A Paean To Wilson (2CD)

CD: UK 09.10.09 (Kooky Records, Kookydisc 29/1 & 29/2)
Download: UK 25.01.10 (Kooky Records)

Tracklisting

Disc one – A Paean To Wilson [Kookydisc 29/1]

Movement

I Or Are You Just A Technician
II Chant
III Quatro
IV Requiem
V Stuki
VI Along Came Poppy
VII Brother
VIII Duet With Piano
IX Darkness Here
X Catos Revisited
XI The Truth
XII How Unbelievable

Bonus Disc: Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital. It Was Heaven Sent) [Kookydisc 29/2]

1 Bruce
2 Keir
3 Neil
4 Mike
5 Alan
6 Anthony

Liner notes by Vini Reilly

A Paean to Wilson is part of a body of work which I started around the time that my friend, Tony Wilson died. Towards the end of his illness, I sent him an instrumental track and he loved it, so I decided that the right thing to do was carry on.

I was at the hospital when he died. We were very, very close. Afterwards, many things were done in his name. They were all about 'Mr Manchester', and about what Tony had done for music, art and literature. I didn't attend many of them. I'd just lost one of my closest friends and I had all the grief that you feel under such circumstances. Once I'd got my act together though, I decided to do something for myself and for Tony.

The Durutti Column was Tony Wilson's baby. We were the first act signed up to his Factory club night and the first band signed to Factory Records. Over the years we worked on many albums together and the one thing that Tony and I always argued about was that he thought that I should make music and write rather than sing.

After he died, I decided to make a body of work which did not have traditional song structures and which was concerned solely with the musical content. My only objective was to create some music that Tony would thoroughly approve of. I think I've done that and, if his spirit lives on - which I like to think that it does - I want him to know that this is for him. Vini Reilly

Musicians

Vini Reilly - Guitar, Piano
Bruce Mitchell - Drums, Marimba
Keir Stewart - Bass, Keyboards, Harmonica
Poppy Morgan - Piano
John Metcalfe - Viola
Tim Kellet - Trumpet
Ruby Morgan, Kate Williamson - Vocals

Composed by Reilly, Stewart & Mitchell

String arrangements by Ian Livingstone and Keir Stewart

Performed by the Livingstone Chamber Ensemble. Recorded at Highfield Studios, Guildford, Surrey

Drums recorded at Moolah Rouge and engineered by Seadna McPhail

Produced by Keir Stewart
Executive producer Bruce Mitchell

Mixed & mastered by Keir Stewart at Inch Studio Manchester. www.inchstudio.com

Thanks to:

Howard Sharrock
Alex Poots
Simon Mellor
The Kooky Gang
Phil Cleaver
Alex McMurtrie

Thanks to the Brothers McLeod. Hats off to Colin and Norman for building the best studio in Manchester - Moolah Rouge. Colin Adshead & the amazing 5003D mic amp and being patient with Keir's gear-tweak OCD, Dave Lunt for the Quad Valve Pre and instrument care. Daniel Courville in Canada for the ambisonic plugins.

Thanks to Bruce to all his family, all my family and all Morgans everywhere. Also thanks to Michael Pitrik for hair, Laurie Laptop, Alan Erasmus, Oli Wilson and all Tony's dear ones, Les Thompson, Mark Broscombe, Phil and Emma, John 'Cerysmatic' Cooper, Mark Prendergast, Gwyn and Pip and their beautiful family, and Hugh and Amanda Williamson.

Also to the Birmingham Three and all our supporters around the world! Special thanks to Bruce Mitchell for keeping me alive and Poppy Morgan for keeping me happy. Vini

Cover photograph by Stephen Wright
Other photographs by Ben Kelly, Dave John Norton, Poppy Morgan
Designed by Trevor Johnson & Haider Muhdi

5 024545 570328

Manufactured in the United Kingdom
P & © Imagen Music 2009
All rights reserved. Kookydisc 29/1 & 29/2

www.thedurutticolumn.com
www.kookydisc.co.uk

Reviews

A beautiful and entirely fitting eulogy

Tony Wilson always wanted Vini Reilly to make music. Reilly’s The Durutti Column were Mr. Manchester’s favourite band, and the first to sign to Factory Records - which ensures that 'A Paean To Wilson' is a deeply personal collection of songs, as Reilly grieves for the loss of his close friend. Be it the delicate Spanish guitar on ‘Quatro’, the lonely trumpet on ‘Along Came Poppy’ or the poignant Marvin Gaye sample (“Brother, brother / There’s too many of us dying”) on ‘Brother’, Reilly’s exquisite instrumentation conveys both an intense sadness and a celebratory joy.

'Paean To Wilson' is a requiem for the bond of eternal friendship, and a beautiful, and entirely fitting, eulogy.

8/10, John Freeman, ClashMusic.com

Wordless homage to late Factory Records chief

Vini Reilly's Durutti Column were the first band Tony Wilson ever signed to Factory Records, back in early 1978. Their bond was such that, when Wilson was ill in hospital, Reilly sent him new instrumentals to listen to and was at his bedside when he died. This rich and contemplative record is the fruition of that, forsaking traditional song structure for nagging loops, ambient flurries of guitar notes (spilling over into Spanish flamenco on "Quatro"), highly rhythmic percussion and strobing feedback. John Metcalfe's viola, particularly, is mood-perfect. It all ends with Wilson's damning verdict on New Labour. Ever the last word.

****, Rob Hughes, UNCUT 153, Feb 2010

Instrumental tribute to late Factory Records boss

"Championed by Tony Wilson for almost 30 years and present in hospital when the former Factory boss died in 2007, this is Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column's double-CD tribute to his friend and mentor. A sprawling, instrumental affair, it's also boldly eclectic, mixing the delicate acoustic pickings of Catos Revisited with the brooding guitar noise of Requiem and the Marvin Gaye-sampling Brother and The Truth, via new age, ambient textures and beautiful piano piece Anthony [actually on the bonus CD, 2005's Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital. It Was Heaven Sent), Ed.]. Clocking in at 100 minutes, it might have benefited from some pruning, but this still makes for a fine tribute."

***, Phil Mongredien, Q

Notes

The album went on sale initially at the sold out Beyond The Loop concert at Kings Place in London on Friday 9 October 2009 priced GBP 15.00 [cash only].

The album went on internet presale in limited quantities via the Buy It Now Button for 15.00 GBP from 1-27 November 2009. It is now on general release as of 24 January 2010 and was sold at the gig at the Lowry in Salford on the same day.