build up a catalogue of interesting loops and voice samples and stuff. Then I forget where I got them from a lot of the time, which is quite convenient... A lot of the time I manipulate the sample anyway, so it's singing my tune, rather than the original tune."

Stand-out tracks include Otis, Love No More and My Country. "The tune always comes from playing the guitar," added Vini. "As soon as I pick a guitar up I'll come up with a tune. I don't know whether it's good or bad - but there's always a tune there."

The sleeve itself samples Bob Dylan circa Highway 61 Revisited, showcasing an iconic portrait by Mark Warner. Indeed much about the album flirts with mainstream culture, being a deliberate attempt to position Reilly as a 'pop' artist following his chart-topping collaboration with Morrissey on Viva Hate. This collaboration was further celebrated on bonus track 'For Steven Patrick'.

Other bonus tracks on this 2020 double-disc remaster include a multitude of demos and outtakes from the same period (some previously issued on The Sporadic Recordings in 1989), plus all four tracks from pristine performance CD WOMAD Live. Recorded at the WOMAD Festival in Cornwall in August 1988, the core Durutti duo of Vini Reilly and Bruce Mitchell are here augmented by Andy Connell on keys and Chinese opera singer Liu Sola.

A third, optional bonus cd, contains 'I Know Very Well How I Got My Note Wrong', an outtake from the Viva Hate sessions with Morrissey.

Available via Factory Benelux Mailorder.

Two Crazy Cowboys T-Shirt by Factory Benelux

Currently in production is a new Durutti Column t-shirt based on the original 'drifting cowboys' poster from 1978, which in turn borrows from Situationist International materials from 1966. The text on the back translates the French speech captions on the front.

If you'd like to pre-order please email Factory Benelux (not this site). In this way they can accommodate orders for female cuts, or even a different colour shirt if you prefer.

Obey The Time double vinyl LP for Record Store Day

The new Factory Benelux edition of FBN 274 Obey The Time is set for a special coloured vinyl double LP edition for Record Store Day 2019. It's a limited edition of 800 copies and follows on from the already-announced triple CD edition.

The remastered vinyl set is housed in a striking gatefold sleeve printed in Pantone colours on a matt varnished board. The bold primary colours are mirrored by the coloured vinyl – purple for LP1, and yellow for LP2.

The first record contains the complete original album whilst the second features 7 live tracks from a previously unreleased performance at Manchester University Whitworth Hall on 23 June 1990 (opportunistically billed as 'The Acid Guitar'), on which Reilly and Mitchell are joined by guests Andy Connell, Liu Sola and Rob Gray.

FBN 274 Obey The Time is released on Record 13 April 2019.

Obey The Time (Factory Benelux, FBN 274 CD)

Factory Benelux presents a deluxe 3CD box set edition of Obey the Time (FBN 274 CD), the eighth studio album by The Durutti Column. Originally released by Factory Records in December 1990, the original 10 tracks have now been expanded to 43. Release date is 13 April.

Largely self-produced, and entirely instrumental, Obey the Time saw Vini Reilly further develop his interest in electronic music, and even embracing house and techno stylings. "The title came screaming off the TV screen in somebody's version of Othello and captured exactly the feel of the work in progress," explained Tony Wilson, Durutti manager and Factory founder. "We were in the middle of the Acieeed explosion. If you lived in Manchester, you were absolutely in the middle of it. Vini even explained why House made keyboards sound so fresh. Something to do with a chord being played with 3 or 4 notes into the sampler, but then different chords being triggered by a single key stroke. Creating mathematical harmonic relationships 'which Schoenberg had searched for but never found.'"

Indeed veteran Durutti percussionist Bruce Mitchell features on just one track, Art and Freight. Marking a further break with tradition, dance exploration Contra-Indications was taped with New Order programmer (and later co-manager) Andy Robinson. Released in December 1990, Obey the Time (Fact 274) would be the last Durutti Column album on Factory before the labelled collapsed beneath a mountain of debt.

Other extras include single and remix tracks The Together Mix and Kiss of Def, rare compilation cuts such as The New Fidelity, The Awards Show and Times Like These, and several extracts from two unreleased Factory albums recorded during the same 1989/90 period: Guitar One: House (Fact 254) and Guitar Two: Acoustic (Fact 264).

CD3 features 11 live tracks from a previously unreleased performance at Manchester University Whitworth Hall on 23 June 1990 (opportunistically billed as 'The Acid Guitar'), on which Reilly and Mitchell are joined by guests Andy Connell, Liu Sola and Rob Gray.

