Album Review: The Durutti Column - Vini Reilly

By 1989 Vini Reilly was really mixing it up, throwing in all manner of instrumentation along with his distinctive guitar playing.  His brand of guitar playing had featured on Morrissey's debut album, Viva Hate.  But titling The Durutti Column's album of that year after himself led more to confusion than anything else.

Still, the music contained within remained faithful to Reilly's 'sound'.  Although opening track Love No More features operatic warbling, the track's melody betrays a latent Morrissey influence.  Opera I & II, and William B also feature operatic singing over Reilly's guitar with the addition of gorgeous keyboards.

There are 13 tracks on the album proper (plus an additional 8 on the reissue), and with so many tracks not all of them will work.  The vaguely funky workout People's Pleasure Park.  The centrepiece is the nine minute long sprawling Finding the Sea, which may prove a barrier to some's enjoyment of the album.  The track, though enjoyable, avoids structure in favour of a multi-part kitchen sink approach, throwing in opera singing, keyboards, percussion, guitar, some of it conjuring up Ry Cooder of all people, before John Metcalfe's viola takes the track in a darker direction.

Acoustic guitars make an appearance here too on They Work Every Day and the highly successful Spanish guitar piece Homage to Catalonia.  Perhaps the most broody and atmospheric piece is saved for the shimmering mesh of guitar and keyboards on penultimate track Requiem Again.  There's still time for Vini Reilly's whispered vocals on final track My Country.

While not all of it works, what DOES makes this a very satisfying listen.