VIA PRESS RELEASE | This year marks 45 years since the release of The Durutti Column’s landmark album The Return Of The Durutti Column. To celebrate, London Records release a very special reissue of the seminal Manchester band’s 1980 debut, out now and available to order here.
One of the first groups to be signed to the legendary Manchester label Factory Records in 1978, The Durutti Column took their name from Spanish Civil War anarchist Buenaventura Durruti and a 1960s Situationist comic strip. Having appeared on Factory’s inaugural release A Factory Sample (a double 7” compilation also featuring Joy Division, John Dowie, and Cabaret Voltaire), the band’s relationship with the label would endure for two decades and ten studio albums.
The Return Of The Durutti Column remains one of Factory’s most enduring and important works: fragile, otherworldly, and quietly radical. Produced by Martin Hannett, it showcased Vini Reilly’s distinctive, delicate guitar work against Hannett’s ambient textures, post-punk reverb, and glacial electronics. The 45th Anniversary Edition will be available in several formats:
The Deluxe Sandpaper LP, replicating the rare first pressing and limited to 500 numbered copies worldwide. Each sleeve has been spray-painted by hand with the original catalogue number, FACT 14. This edition includes a unique printed inner sleeve featuring an essay by Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, housed inside a protective outer cover. Available exclusively at store.the-durutti-column.com.
The Standard Edition LP, replicating the second pressing, commonly known as the “Dufy” sleeve (after a featured triptych of images by French painter Jean Dufy), with the outer sleeve printed on the same textured card as the 1980 version. The inner sleeve features an essay by Durutti Column/Factory Records expert James Nice. Rough Trade will stock a unique pressing of this edition as part of their Essentials range, pressed on black-and-white marbled vinyl and limited to 500 copies (with bonus sandpaper postcard).
All vinyl editions have been remastered from the original source tapes, recently rediscovered in a Stockport warehouse, and cut at half-speed for maximum audio fidelity. The tracklisting includes the original album plus “Untitled” (featured on later iterations), alongside two further tracks: “Lips That Would Kiss” and “Madeleine,” both originally issued on Factory Records’ Belgian sister label Factory Benelux in autumn 1980.
The Expanded Hardback Book Edition is a 2CD, 38-track collection housed in a tall storybook format with a 48-page booklet. Alongside essays from James Nice and Bobby Gillespie, this edition also includes a new piece by Mojo journalist Ian Harrison. The expanded audio features the vinyl tracklisting plus material from the 1980 bonus flexidisc “Testcard,” first recordings, studio and home demos, live performances, and several previously unreleased tracks. The artwork reflects the special 1985 boxed cassette edition (part of Factory’s series alongside releases from Joy Division, New Order, and A Certain Ratio) and is printed on authentically sourced paper stock.
The first 500 orders from the official store will receive an exclusive bonus CD, Lost Songs and Sketches, featuring early live recordings and a rare 1981 audio interview with Vini Reilly.
The Durutti Column’s sparse yet emotionally charged soundscapes have influenced generations of musicians. Most recently, Blood Orange sampled the band’s “Sing For Me” on “The Field,” the lead single from his album Essex Honey, while their catalogue now enjoys millions of streams worldwide. The band is experiencing a renewed cultural resonance, with songs featured in acclaimed series The Bear, in Jonathan Anderson’s debut collection for Dior Spring-Summer 2026, and across the entire soundtrack of Dries Van Noten’s Autumn-Winter 2025 runway show.
The Return Of The Durutti Column endures as a defining statement of minimalism and atmosphere: an album that still sounds as visionary today as it did 45 years ago.