Original cover art by 8vo. The remastered set is housed in a clamshell card box, with individual inner sleeves and liner notes.

More information and how to buy at Factory Benelux Mailorder.

Without Mercy (Factory Benelux FBN 84 / CD)

Factory Benelux presents expanded 4CD and 2LP disc editions of Without Mercy, the fourth album by Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column, originally released in 1984 and widely regarded as Vini Reilly's most ambitious album.

In 1983 The Durutti Column's mentor/manager Tony Wilson asked Vini Reilly to abandon fleeting guitar miniatures in favour of a longform modern classical piece. The result was an ambitious 20 minute instrumental suite, Without Mercy, performed by core Durutti duo Vini Reilly and Bruce Mitchell along with Blaine L. Reininger and John Metcalfe (violas), Caroline Lavelle (cello), Tim Kellett (trumpet) and Maunagh Fleming (cor anglais).

Explains Vini: "Tony had just come in for a conversation one day and said, 'Look, you keep making these albums that you want to make, and I'm quite happy with you doing that, but just give me this one album and do it my way.' He wanted it to have a narrative determined by a Keats poem, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, which he said was the poet's version of a pop song: boy meets girl, falls in love with girl, loses girl, blah blah blah. It was a very, very Tony way of looking at it. He had aspirations that I should be taken seriously."

Produced by Reilly and Wilson at Strawberry Studio and Britannia Row, Without Mercy was originally split into 19 separate stanzas, some of which have now been restored using digital cue points on the CD. Bonus tracks include the original recordings of Duet, Estoril a Noite and Favourite Descending Intervals (all re-worked for inclusion on Without Mercy), as well as companion EP Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say, collaborations with John Metcalfe, Steven Brown and Benjamin Lew, and two previously unreleased live sets across Discs 3 and 4, recorded at London School of Economics in December 1984 and Oslo in December 1986.

The remastered 4xCD set is housed in a clamshell box, with inner wallets and liner notes by Reilly, Wilson, Mitchell, Reininger and Metcalfe. The cover painting is L'Etang de Trivaux by Henri Matisse (1916/17).

A double gatefold vinyl edition is also available with free digital copy (MP3) of the vinyl tracks. The outer sleeve is printed on 500 mic grey cairn board, with letterpress typography and tipped sheets front and back. The insert (with liner notes) is printed on a 350gsm white frost card, and the whole package housed in a re-sealable polybag.

A limited edition of 100 copies of the vinyl will also be available with a postcard signed by Vini and Bruce. These copies are only available from FBN mailorder.

Available as a 4CD box, gatefold double vinyl and MP3 (vinyl tracklisting) via Factory Benelux mailorder.

For release in September 2018.

M24J (Anthology) (Factory Benelux FBN 164 / CD)

M24J (Anthology) is a collection of valuable passages recorded by The Durutti Column between 1979 and 20?? for various iterations of Factory Records, including poignant tributes to Anthony H. Wilson and Ian Curtis.

Available as a gatefold double vinyl (with bonus 7") and 2CD set, M24J includes selections from The Return of the Durutti Column, LC, Another Setting, Short Stories for Pauline, Without Mercy, Circuses and Bread, The Guitar and Other Machines, Vini Reilly, Obey the Time, Treatise on the Steppenwolf and A Paean to Wilson.

Bonus tracks on the CD version include three tracks recorded live in Leeds in October 1980, these being the earliest preserved professional in-concert recordings by Vini Reilly. The bonus 7" included in the vinyl package features two previously unreleased live recordings: a cover of Peter Green's Albatross recorded in 2004, and Spooky Tune, recorded with Poppy Morgan at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in 2011, Vini's last major concert to date.

The remastered 2xCD set is housed in a jewel case; copies ordered direct from FBN are delivered in a Factory Benelux slipcase. The vinyl version is housed in a double gatefold sleeve printed on white matt board and includes as a digital copy (MP3).

Available in September 2018 on CD, gatefold double vinyl (+7") and MP3 (vinyl tracklisting) via Factory Benelux Mailorder.

Another Setting for Record Store Day 2018

Factory Benelux presents a limited double vinyl edition of FBN 30 for Record Store Day on 21 April 2018. The original album is presented on black vinyl and is partnered by a previously unreleased live performance from the 1983 Pandora's Box Festival in Rotterdam on clear vinyl. The gatefold sleeve is printed on white matt board. The package also includes a free digital copy of the vinyl tracks.

