The Durutti Column - in d, 1980

"It's a delicate, looping guitar composition with subtle reverb, evoking a sense of introspection. Interestingly, it's an alternate mix of another track on the album called "Sketch for Winter."

The Durutti Column - the rest of my life, 1994

"Despite being issued additionally on CDRom (in a sandpaper sleeve again) and garnering favourable reviews, the album sank without trace. I think it is one of DCs best 5 albums, but in an age of Brit-pop, Blur and Oasis, no-one cared. Many songs remain the equal of his key early material - "The Rest of My Life" and "Beautiful Lies" being the stand-outs. Also once again, the instrumental tracks strengthened Reilly's reputation as a masterly guitarist - "Blue Period", "My Irascible Friend" and "For Colette" are all utterly wonderful and still timeless."

The Durutti Column - never known, 1981

"The Durutti Column, led by Vini Reilly, never quite fit in with any punk or rock movement. His life to this very day has always been a constant struggle. In the old days, in the time of 1981’s masterpiece LC, his fragile-sounding music held together by the tender fingerpicked sound of his electric guitar displayed a strength through opposition. In real life, constant struggles with anorexia nervosa and depression had always taken a toll on his body and mind. Running against the current of the powerful and powerfully abrasive music of his time, somehow Vini’s introspective electric folk music found common experience in dedications to characters some real (or imagined), environments, and questions left unanswered. Something, bracing and serene in his music belied a feeling he needed to hold in order to appreciate living his day to day life. Its as if he knew his whole life was going to be a struggle and rather than fight back with venom and anger, or succumb to it, he did the most punk thing ever, he presented he stepped back and saw the bigger picture."

The Durutti Column - detail for paul, 1981

"LC, or Lotta Continua (Italian for Continuous Struggle) is the group’s masterpiece. Recorded on a four track in chief songwriter Vini Reilly’s home in 1981, the album could be considered the first ever “bedroom lo-fi” record to be released in the professional sphere. Despite the intentional limitations put in place by Reilly’s decision to record with a four track, the album itself is a sonic triumph. Cosmically cascading Latin guitars echo from the inside of some distant black hole, saturated by copious amounts of reverb and tape delay manipulation. Keir Stewart’s basslines politely bounce around in the back of the mix, not to take away from the brilliance of Reilly’s guitar work, while Bruce Mitchell’s tribal-jazz fusion rhythms keep everything somewhat grounded to Earth."

The Durutti Column - cocktail, 1985

"You also get the ripples and rushes of ‘College’ (‘formerly ‘The Sea Wall’) and ‘Journeys by Vespa’, which are both in line with the gently hair-raising thrills of earlier tracks like ‘Madeleine’ and ‘Danny’, where Reilly’s guitar weaves complex, dazzling textures, the down-tempo, desolate spaces of opener ‘At First Sight’, which does sound a lot like Without Mercy, although not identically so. ‘Destroy, She Said’ is one of a few pieces which ties the album to the year it was made, but like I said, not in a negative way. You know, in that a sitar in a pop song is most likely going to be a mid-1960’s song just because a song is immediately recognisable from a particular era, doesn’t mean it has dated. Anyway, despite all of what I just said, ‘Destroy, She Said’ is not one of my favourite pieces here, erring closer to the jazzier spectrum of Durutti that I’m not so keen on. ‘Model’ (formerly ‘Little Horses of Tarquina’) is a brief and gorgeously spectral guitar solo. ‘Take Some Time Out’ and ‘A Silence’ both have vocals – the former is a lighter than average creation, though Reilly’s singing can’t help but conjure an air of downtrodden misery! The latter is not as good, a bit Durutti-by-numbers. ‘Mirror A’ and ‘Mirror B’ are quite different pieces, ‘A’ being a decent if lightweight, fully electronic piece with vocals by ‘Pauline’, and ‘B’ a piano-led dirge, punctuated by Eric Sleichim’s saxophone, not one of my favourite elements of the Durutti sound circa this time, I have to say. In-between those two pieces we get ‘Cocktail’, which is lighter than ‘Mirror B’ but has the same saxophone problems, and ‘Telephone Call’ which has saxophone too, but used to much better effect. This piece is quite jazzy actually, but the more melancholic, late-night, drowsy side of jazz. It’s good! The album concludes with ‘A Room in Southport‘ (formerly ‘Snowflakes’), a very gentle, shuffling thing of beauty, with some lovely harp playing from Anne Van Den Troost."

