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Chronicle, by The Durutti Column, is released on Kooky as a very limited, special and expanded version to acknowledge Vini Reilly's 60th year of his life; thus Chronicle LX XL. The partly autobiographical album was first commissioned for a performance in April 2011 at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. During this period, Vini and Poppy (his girlfriend of 9 years) parted company and it was a heartbroken Vini that went on to complete the production. Despite the breakup, Poppy had agreed to perform on piano that evening for two of the songs that she had written with Vini accompanying on guitar. Over the following three years, the artist has battled serious illness and has not played a full show since. It was -- and still is -- a very difficult time physically, mentally and emotionally for Vini Reilly. The compositions reflect a particular stage in Vini's recent life. At the Bridgewater Hall show, a pre-release limited edition CD was available for that evening only, with a note by Vini explaining the background to the new work. Chronicle began as an autobiographical project, marking particular moments in Vini's past. Although elements of this surfaced in the original Chronicle, events in his life while recording the album brought a new twist to the project. Bruce Mitchell (drums and percussion): "So there are two versions of Chronicle. We did a special edition for the gig at the Bridgewater Hall, where people could get the album as part of a premium ticket deal. In 2011, we premiered the music there, with all Vini's photographs up on the screen. That was the last gig, really. The following day, Phil Cleaver from Kooky said he'd got back home to find his emails full of requests from the audience to buy one. So they all sold out, immediately. But soon afterwards Vin became really ill." "It was a big, expensive recording, Chronicle. And Vin, despite being ill, did this further version. So there's Chronicle 1 and Chronicle 2. What I wanted Vini to do as a composer was something similar to Elgar's "Enigma Variations" -- a piece of music about certain people in a life. I wanted him to do this and link the music to photographs he'd taken over the years. Vin's a great photographer." However, Reilly remains The Durutti Column's indisputable leader, and had the last say. Bruce continues: "I didn't quite get what I wanted, because in the end, Vini wanted the album to be about his life at this point in time. We couldn't finish it for a while because Vin was in such a bad way. But now it's there. And we've got some very interesting, very powerful music on this." In a package that continues The Durutti Column's tradition of innovation, this record is only available in special packaging containing personal images from the artist's camera and photographic collection. Continuing the autobiographical theme, the packaging acknowledges previous releases through parts of its design. A foil blocked burgundy textured clamshell box will contain: a full-color saddle-stitched booklet with an introduction by Bruce Mitchell and a collage of photographs from Vini's own personal collection. It also includes a printed sandpaper insert, a map (randomly selected one of six) redrawn in "Obey the Time purple and yellow" showing a place of importance to the artist, a grey card certificate in a custom envelope, and two CDs in pochettes. Each box set will have a map and grey card certificate. There are no plans to release this in any other format at present and this will be strictly limited to 1,000 copies only; worldwide. Features: Caoilfhionn Rose Birley (piano & vocals), Jill Taylor (vocals), Billy Rance (vocals), Keir Stewart (guitar, piano, harmonica), Vin Reilly (vocals, guitar), and Bruce Mitchell (drums).
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