Durutti Column, The - Domo Arigato Deluxe

Factory Benelux
(FBN052-2: 708527071557)

$22.00

3xCD + DVD (4 disc set). 51 tracks.

Factory Benelux presents an expanded 4x disc edition of Domo Arigato, the acclaimed live album by Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column, recorded in Tokyo in April 1985.

Domo Arigato followed on the heels of ambitious ‘modern classical’ album Without Mercy a year earlier, and saw composer/guitarist Vini Reilly and percussionist Bruce Mitchell augmented by John Metcalfe on viola and Tim Kellet on trumpet. Their show-cum-recital at the Kan’i Hoken Hall on 25 April was recorded digitally and filmed on two 35mm cameras. ‘Mixing down was fun,’ recalled Durutti manager/mentor Anthony H. Wilson. ‘We were on a flight out next morning so Nippon Columbia hired a mobile studio recording truck and we mixed from midnight to 6 a.m.’

In fact the group always considered this rather hurried mix imperfect, and therefore for this greatly expanded 2017 reissue Factory Benelux have returned to the original soundboard tapes and remastered the entire 90 minute performance, in the process restoring the original running order.

Disc 1 of the 4 CD set presents the original digital mix from 1985, while Discs 2 and 3 include the 2017 soundboard remaster plus a previously unreleased gig from Tokyo Loft Club on 29 April 1984. Disc 4 is an NTSC format DVD featuring a pristine transfer of the original Japanese laserdisc edition of Domo Arigato, which is the filmed version of the show with the 1985 digital mix.

A double disc vinyl edition is also available with a bonus 7” single, Dedications for Japan.

Disc 1 (CD)

1. Sketch for Summer

2. Sketch for Dawn

3. Mercy Theme

4. A Little Mercy

5. Dream of a Child

6. Mercy Dance

7. The Room

8. E.E.

9. Blind Elevator Girl

10. Tomorrow

11. For Belgian Friends

12. The Missing Boy

13. Self Portrait

14. Audience Noise

Disc 2 (CD)

1. Sketch for Summer

2. Sketch for Dawn

3. Party

4. Never Known

5. Mercy Theme

6. A Little Mercy

7. Jacqueline

8. Dream of a Child

9. Mercy Dance

10. A Silence

11. The Room

12. E.E.

13. Pauline

14. Conduct

15. Tomorrow

Disc 3 (CD)

1. Blind Elevator Girl

2. The Beggar

3. For Belgian Friends

4. The Missing Boy

5. Self Portrait

6. Sketch for Dawn

7. Sketch for Summer

8. Jacqueline

9. Without Mercy (version)

10. Love Fading

11. Take Some Time Out/Messidor

12. Never Known

13. Dream of a Child

Disc 4 (DVD)

1. Sketch for Summer

2. Sketch for Dawn

3. A Little Mercy

4. Mercy Dance

5. The Room

6. E.E.

7. Blind Elevator Girl

8. For Belgian Friends

9. The Missing Boy