The Durutti Column - Obey The Time

Genre: Post-Punk
Format: 2LP
Catalogue No.: FBN274 
B/C 708527180853
Release Date: 13th November 2020

Factory Benelux presents an expanded double vinyl edition of Obey the Time, the eighth studio album by Manchester ensemble The Durutti Column. Originally released by Factory Records in 1990, just 500 copies have been re-pressed in coloured vinyl (transparent pink and neon yellow).
Largely self-produced, and entirely instrumental, Obey the Time saw DC mainman Vini Reilly further develop his interest in electronic music, and even embracing house and techno stylings. “The title came screaming off the TV screen in somebody’s version of Othello and captured exactly the feel of the work in progress,” explained Tony Wilson, Durutti manager and Factory founder. “We were in the middle of the Aceeed explosion. If you lived in Manchester, you were absolutely in the middle of it. Vini even explained why House made keyboards sound so fresh. Something to do with a chord being played with 3 or 4 notes into the sampler, but then different chords being triggered by a single key stroke. Creating mathematical harmonic relationships ‘which Schoenberg had searched for but never found.’”
Indeed veteran Durutti percussionist Bruce Mitchell features on just one track, Art and Freight. Marking a further break with tradition, dance exploration Contra-Indications was taped with New Order programmer (and later co-manager) Andy Robinson. Released in December 1990, Obey the Time would be the last Durutti Column album on Factory before the labelled collapsed beneath a mountain of debt.
Disc 2 features extracts from a previously unreleased live performance at Manchester University Whitworth Hall on 23 June 1990 (opportunistically billed as ‘The Acid Guitar’), on which Reilly and Mitchell are joined by guests Andy Connell, Liu Sola and Rob Gray.
Original cover art by 8vo. The remastered vinyl set is housed in a striking gatefold sleeve printed in pantone colours. These bold primary colours are mirrored by the coloured vinyl – transparent for Disc 1, and neon yellow for Disc 2.

2xLP tracklist:
Disc 1 A1. Vino Della Casa Bianco A2. Hotel of the Lake 1990 A3. Fridays A4. Neon A5. Home B1. Spanish Reggae B2. Art and Freight B3. The Warmest Rain B4. Contra-Indications B5. Vino Della Casa Rosso

Disc 2 C1. Home (live) C2. What It Means to Me (live) C3. English Landscape Tradition (live) C4. Opera II (live) D1. Finding the Sea (live) D2. Otis (live) D3. Jacqueline (live)

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