Without Mercy
reissue liner notes (Anthony H. Wilson)


If in doubt, repeat yourself

It was the fascist architecture that proved to be the final straw.
My temper had been rising throughout the evening, a sell out gig, two
thousand fanatical Portuguese Vini fans at some Lisbon College
theatre, obviously built in the good old days of the Portuguese
Generals.

What had got me going was the fact that Vini and Bruce were doodling
along on stage the same way they had been doing for at least two and a
half years.  Same bloody stuff; like John Cooper Clarke doing a
college gig in 1990.  If in doubt, repeat yourself.  It was too bloody
easy.

And when the entire audience came to its feet on Bruce's 'drum solo'
in 'Jacqueline', well, I mean, a fucking drum solo.  When you're
pissed off and everyone else is loving it, you get really pissed off.
Shakespeare used to do that with filthy jokes just before a coming
tragic death scene to wind up the part of the audience that wasn't
pissing itself with laughter.  The applause for the drum solo
certainly wound me up.

It was the same with recording.  Vini's third album, 'Another
Setting', while strangely providing some of the DC standards that Vin
would be playing a decade later, merely trod the same ground as 'LC'
and took nothing forward.  It was time for a change.

A few months earlier we'd been approached by three classical
musicians, kids from the Royal Northern College of Music and
Manchester University.  A trumpeter, a saxophonist and a ......  "Has
Factory got any work for us?" -- "Who knows, maybe ......"

Factory had also struck up a relationship with the wonderful Pete
Hadfield acting for statuesque cello player, Caroline Lavelle.
(Where's the bloody tape, Pete?)  An idea formed; a group of musicians
for Vini to create for.  Add to the mix Blaine Reininger from the
Belgian connection -- always on hand with his Michel Duval
impersonations and electrifying violin work.  The first meeting was at
Alan and Annie's farm in Cheshire.  "Actually we get more people at
the farm than at the Hacienda", said Mr Erasmus for the Channel Four
documentary while riding round a nearby field on the back of Hooky's
trial bike.

And the final ingredient turned up on the first day at Strawberry when
the brass section brought along their 'arranger', the diminutive but
'taking no shit' Mr Metcalfe whose viola playing became such a part of
the next cycle of Durutti work.

Since this was pop it had to be 'boy meets girl, boy loses girl' so we
took Keats's 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' as the narrative -- boy meets
girl, boy loses girl and no birds sing.

Central to the whole project was trying to get Vini to spend more than
three days recording an album, to try and slow down the process.  It
took five days which has to be counted as an abject failure.

Plus getting to hear Vini and Blaine do an ultra heavy 'Sweet Jane' a
couple of times at soundchecks was worth the admission.

Worth the admission to the reissue is the inclusion of the tracks from
the 'Say What You Mean...' EP, released as a 12" vinyl single.  The
session for this collection took place at Revolution in Cheadle a few
months after the 'Mercy' sessions and already show the slimming down
process and the core musicians of the mid 80's Durutti Column coming
of age.  Basically it was the Manc kids.  What's new.



Without Mercy

All tracks written by Vini Reilly.  Produced by Anthony Wilson and
Michael Johnson.

Vini Reilly: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Piano and DMX.  Bruce Mitchell:
Percussion, Congas and DMX.  Richard Henry:  Trombone.  Maunagh
Fleming: Cor Anglais and Oboe.  Blaine Reininger:  Violin and Viola.
Mervyn Fletcher: Saxophone.  Caroline Lavelle: Cello.  Tim Kellett:
Trumpet.

Recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport.  Mixed at Britannia Row,
London.  Engineered by Michael Johnson.  Assisted by Tim Dewey and
Nigel Beverley.