[2018-09-07] The Durutti Column "Without Mercy (Expanded Edition)" 4CD box, "M24J: Anthology" 2CD set (Factory Benelux)

Linda · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2018 1:48 pm

Without Mercy

Description
Factory Benelux presents an expanded 4xCD edition 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 Durutti Column 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).

Tracklist
[CD1]
1. Without Mercy (Stanzas I-III)
2. Without Mercy (Stanzas IV-VII)
3. Without Mercy (Stanza VIII)
4. Without Mercy (Stanzas IX-XII)
5. Without Mercy 2
6. All That Love and Maths Can Do
7. Snowflakes
8. Profondeurs des Eaux des Laques
9. The Sea Wall
10. Duet
11. Estoril a Noite
12. Favourite Descending Intervals

[CD2]
1. Goodbye
2. The Room
3. A Little Mercy
4. Silence
5. E.E.
6. Hello(w)
7. Paresseuse Aussi
8. Mercy Theme (Live in Tokyo 1985)
9. A Little Mercy (Live in Tokyo 1985)
10. Estoril a Noite (Live in Rotterdam 1983)
11. Favourite Descending Intervals (Live in Manchester 2011)

[CD3: Live in London 1984]
1. Sketch for Summer
2. Jacqueline
3. Mercy Theme
4. A Little Mercy
5. Pauline
6. Mercy Dance
7. E.E.
8. The Room
9. Silence
10. Ornithology
11. Prayer
12. The Beggar
13. The Missing Boy
14. Friends in Belgium

[CD4: Live in Oslo 1986]
1. Mercy Theme
2. A Little Mercy
3. Pauline
4. Mercy Dance
5. E.E.
6. Silence
7. The Room
8. Dream of a Child
9. Tomorrow
10. Blind Elevator Girl

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D55HVYC/?tag=imwan-20

M24J: Anthology

Description
M24J (Anthology) is a collection of valuable passages recorded by The Durutti Column between 1979 and 2011 for various iterations of Factory Records, including poignant tributes to Anthony H. Wilson and Ian Curtis.

Available as a 2xCD 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.

Reilly's music remains resolutely unclassifiable, and sounds better and better with each passing year. "Don't listen to the form," he insists, "listen to the content. Don't listen to the style, the tradition, the technique, just the content of the music. Then judge. People say The Durutti Column is this or that. I don't care so long as we make good music. There's so much good music around. Don't bother with form. Just enjoy."

The remastered 2xCD set is housed in a jewel case, and includes three bonus tracks recorded live in Leeds in October 1980, these being the earliest preserved professional in-concert recordings by Vini Reilly.

Tracklist
[CD1]
1. Sketch for Summer
2. Conduct
3. Lips That Would Kiss
4. For Belgian Friends
5. Danny
6. Messidor
7. The Beggar (live)
8. Prayer
9. Mercy Theme (Duet)
10. Estoril a Noite
11. College
12. All That Love and Maths Can Do
13. Pauline
14. Arpeggiator
15. Catos con Guantes
16. Otis
17. Love No More
18. My Country

[CD2]
1. Home
2. Art and Freight
3. My Only Love
4. A Beautiful Thought (Pt 1)
5. The Title On the Cover
6. Bruce
7. The Missing Boy
8. Anthony (Favourite Descending Intervals)
9. A Paean to Wilson I: Or Are You Just a Technician?
10. A Paean to Wilson II: Chant
11. A Paean to Wilson IX: Darkness Here
12. Glimpse
Bonus Tracks:
13. Detail for Annik (live 1980)
14. Sketch for Summer (live 1980)
15. Requiem for a Father (live 1980)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D57RR6H/?tag=imwan-20

[2018-09-07] The Durutti Column "Without Mercy (Expanded Edition)" 4CD box, "M24J: Anthology" 2CD set (Factory Benelux)

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