Record Store Day is on 21 April 2018

The Guitar and Other Machines Factory Benelux editions

Factory Benelux presents double vinyl and triple cd editions of classic Durutti Factory era album The Guitar and Other Machines which will be released on 12 January 2018.

The double vinyl features the original album on the first disc plus bonus live tracks (from the same period) recorded at the Bottom Line in NYC and the Womad Festival.

The 3CD edition duplicates (and adds to) the live tracks on CD3 and, on CD2, adds many associated recordings, including the rare Greetings 3 EP, Our Lady of the Angels, LFO Mod, Catos con Guantes, When the World, White Rabbit, and many more.

More details at:

The Guitar and Other Machines [FBN 204 CD]

The Guitar and Other Machines [FBN 204]

Greetings Three vinyl reissue via Tiger Bay

The autumn season begins for The Durutti Column with a 12" 180 gram vinyl re-release on Tiger Bay for the Greetings Three E.P. which originally came out on Materiali Sonori in 1986.

Watch out for other re-releases of Without Mercy and The Guitar and Other Machines via Factory Benelux in the coming months. More details to follow.

The Durutti Column Postcard Set (FBN 56)

The Durutti Column Postcard Set is out now via Polite Company (and very soon via Factory Benelux priced at 25.00 GBP plus shipping and handling.

The lovely Durutti red "hessian" box is reminiscent of the classic Factory Records boxed cassette series.

It contains 25 litho printed postcards of Vini Reilly and the wider DC world including photos by Mark Warner, Philippe Carly, Annik Honoré and others.

Short Stories for Pauline for Record Store Day

Factory Benelux presents a special clear vinyl LP edition of Short Stories for Pauline for Record Store Day 2017.

Limited to just 500 copies, FBN 36 also features a new cover image by photographer Mark Warner. It's out on 22 April 2017.

Domo Arigato reissue on Factory Benelux

Factory Benelux present a comprehensive reissue of Domo Arigato across LP, CD and DVD formats. FBN 52 comes as 3 CDs plus DVD or a double LP plus bonus 7" single.

Disc 1 of the 4 CD set presents the original digital mix from 1985, while Discs 2 and 3 include the 2017 soundboard remaster plus a previously unreleased gig from Tokyo Loft Club on 29 April 1984. Disc 4 is an NTSC format DVD featuring a pristine transfer of the original Japanese laserdisc edition of Domo Arigato, which is the filmed version of the show with the 1985 digital mix.

A double gatefold vinyl edition is also available and contains a bonus 7" single, Dedications for Japan, in a facsimile picture sleeve. The 18 live tracks on the double vinyl format are all taken from the 2017 soundboard remaster and present the entire 1985 show (except for Dream of a Child and Blind Elevator Girl, which for reasons of space appear only on the CD version).

Available to buy now via Factory Benelux Mail Order.

The official release date seems to be 26 May 2017 but it will probably be available earlier than that via FBN.

LC Double Vinyl plus 7-inch Single [FBN 10]

LC, the classic second studio album by The Durutti Column from 1981 is released in a very special double vinyl edition on 6 May 2016 by Factory Benelux.

The original album is supplemented by 9 bonus tracks on the second record. These include the rare Sordide Sentimental single Danny/Enigma and the three Durutti tracks from A Factory Quartet.

The remastered 2LP set is housed in a gatefold sleeve printed on matt reverse board, with liner notes and archive images. The package also includes an exclusive 7-inch single featuring live versions of Sketch for Summer and Requiem for a Father, recorded at Leeds Polytechnic in October 1980. These are the earliest surviving professional live recordings of The Durutti Column in concert.

Tracklisting

LP 1

A1 - Sketch for Dawn (1)
A2 - Portrait for Frazier
A3 - Jaqueline
A4 - Messidor
A5 - Sketch for Dawn (2)

B1 - Never Known
B2 - The Act Committed
B3 - Detail for Paul
B4 - The Missing Boy
B5 - The Sweet Cheat Gone

LP 2

C1 - Danny
C2 - Enigma
C3 - Experiment in Fifth
C4 - Portrait for Frazier
C5 - Favourite Painting

D1 - For Mimi
D2 - For Belgian Friends
D3 - Self-Portrait
D4 - Zinnia

7-inch single

E1 - Sketch for Summer (live)
F1 - Requiem for a Father (version) (live)

For ordering details please visit the Factory Benelux shop.

