Sketch for Summer

"Sketch for Summer" opens the first side of The Return of the Durutti Column, 2:58, written by Vini Reilly and recorded at Cargo in Rochdale in August 1979, produced by Martin Hannett. Reilly is quoted by a retailer page, secondhand, as saying it was made up in the studio because Hannett managed to get bird noises on the synthesizer. PopMatters calls it the album's most fully formed composition, one that could even be considered a proper song, with Hannett's synthesized birdsong and a simple drum machine pulse under delayed guitar and a bright, nearly joyful melody as the tempo rises. A live version on the 2025 expanded edition has, in its words, an awkward attempt at a rock and roll backbeat.

"Sketch for Summer" with "Sketch for Winter" was released as a single in Australia only (Gap Records). It opens disc one of The Best of the Durutti Column (2004), and was a regular opener in 2005. Nothing about charts, a video, covers or samples was found. We hold two uploads; the second carries the album name and is presumably the 1980 recording.