THE DURUTTI COLUMN Schallplatten & CDs

Review: The Durutti Column prove just how fertile the North West England music scene was during the mid-late-1970s and through the 1980s. Taking their name from an anarchist military movement active during the Spanish Civil War, the band was formed by Vini Reilly, who brought together a bunch of players from the nascent punk and post punk scene, and managed to turn heads in the process. One of which was Tony Wilson. One of the first acts to sign to his now-legendary Factory Records, they would remain on the imprint until its demise, by which time the project had become a solo thing for Reilly, whose name was already shorthand for risk taking with bold ideas. Take this record, for example, veering from Southern Mediterranean folk to experimental indie, sample-based rock-opera and more, it still defies expectations.

Review: Durutti Column fans will often say that this album, Paean to Wilson, is the band's best work since Factory Records began its sad demise in the early 1990's. It was in 2009 that the record was commissioned by Manchester International Festival of Music, at which point Vini Reilly had already composed pieces for Manchester icon Tony Wilson to listen to from his hospital bed. The album developed from there and gave rise to a 70-minute international festival tribute to Tony Wilson. It features plenty of virtuoso guitar performances from Reilly, who refused to sing during that live show as another tribute to Wilson who had always said he should leave the vocals out.