Another Setting [Factory Benelux FBN 30 CD]

Factory Benelux presents a remastered CD edition of Another Setting, the third album by The Durutti Column originally issued as FACT 74 and FBN 30 in 1983.

The 11-track album is supplemented by bonus tracks including I Get Along Without You Very Well sung by Lindsay Reade from FAC 64, Love Fading and For Noriko from the Dedications for Japan 7" single, live tracks and more.

Another Setting is presented in a 6-panel digipak on matt white reverse board, replete with the original Mark Farrow artwork and Jackie Williams cover paintings.

Tracklisting

1. Prayer
2. Response
3. Bordeaux
4. For a Western
5. The Beggar
6. Francesca
7. Smile in the Crowd
8. You've Heard It Before
9. Dream of a Child
10. Second Family
11. Spent Time
12. I Get Along Without You Very Well
13. Love Fading
14. For Noriko
15. Bordeaux (live at WOMAD
16. The Beggar (live at La Cigale)
17. Piece for Out of Tune Grande Piano

This release is available on CD only in September 2015 and to pre-order now via factorybenelux.com.

'The Return of' CD Factory Benelux edition

Factory Benelux is all set to release a 19-track CD edition of The Return of The Durutti Column on 5 May 2014. FBN 114 CD includes all 9 tracks from the first Factory Records pressing (the sandpaper sleeve) plus six tracks which formed side two of the rare second pressing. Also present and correct are the Martin Hannett 'Test Card' tracks from the original flexi. Completing the line-up are Madeleine and Lips That Would Kiss which originally featured on a 12-inch single released by Factory Benelux in October 1980.

The cover art uses the second pressing black sleeve replete with three miniatures of paintings by Raoul Dufy (a personal fave artist of Vini Reilly).

The CD booklet includes photography by Daniel Meadows, and the extensive liner notes feature words by Vini Reilly, Martin Hannett, Tony Wilson, Peter Saville, Daniel Meadows, John Brierley, Bruce Mitchell and members of Joy Division.

Tracklisting

1. Sketch for Summer
2. Requiem for a Father
3. Katharine
4. Conduct
5. Beginning
6. Jazz
7. Sketch for Winter
8. Collette
9. In 'D'
10. Lips That Would Kiss
11. Madeleine
12. The First Aspect of the Same Thing
13. The Second Aspect of the Same Thing
14. Untitled
15. Jazz
16. Sketch for Winter
17. Collette
18. Beginning
19. In 'D'

For more information (including on how to order) please visit factorybenelux.com.

The Return of the Durutti Column [FBN 114]

'The Return of the Durutti Column' is out now in a very special new Factory Benelux edition on 12" vinyl in a special sleeve with a die-cut card and glasspaper sleeve based on Peter Saville's early Factory Records logo design. The back cover features period photographs by Daniel Meadows. The inner sleeve features a coloured version of the Factory logo. The original Hannett 'Test Card' which was a flexi-disc in the original sandpaper sleeve version has been converted to a regular hard black vinyl 7" single bringing a much higher standard of sound quality.

There are two bonus tracks on side two of the LP - 'Madeleine' and 'Lips That Would Kiss' - which were previously released as a Factory Benelux single in 1980.

The liner notes feature quotes from Vini Reilly, Martin Hannett, Tony Wilson, Peter Saville, Daniel Meadows, John Brierley, Bruce Mitchell and members of Joy Division.

The album is available direct from Factory Benelux mailorder. All enquiries about the album release, prices, postage, etc direct to Factory Benelux please!

The Return of... (FBN 114)

Factory Benelux has announced full details and pricing of its new vinyl LP re-edition of 'The Return of The Durutti Column' originally released in the infamous sandpaper sleeve in 1980. The front cover of this new FBN edition on 12" vinyl features an 11-inch square sheet of coarse glasspaper seated in a recessed deboss. The back cover which features period photographs Daniel Meadows.

The original Hannett 'Test Card' flexi-disc is now a regular non-flexi-disc black vinyl 7" single with improved sound quality. There are two bonus tracks on the main album itself, 'Madeleine' and 'Lips That Would Kiss' from a 1980 FBN singl.

