The Return of the Durutti Column


The Return of the Durutti Column is the debut studio album by English band The Durutti Column. It was released in January 1980, through record label Factory.

Background

The initial two thousand copies also included a flexi-disc single with two tracks by producer Martin Hannett: "First Aspect of the Same Thing" and "Second Aspect of the Same Thing".
The original 3600 LP sleeves were made of coarse sandpaper, designed to scratch LPs which were placed on either side of it. The sleeves were assembled by members of the bands and label-mates Joy Division and A Certain Ratio. A regular printed sleeve for later copies was designed by Steve Horsfall. Some later pressings featured a sixth untitled track on side two.
"Sketch for Summer"/"Sketch for Winter" was released as a single in Australia, with a sleeve by Andrew Penhallow of Gap.
In 2013 a modified version was issued as a vinyl album by Factory Benelux with an 11-inch square sheet of coarse glasspaper attached to the inner sleeve, visible through a die-cut in the front cover. The die-cut was based on the 1978 Factory 'bar graph' logo designed by Peter Saville. On this edition, the Hannett tracks were included on a bonus 7-inch single on hard vinyl.
The album was given the Factory Identifier FACT14, or FACT14-C.

Legacy

called the album a "quietly stunning debut, as influential down the road as his labelmates in Joy Division's effort with Unknown Pleasures."

Track listing

All written by Vini Reilly.
;Side A
  1. "Sketch for Summer"
  2. "Requiem for a Father"
  3. "Katharine"
  4. "Conduct"
;Side B
  1. "Beginning"
  2. "Jazz"
  3. "Sketch for Winter"
  4. "Collette"
  5. "In 'D'"
;Bonus flexi-disc
  1. "First Aspect of the Same Thing"
  2. "Second Aspect of the Same Thing"

    Personnel

; The Durutti Column
; Additional personnel