getting together
The Return of the Durutti Column
reissue liner notes (Anthony H. Wilson)
Once upon a time
The row took place in the front room of Alan Erasmus and Charlie Sturridge's flat. The managers of the Durutti Column, Alan and me, announced that as we were now about to make our first record, we thought we should use a genius we knew called Martin Hannett. The members of the group, that is the members of the group less Vini who wasn't there -- presumably ill -- said they thought we should use a genius they knew called Laurie Latham.
Funny how quickly you become absolutely committed to something you just "thought". That day was it, the healthy members of the band went on their own to work with Laurie, who was a genius as it turned out. They became the Mothmen; that group sloughed several skins until it became the backing band for a Manc singer with incredible red hair.
And on a tragic note, Mothman guitarist Dave Rowbotham was axed to death in a brutal slaying in Burnage, Manchester in the early 90's; see 'Let me tell you a story about Cowboy Dave' from the Mondays''Yes Please' album.
Back to '78 and that was how it came about that we booked a week in Cargo studios, Rochdale for Vini and Martin -- our geniuses -- just to see what would happen.
Martin arrived with these great big black cardboard-fronted machines; synthesizers -- remember this was 1978 and Vini arrived with his beloved Les Paul.
For two days, the Monday and Tuesday, Martin did nothing but create strange rhythm/noise tracks. Occasionally Vini would strap on the guitar and play some notes onto the tracks. But it was hard to get Martin to notice as he pored over the primitive electronics.
By the second night Vini had had enough; he was now bored. Wednesday came and Martin went back up to Rochdale on his own. He spent the day mixing down the stuff he'd got. 'Return of...' is the result, a pure breath of beauty and, naturally, brevity.
We include on this CD the other two tracks Vini did in the early style. Although Vini was later to record lyrically his response to the death of our partner Ian Curtis in 'Missing Boy' from the 'L.C.'album, 'Lips that Would Kiss' ('...form prayers to broken stones.') was the first instrumental response. Together with Madeleine it was released by our friends in Belgium, Aneek and Michel on Crepuscule/Factory Benelux. We also include remastered versions of Martin's work on the synthesizer that was included as a flexi-disc in the first 2,000 sandpaper-sleeved Fact 14's. Titled 'Test Card', its catalogue number was Fact 14c. Weird.
A few months later, there was a delightful experiment, also at Cargo, when Jes of ACR provided some words and vocals for 'Sleep Will Come'.
And finally, 'Experiment in Fifth' was part of the work between this album and the second work, 'LC'. It does however use the same 5ths progression as its brother 'Requiem' on this album. Oh, and it signals the arrival of the Stratocaster. The Les Paul was finally put aside, but that's another story. And another album.
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