I fucking hate mondays. I hate them so much that I’d rather not participate in them at all, but this morning was cool cause while I was driving with one hand/tweeting/facebooking/smoking in shitty traffic, I came across the following news:
Manchester post-punk act The Durutti Column will release and perform A Paean to Wilson – a tribute to Factory Records co-founder and Hacienda nightclub manager Tony Wilson – in January next year.
Source: Durutti Column to release and perform tribute to Factory Records co-founder – Fact Magazine
Truthfully, I find it strange that this news has been tweeted, retweeted, posted, and reposted, only because I’m pretty sure it’s the first most people have heard of this “Durutti Column” business, but I must state that they are basically my absolute favorite thing in the world and if I had one dying wish it’d be to have Vini Reilly come to my deathbed and play me a little diddy on his guitar.
I’ve said that before – ask anyone who knows me. That’s why this is pretty special, because essentially this tribute album is EXACTLY that – a bunch of tunes written by Reilly for Wilson to groove on while in the hospital. Here’s what Mr. Reilly had to say about that:
“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.”
The record will be released on January 24th. Dig the video and track listing:
Paean to Wilson Tracklisting
Disc one – A Paean To Wilson
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)
1 Bruce
2 Keir
3 Neil
4 Mike
5 Alan
6 Anthony
