Sketch For A Manchester Summer

This song is one of the hidden gems in Vini Reilly's back catalogue. You could argue that the entire Durutti Column back catalogue is one hidden gem after another but this one really is more hidden than most. It only appeared as far as I know on a limited edition, numbered CD called The Sporadic Recordings in December 1989 and then as a double CD called Return Of The Sporadic Recordings- both CDs now go for upwards of £20 or £30 second hand (which isn't much for vinyl but is a lot for a compact disc in the current market place). Most of the sellers are abroad as well so postage adds another £10 to the price- the only copy currently on Discogs from a UK seller is priced at £35.99, a lot of money for a CD. If ever a song needed reissuing as a 7" single, it's this one. 

Sketch For A Manchester Summer 1989 is just shy of three minutes, with what sounds like either a very FX treated guitar part or a keyboard or synth picking out a melody and then Vini recording the rain as it falls outside his back door, a typical Manchester summer's day. The rain and the bubbling electronic melody play accompany each other for a minute and then the rain stops leaving just the lead part and then Vini's guitar comes in and takes us through to the end, Vini picking and plucking with Roland space echo and chorus pedal adding the trademark tone. At times it seems to echo the first song on the first Durutti Column album, Sketch For Summer on Return Of The Durutti Column, but it's also a piece completely of its own. The final upwards guitar note rings out and then you pull the Youtube progress bar back to the start and play it again.