2001-2009

RELEASE
November 17, 2009
LABEL
Full Fill
GENRES
Pop/Rock

Album Review

Like Bill Frisell and Richard Thompson, Vini Reilly is one of very few instantly recognizable guitarists in pop music: you only need to hear a bar or two of his playing to realize it's him. And it's not just that he has a distinctively personal tone, though he does; it's also his unique fingerpicking style and his approach to arpeggiation that make his sound so personal and so viscerally appealing. While Durutti Column started out as a band, its membership eventually shrank to the point where it has become a vehicle for Reilly's musical projects and experiments, with which he is helped by a shifting cast of singers and accompanists, though his guitar playing is generally central. This five-disc box set is, as its title suggests, a compilation of his work during the period 2001-2009. It brings together five complete albums (Rebellion, Someone Else's Party, Keep Breathing, Idiot Savants, and Love in the Time of Recession), each packaged in a separate cardboard sleeve and each including several bonus tracks; unfortunately, there is no additional information about the musicians involved, recording dates, or any other liner notes. However, the music itself is consistently wonderful. Although every track is recognizably a Durutti Column piece, the stylistic range exhibited on these five discs is quite broad and includes funky electronica with vocal samples ("Better Must Come," "Let Me Tell You Something"), spacious dub ("Lock-Down," "Overlord, Pt. 1"), and ethnomusicological experimentation ("Protest Song") along with the bittersweetly contemplative guitar compositions that have been Reilly's stock in trade for nearly 30 years. Most musicians with a musical profile as unique as Reilly's would be difficult to listen to for five hours at a stretch, but this box is actually a pleasure to hear from end to end -- a powerful testament to Reilly's skill as a composer, his range, and the fertility of his musical imagination.
Rick Anderson, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. 4 Sophia
  2. Longsight Romance
  3. Geh Cak Af En Yam
  4. The Fields of Athenry
  5. Overlord, Pt. 1
  6. Falling
  7. Voluntary Arrangement
  8. Mello, Pt. 1
  9. Mello, Pt. 2
  10. Protest Song
  11. Meschugana
  12. Everyone Loves Papa [XFM Session] [Version]
  13. Teresa [XFM Session] [Version]
  14. Love Is a Friend
  15. Spanish Lament
  16. Somewhere
  17. Somebody's Party
  18. Requiem for My Mother
  19. Remember
  20. Vigil
  21. Blue
  22. No More Hurt
  23. Spasmic Fairy
  24. American View
  25. Drinking Time
  26. Woman
  27. Goodbye
  28. Creole [XFM Session] [Version]
  29. Spasmic Fairy [XFM Session] [Version]
  30. Nina
  31. It's Wonderful
  32. Maggie
  33. Helen
  34. Neil
  35. Big Hole
  36. Let Me Tell You Something
  37. Lunch
  38. Gun
  39. Tuesday
  40. Agnus Dei
  41. Waiting
  42. Better Must Come
  43. Interleukin
  44. Please Let Me Sleep
  45. 2 Times Nice
  46. No Last Surprise
  47. Gathering Dust
  48. Whisper to the Wind
  49. That Blows My Name Away
  50. In Memory of Anthony
  51. Rant
  52. More Rainbows
  53. I'm Alive
  54. For Bruce
  55. Painting
  56. Wild Beast Tamed
  57. Rainbow Maker
  58. My Poppy
  59. Loser
  60. Lock-Down
  61. The Secret Between the Blade and Me
  62. Duet for Piano and Guitar
  63. Everybody's Laughing (I Don't Care)