The Durutti Column - tomorrow, 1986

"I love Tomorrow but the real gem is the b side here. All that love and maths can do is a gorgeous space, dappled with electric guitar and viola. Just stunning."

The Durutti Column - neon, 1990

"A cult artists’ cult artist, he’s not necessarily unknown. Acting as sideman for Morrissey on his solo debut Viva Hate certainly put him on peoples’ radars, and he has the distinction of being Wilson’s first signing to Factory Records, though not really a bellwether of the kind of music they’d be known for. Indeed, one Durutti Column record wasn’t necessarily a bellwether for any subsequent Durutti Column record."

The Durutti Column - sketch for summer, 1980

"Sketch For Summer remains an otherworldly gem and Lips That Would Kiss still beguiles the listener."

The Durutti Column - telephone call, 1985

"Durutti's fifth studio album finds the core Reilly/Mitchell/Kellet/Metcalfe lineup of the mid-'80s still in excellent form, steering back from the lengthy excursion of Without Mercy in favor of shorter songs typical of Durutti's other recorded work. While the overall style and mood of the performers had little changed, Reilly in particular remains a master of his art, able to progress and experiment without making a big deal of it, and whose sound remains so unique still that almost any recording of it is worthwhile."

The Durutti Column - at first sight, 1991

"Over time, the group made a noticeable shift in a more artificial-sounding direction, and the crystalline guitar licks and tribal rhythms that once defined their sound became more or less usurped by the Reilly’s newfound affinity for synthesizers, sequencers, and cheesy-sounding drum machines."

The Durutti Column - menina ao pé duma piscina, 1983

"Initially a three-chord venting unit that sounded a lot like its peers, the Durutti Column is perhaps the weirdest boy-band of all time. I say that because the band was formed on the Factory label founder Tony Wilson's whim, around guitarist Vini Reilly (who was previously in The Nosebleeds, another famous Manchester punk band; which at one point was fronted by Morrissey; a seed that would flower in the late 80's with Moz' first solo album)."

The Durutti Column - american view, 2003

"It’s easy to yearn these days for a label that’s releasing records because someone really just loves the music. Somehow it’s becoming increasingly rare to find that warm authenticity as the industry capitalises on our worst desires for nostalgia and consumer impulses. To be sure, so many new releases bear the earmarks of mere simulacra, reminding us of something sonic or visual we’ve encountered before but without sufficient substance to pay homage to the original. Lament no more. Kooky Records has new Durutti reissues planned on vinyl that will take you back to your love of the music and the truly distinctive sounds of the Manchester band."

The Durutti Column - tomorrow live, 1985

"I really don’t like my own music. I really enjoy doing it when I’m doing it, it gives me a great feeling of expression and fulfillment and pleasure – just the physicality of playing a guitar and putting a piece of music together. I just love all that. And for maybe half an hour after I’ve done it, it feels great. But it soon passes. And after that, I really don’t want to hear it again."

The Durutti Column - without mercy stanzas four to seven valuable passages, 1987

"Without Mercy :1: Stanzas 4 to 7 :2: Stanzas 10 to 12 from the album "Without Mercy", produced by Anthony Wilson and Michael Johnson at Strawberry Studios, Stockport. Musicians: Vini Reilly, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Piano and DMX. Bruce Mitchell, Percussion, Congas and DMX. Tim Kellett, Trumpet. Richard Henry, Trombone. Blaine Reininger, Violin and Viola. Caroline Lavelle, Cello. Mervyn Fletcher, Saxaphone. Maunagh Fleming, Cor Anglais and Oboe. Fact 84. June 1984."

The Durutti Column - the missing boy, 1981

"The song "The Missing Boy" is a tribute to songwriter Vini Reilly's friend and label-mate Ian Curtis of Joy Division, who committed suicide in the previous year."