The liner notes feature quotes from Vini Reilly, Martin Hannett, Tony Wilson, Peter Saville, Daniel Meadows, John Brierley, Bruce Mitchell and members of Joy Division. It all comes in a plastic bag which will protect the other records in your collection.

The album will be available direct from Factory Benelux mailorder from the beginning of December, priced at 25.00 GBP including UK postage. EU please add 4.00 GBP for airmail post. Rest of the World add 6.00 GBP for airmail post. The album will be dispatched in strong cruciform mailer.

All enquiries about the album release, postage, etc direct to Factory Benelux please!

Tracklisting

Side 1

1. Sketch for Summer
2. Requiem for a Father
3. Katharine
4. Conduct

Side 2

1. Beginning
2. Jazz
3. Sketch for Winter
4. Collette
5. In ‘D’
6. Lips That Would Kiss
7. Madeleine

Side 3

1. The First Aspect of the Same Thing

Side 4

1. The Second Aspect of the Same Thing

The Return of The Durutti Column FBN 114

Factory Benelux presents a new vinyl edition of landmark album The Return of the Durutti Column, housed in a revised version of the iconic sandpaper sleeve first issued by Factory Records in January 1980. This edition is released on 25 November 2013.

A collaboration between virtuoso guitarist Vini Reilly and legendary Manchester producer Martin Hannett, The Return of the Durutti Column paired Reilly's non-rock sketches with Hannett's electronic textures to produce "perfectly realised, correctly ambient and inventive music" (NME). The infamous sandpaper sleeve was somewhat less user friendly. Inspired by a 1959 Situationist publication by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn, the relentless iconoclasts at Factory hoped that the abrasive packaging would destroy existing record collections.

This new 2013 edition on Factory Benelux develops rather than replicates the original packaging. On the front cover, an 11-inch square sheet of coarse sandpaper is seated in a recessed deboss, while the back cover and inner sleeve feature period Durutti images by noted photographer Daniel Meadows. The bonus Hannett 'test card' flexidisc is now a hard vinyl 7" (with improved sound quality), while the album itself features two extra tracks, Madeleine and Lips That Would Kiss (previously issued as a separate 7-inch single on Factory Benelux in October 1980).

The inner bag also features extensive liner notes with quotes from Vini Reilly, Martin Hannett, Tony Wilson, Peter Saville, Daniel Meadows, John Brierley, Bruce Mitchell and members of Joy Division, who assembled most of the sandpaper originals. The new package is sealed in a heavy duty polythene wallet, thus ensuring that adjacent records in your collection remain intact.

Tracklisting

Side 1

1. Sketch for Summer
2. Requiem for a Father
3. Katharine
4. Conduct

Side 2

1. Beginning
2. Jazz
3. Sketch for Winter
4. Collette
5. In 'D'
6. Lips That Would Kiss
7. Madeleine

Side 3

1. The First Aspect of the Same Thing

Side 4

1. The Second Aspect of the Same Thing

'LC' reissue on Factory Benelux

The classic album 'LC' is set to be released on the revived Factory Benelux imprint (the very same that saw 'Short Stories for Pauline' released as FBN 36 earlier in 2012) in February 2013.

The widely expanded 2CD edition features the original ten tracks plus no fewer than 23 bonus tracks, including the rare Sordide Sentimental single Danny/Enigma, the full Deux Triangles 12", and the 3 tracks which appeared on FACT 24 A Factory Quartet in 1980. Also included are some rare Crépuscule compilation album tracks, and demo versions of LC tracks, including a full length version of Detail for Paul. All in all, FBN 10 CD will be a must-have for any collector.

Tracklisting

Disc 1

1. Sketch for Dawn (1)
2. Portrait for Frazier
3. Jaqueline
4. Messidor
5. Sketch for Dawn (2)
6. Never Known
7. The Act Committed
8. Detail for Paul
9. The Missing Boy
10. The Sweet Cheat Gone
11. Danny
12. Enigma
13. For Mimi
14. For Belgian Friends
15. Self-Portrait
16. Favourite Painting
17. Zinni

Disc 2

1. Mavuchka
2. Experiment in Fifth
3. Portrait for Paul
4. The Act Committed
5. Portrait for Frazier
6. Never Known
7. Untitled LC Demo
8. For Patti
9. Weakness and Fever
10. The Eye and the Hand
11. Party
12. One Christmas for Your Thoughts
13. Hommage to Martinů
14. Sleep Will Come
15. Piece for an Ideal
16. Piece of Out of Tune Grand Piano