The Return of the Durutti Column  

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The Return of the Durutti Column is the debut album by The Durutti Column. It was originally released in 1980 on Factory Records and the original 2000 LP sleeves were made of sandpaper.

The sleeve thanked Guy Debord for the marketing concept. Debord's first book Mémoires (1959) was also bound with a sandpaper cover so that it would destroy other books placed next to it.

The title of the album is a translation of La Retour de la Colonne Durutti (1966).

Track listing

All tracks composed by Vini Reilly.

Original album

Side one

1. "Sketch for Summer" – 3:01
2. "Requiem for a Father" – 5:08
3. "Katharine" – 5:30
4. "Conduct" – 5:02

Side two (5 tracks – original sandpaper sleeve 'B1' and later black sleeve 'B3')

1. "Beginning" – 1:39
2. "Jazz" – 1:38
3. "Sketch for Winter" – 2:24
4. "Collette" – 2:23
5. "In 'D'" – 2:25 (sounds like "Sketch for Winter" with different mix)

Side two (6 tracks – black sleeve 'B2' pressing and First Four CD)

On these editions the label lists the same 5 tracks as above but the running order is different (track 1 above has moved between tracks 4 and 5) and also starts with an extra track that is not included in the original 'B1'/later 'B3'.

1. "Beginning" – 2:28 (audibly a new track not on 'B1' or 'B3')
2. "Jazz" – 1:38 (audibly same as track 2 above)
3. "Sketch for Winter" – 2:24 (audibly same as track 3 above)
4. "Collette" – 2:23 (audibly same as track 4 above)
5. "In 'D'" – 1:39 (audibly same as track 1 above)
6. Not listed – 2:25 (audibly same as track 5 above; sounds like "Sketch for Winter" with different mix)

The above shows (in brackets) the actual equivalent running order between the two versions.

Note: Discographies have stated that the later 1996 CD re-issue has track listing errors although audibly and in track listing it actually matches the original 5-track vinyl version. It has also been assumed that the additional track that starts side two of the 6-track version was intended to be the track labelled "Beginning" (and therefore was missing and mislabled on the original release, and that the last track on both versions was an unintentional inclusion). This has been questioned many times in Durutti Column discussion groups and appears so far not possible to verify which version was the intended/correct one, or to confirm the correct titles of the first and last tracks of the 6-track side two version.

Related works included on reissues

1. "Lips That Would Kiss"
2. "Madeleine"
3. "First Aspect of the Same Thing" (Martin Hannett)
4. "Second Aspect of the Same Thing" (Martin Hannett)
5. "Sleep Will Come" – produced by Vini Reilly; vocals by Jeremy Carr
6. "Experiment in Fifth" – produced by Vini Reilly

Personnel

• Vini Reilly – "The Guitarist"
• Pete Crooks – bass
• Toby – drums
• Martin Hannett – "switches", electronics
• Chris Nagle, John Brierley – engineers