The Durutti Column - waiting, 2006

"The Durutti Column were among the first acts signed to Manchester's Factory Records label - which was also home to Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays. His band were highly influential but never sought commercial success. Reilly also played guitar for Morrissey on his debut solo album, Viva Hate. He had his first stroke in 2010 and two more followed in 2011. "He has asked me to send his love to all of you," Matt Reilly wrote. "You've given him the best start to his new year that anyone could have asked for. "And he's determined to fight his way back to fitness and rebuild the power in his hands so he can play guitar again. "It's going to be a hard road ahead for him, but you've all made his life a lot brighter."

The Durutti Column - sara e tristana, 1983

"The Durutti Column — the band of brilliant guitarist Vini Reilly and drummer Bruce Mitchell — was one of the major stakes out of Manchester label Factory Records, created by the charismatic and legendary Tony Wilson. The time of their early records coincides with the stint of Portuguese writer and journalist Miguel Esteves Cardoso in that city in a post-industrial hangover. They first connected there and then. Eventually, Durutti Column played an acclaimed performance at Vilar de Mouros festival in 1982 and Lisbon’s Aula Magna in 1983. That same year, the friendship prompted the idea of a record under the newly founded label Fundação Atlântica of Miguel Esteves Cardoso, Pedro Ayres Magalhães (Corpo Diplomático, Heróis Do Mar, Madredeus) and the late Ricardo Camacho (Sétima Legião), whose purpose was to become the equivalent of Factory Records in Portugal. The album Amigos Em Portugal was recorded on a flying visit within a single day. It has the trademark melancholic and fairy-like guitar of Vini Reilly and contains tracks such as “Lisboa”, “Menina ao Pé Duma Piscina” (Girl By A Pool), “Estoril À Noite” (Estoril At Night), “Sara E Tristana” (Miguel Esteves Cardoso’s twin daughters), “Vestido Amarrotado” (Creased Dress), “Saudade,” and the title track, “Amigos Em Portugal”

The Durutti Column - a little mercy, 1984

"La Belle Dame sans Merci" ("The Beautiful Lady without Mercy") is a ballad produced by the English poet John Keats in 1819. The title was derived from the title of a 15th-century poem by Alain Chartier called La Belle Dame sans Mercy. Considered an English classic, the poem is an example of Keats' poetic preoccupation with love and death. The poem is about a fairy who condemns a knight to an unpleasant fate after she seduces him with her eyes and singing."

The Durutti Column - jacqueline, 1981

"I think once a week I just throw on Durutti Column for the entire evening and every time a different track stands out for me. I’d say my most played songs are The Missing Boy, Sleep Will Come, Jacqueline, and Bordeaux."

The Durutti Column - requiem for a father, 1980

"When you think of 80s Manchester you tend to imagine the dark post-punk synths of Joy Division and the proto-acid-rave music of the Happy Mondays. Not the instrumental etherealism of The Durutti Column. Largely the project of the composer, guitarist, synthesiser programmer and arranger Vini Reilly, The Durutti Column was one of the first acts signed to Tony Wilson’s Factory Records label in 1978. Recorded over a period of a week, their 1980 debut instrumental album The Return of The Durutti Column is probably the best place to start with their music. After the producer Martin Hannet spent two days doing nothing but creating noise tracks on the synthesiser whilst Vini sat pissed in a chair shouting at Martin and occasionally playing some notes on the guitar, the pair stumbled across the bird noises that form the first twenty seconds of The Return‘s opening track, Sketch for Summer. Probably the band’s most famous song, Sketch for Summer is a winding soundscape that combines Vini’s ambient jazz guitar arpeggios with Martin’s darker electronic synth beats. It’s ridiculously dreamy and the kind of song you want to preserve exclusively for long hazy days in the sun. It also only took two run-throughs and 5 minutes to produce, a monumental and, arguably crazy, feat. Later tracks on the LP liked Requiem for a Father and Conduct are chant-like and transcendental. Conduct in particular continually repeats the same cosmic refrain, slowly introducing an array of percussion instruments until gently petering out after five minutes."