Vini Reilly - The Sporadic Recordings
Did You Know I Used To Play The Guitar?
by A. H. Wilson
The guitar means a lot to me; I've had lots of guitars.
I bought my first when I was eleven from Mameloks in Manchester's
Oxford Road, and went for lessons over the store. The building's been
pulled down now. It's where they built the BBC headquarters. The
guitar cost L4.75 and I liked it a lot.
I moved to an electric when I was thirteen, a Watkins Rapier, red.
By sixteen (born in '50 so you can calculate the guitar buying impact
of cultural history) I had changed again, swopping my L19 entry level
electronic machine for a Jumbo; very big then, twelve strings and all,
acoustic and Byrdsy. That one came from Reno's in Manchester; a dark,
professional cave of a shop... they've pulled that building down now;
opposite the Palace it was.
At nineteen I stayed acoustic but was fortunate enough to pick up one
of those L35 Yamahas that if you were lucky sounded and played as good
as a L150 Martin. It was the Yamaha FG-140. Class machine.
And then... ah yes and then, in the Summer of 1973, a few hundred
yards up from Fisherman's wharf on the edge of the San Francisco Bay I
bought the Stratocaster. Fender Stratocaster, nowt special, just new
and a strat and very, very special to me. $240 it was, and the
customs guy at Heathrow wouldn't believe it. I was a
sunburst...... of course. The shop was Don Wehr's Music City; had
signed pictures of the Airplane and Santana buying in the shop all
over the walls.
I don't have guitars now; late seventies I lent my strat to Peter
Terel of A Certain Ratio; then it was lent on to Andrew Berry, and
then it was lent on to Tony in the Stockholm Monsters; then it was
lent back to Andrew... and then... well it all gets rather confused;
last time I saw it was around '86. I was doing some mixing for the
Monsters at a gig in San Giovanni Valdarno in Italy. I think I saw it
on stage... being played... can't be sure but it looked like it.
I don't have guitars now. I have Vini.
I feel pretty good about that.
'Cause guitars mean a lot to me.
"The Way It Works"
by Bruce Mitchell
We've had a few years now of Wilson leadership at Factory. And you
people just wouldn't believe some of the things we've seen.
His Medici type imperious attitude toward the music and the musicians
sometimes takes my breath away and can send me into amazed and
hysterical laughing jags.
We all remember when Vin dropped into the Factory office to find out
if Tony had OK'ed Vini's careful edit and mixing of the 'Womad' live
show. After all Tony had had the cassette in his car over a week! A
long time for a Wilson decision.
"Which mix is that?" he says affecting puzzlement.
"Oh, do you mean that piece of shit you gave me last week, Vini?"
"Do you mean that thing with you singing and talking on it Vini?" His
voice has then lifted to that slightly higher note we've come to know
as the Wilson fury.
"Is that the piece of shit you mean?"
Some people will know that Reilly ain't no yes-man. And by this time
chairs have gone over. Doors have slammed. And Vini has left the
Factory label for at least an hour.
Is this the unacceptable face of Factory? To me it's like someone
leaning over Van Gogh's shoulder and saying 'not that yellow' and
pointing elsewhere on the oil palette. But this is the perennial
relationship between patron and artist. Could Factory Communications
Ltd. have made their remarkable progress over these ten years without
Wilson's mixture of charm, talent eye, and serious confrontational
abrasiveness.
I don't think so.
1. Buddhist Prayer (for Tim and Lindsay Page)
Played on Charlie's L14 guitar after reading 'Page after Page' and
not being disappointed. Starring Japanese monks.
2. Pathway
This is how far you can 'pull' strings before they (or your
fingers) snap.
3. Nile Opera
Starring Egyptian drummers discovered in Andy's obscure
C.D. collection.
4. Shirt No. 7 (for Mr & Mrs Nevin)
Starring a vintage semi-acoustic Gibson 'Stereo-Switchmaster' --
not plugged in.
5. Kind of Love
Jazzers would call it syncopation but the time signature was
irretrievably lost two bars in and never found again.
6. Rob Gray's Elegy
Starring Rob's harmonica and Jeremy Kerr's bass.
7. Misere
Starring the most beautiful voice EVER.
8. For Steven Patrick
...for Steven Patrick with love and affection.
9. We Stumble (dedicated to Alain Lefebvre who plays drums)
Recorded in Belgium for Michel Duval.
10. Sketch for a Manchester Summer 1989
The essential Mancunian summer, captured on DAT before the
greenhouse effect changes the climate irrevocably.
11. Arpeggiator II
Starring a now obsolete gimmick.
12. Diazepam 5 mgs.
(Enough to relax you.) Starring a very expensive Bosendorfer
piano played on a very cheap synth.
13. But Was I...?
An attempt to disguise voices through the S.P.X. 90 mk.1.
14. Pol in Ab (approximately)
Played through an ancient Space Echo, therefore the hiss is
compulsory.
15. Real Drums -- Real Drummer
Starring Bruce Mitchell demonstrating the inadequacies of computer
generated drums.
16. Another Mirror -- Another Wall
Another Michel Duval project. Another song with these lyrics,
starring Pol's voice and Alain Lefebvre's congas.
17. 30 Oldham St.
In praise of DRY's decaffeinated coffee and in spite of Leroy's
jokes.
18. 4.10am
Recorded then.
19. For Lydia
Voices and flute played on a keyboard.
20. Detail for Heidi & Jodie
Played on a Yamaha owned by the recipients of the tune.
21. Zinni's Dance
Bruce's daughter's birthday tune. Played the way she dances,
-- out of time.
22. PPP Version
Based on a description by Anthony H. of a park in Hong Kong.
23. For Lucy H.
Dedicated to a very nice old lady who lived and died alone.
Starring the trumpet of Kaire Gedal.
24. 4.30am
Slightly later the same morning.
25. It's a bright guilty world Part I
Inspired by an Orson Welles interview.
26. It's a bright guilty world Part II
27. Nile Reprise
See Track 3
28. Diazepam 10 mgs.
Enough to send you to sleep?