The Return Of The Durutti Column (LP & 7")

Factory Benelux presents a new vinyl edition of landmark album The Return of the Durutti Column, housed in a revised version of the iconic sandpaper sleeve first issued by Factory Records in January 1980.

A collaboration between virtuoso guitarist Vini Reilly and legendary Manchester producer Martin Hannett, The Return of the Durutti Column paired Reilly's non-rock sketches with Hannett's electronic textures to produce "perfectly realised, correctly ambient and inventive music" (NME). The infamous sandpaper sleeve was somewhat less user friendly. Inspired by a 1959 Situationist publication by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn, the relentless iconoclasts at Factory hoped that the abrasive packaging would destroy existing record collections.

This new 2013 edition on Factory Benelux develops rather than replicates the original packaging. On the front cover, an 11-inch square sheet of coarse sandpaper is seated in a recessed deboss, while the back cover and inner sleeve feature period Durutti images by noted photographer Daniel Meadows.

The bonus Hannett 'test card' flexidisc is now a hard vinyl 7" (with improved sound quality), while the album itself features two extra tracks, Madeleine and Lips That Would Kiss (previously issued as a separate 7-inch single on Factory Benelux in October 1980).

The inner bag also features extensive liner notes with quotes from Vini Reilly, Martin Hannett, Tony Wilson, Peter Saville, Daniel Meadows, John Brierley, Bruce Mitchell and members of Joy Division, who assembled most of the sandpaper originals.