Sex and Death - The CD-ROM reconstructed

 

Facdr 2.11 Sex and Death - The CD-ROM was a pioneering technological advance for Factory Too back in 1995. The Durutti Column, Anthony H. Wilson and The Boot Room wanted to produce an interactive version of Durutti's then new album, 'Sex and Death'. CD-ROM technology was chosen and, although it was quite advanced at the time, it came with certain limitations, notably the overall data capacity of what was essentially a glorified CD-R. Both Mac and Windows PC versions were produced and the whole package was released in a box which came in a sandpaper outer sleeve in homage to the original 'The Return of the Durutti Column' album.

The CD-ROM was authored using a now obsolete technology called Macromedia Director. John Cooper used the ScummVM Director emulator for MacOS. Oddly the only version of the CD-ROM that would load into this was the Windows PC version. Although it was occasionally a bit jumpy and not all the menus worked as they should, he was able to extract screenshots and screen recordings of the CD-ROM in operation, the initial highlights of which are in this video.

This is the first work-in-progress video and there will probably be more. It may also be possible that this work leads to a full working reconstruction of the CD-ROM using modern technology but watch this space for more on that. 

Video Summary

• Intro screens and credits for Factory Too and The Boot Room
• Too Crazy Cowboys (the existentialists) discussing drifting in French
• Vini Reilly discussed guitars and other machines
• Vini Reilly discusses the medication he was on at the time
• The album's producer, Stephen Street, gives his notes on each of the tracks and then some general thoughts on the recording process and working with co-producer Vini Reilly
• We conclude with some answering machine messages (voicemails) including Stuart Jammer James, Holly Johnson to Vini, Tony Wilson (on Morrissey) to Vini, Nico to Bruce before ending on one from Vini.