Virgin Prunes - Collection (2004 Remaster) 1982-1986

Virgin Prunes
Biography

One of the more adventurous and avant-garde acts to rise out of the punk era, the Virgin Prunes formed in Dublin, Ireland in mid-1977. The group was led by the theatrical singer/songwriter Gavin Friday (born Fionan Hanvey in 1959), who as a teen fell in with a group of like-minded individuals who dubbed themselves the Lypton Village. While some of the social club's members, including a pair of youths named Paul Hewson and David Evans — later known as Bono and the Edge — went on to form the superstar group U2, the remaining members founded the less-commercial Virgin Prunes, taking their name from the local slang for so-called "outsiders" and "freaks," a recurring lyrical theme.

Originally comprised of Friday, vocalists Guggi (born Derek Rowen) and Dave-id (David Watson), bassist Strongman (Trevor Rowen), drummer Pod (Anthony Murphy), and guitarist Dik (Richard Evans, the Edge's brother), the Virgin Prunes baffled audiences at their outrageous first concerts, which borrowed more from the approach of performance art than the traditions of rock music. After gaining a cult audience, they issued their first single, the independently produced "Twenty Tens," which earned them a deal with the Rough Trade label. After the departure of Pod (replaced by Haa Lacka Binttii), the Virgin Prunes released A Different Kind of Beauty, a sprawling, ambitious project made up of four interlocking chapters, released separately on the 7", 10", 12", and cassette formats.

Mary D'Nellon took over the drumming chores in time to record 1982's ...If I Die, I Die, a difficult work produced by Wire's Colin Newman which was released simultaneously with the box set Heresie, a performance art piece which mixed studio and live recordings. In 1984, both Guggi and Dik, disenchanted with the music business, left the Virgin Prunes, prompting D'Nellon to take up the guitar and allowing Pod to return to the fold. The band then set about recording the album Sons Find Devils, which went unreleased.

When the Virgin Prunes resurfaced with 1986's The Moon Looked Down and Laughed, their music had gone through another stylistic change into melodic, ballad-driven pop, signifying Friday's increased fascination with cabaret music. He ultimately left the group in November; the liner notes of the 1987 live release, The Hidden Lie, contained a short statement confirming the band's breakup. ~ Jason Ankeny

1982-03-01 - ...If I Die, I Die (2004 Remaster) FLAC
If I Die, I Die is the Virgin Prunes' proper debut album. The first three (of seven) parts of a conceptual work entitled A New Form of Beauty, issued as 7", 10", and 12" singles preceded it in the same calendar year. Produced by Wire's Colin Newman, the album's 14 tracks are the epitome of post-punk adventurism. Here, tribal drums and edgy, spooky, detuned guitars and bouzoukis cross paths and meld with synthesizers and primitive drum machines in an onslaught of off-kilter creativity where everyone from the Fall, PIL, New Order, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and even Bruce Springsteen are called in for reference in a brew that is dangerous, primal, and excessive. Two androgynous frontmen in the foppish Gavin Friday and alluring Guggi create alternate ambiences from warped yet sweet Irish balladry to shrieked poetry. And while the set is messy to be sure, it is far from off-putting. In fact, it is easily the band's most consistent and enduring effort. The albums opens with the haunting, nocturnal minimalism of "Ulankulot," an intro with tom toms and drifting keyboards layered carefully in the background, wordless chanted backing vocals and an electric bouzouki courtesy of guitarist Dik. It immediately gives way to its antecedent "Decline Sand Fall." It's the same tune, only Friday is out in front of it digging deep into the temporality of childhood and what remains of it. Its effect is startling, nocturnal, and tense. In "Sweethome Under White Clouds," the theme is given dimension as Guggi and Friday wail like muzzeins over a reverbed guitar coming from the netherworld and augmented by a soprano saxophone and a synth bassline. "Pagan Lovesong," the album's proper single, is one of the most angular cuts on the set. Here, the Prunes employ a riff straight out of early Gang of Four, chant their refrains, and swirl the keyboards and drum machines à la Devo yet keep everything so gothic and strange; it's not only compelling, it's infectious. The rest of the album follows suit, with the raucous new wave of "Baby Turns Blue," and the mainstream rockist "Ballad of the Man" that sounds like a wrong-speed outtake, Springsteen's The River and the Mott the Hoople version of "Sweet Jane!" This is a wonderfully confounding and sometimes campy and often disturbing exercise in unfettered creativity that has stood the test of time very well. It is the most necessary Virgin Prunes record of all and captures best what they were capable of when focused. ~ Thom Jurek

1.01 - Virgin Prunes - Ulakanakulot (2004 Remaster) (2:26)
1.02 - Virgin Prunes - Decline And Fall (2004 Remaster) (4:52)
1.03 - Virgin Prunes - Sweethome Under White Clouds (2004 Remaster) (4:44)
1.04 - Virgin Prunes - Bau - Dachong (2004 Remaster) (5:51)
1.05 - Virgin Prunes - Baby Turns Blue (2004 Remaster) (3:43)
1.06 - Virgin Prunes - Ballad Of The Man (2004 Remaster) (3:33)
1.07 - Virgin Prunes - Walls Of Jericho (2004 Remaster) (3:09)
1.08 - Virgin Prunes - Caucasian Walk (2004 Remaster) (4:43)
1.09 - Virgin Prunes - Theme For Thought (2004 Remaster) (5:44)

1981-01-01 - A New Form of Beauty 1-4 (2004 Remaster) FLAC
1.01 - Virgin Prunes - Sandpaper Lullabye (2004 Remaster) (3:08)
1.02 - Virgin Prunes - Sleep Fantasy Dreams (2004 Remaster) (2:47)
1.03 - Virgin Prunes - Come To Daddy (2004 Remaster) (10:05)
1.04 - Virgin Prunes - Sweet Home (Under White Clouds) [2004 Remaster] (6:29)
1.05 - Virgin Prunes - Sad World (2004 Remaster) (5:31)
1.06 - Virgin Prunes - Beast (Seven Bastard Suck) [2004 Remaster] (10:40)
1.07 - Virgin Prunes - Abbágall (2004 Remaster) (5:22)
1.08 - Virgin Prunes - Brain Damage (2004 Remaster) (3:45)
1.09 - Virgin Prunes - No Birds To Fly (2004 Remaster) (7:12)
1.10 - Virgin Prunes - Din Glorious (2004 Remaster) (37:31)

1982-01-01 - Hérésie (2004 Remaster) FLAC
The Virgin Prunes Hérésie was originally issued as a beautifully boxed and packaged double-10" EP on the Invitation to Suicide label from France. The label commissioned the band to create a work around the concept of insanity. The box also contained five booklets. It was released just before the band's proper debut album, If I Die, I Die. Disc one is a studio outing, consisting of seven songs. The five-song second disc documented one of the band's live performances in Paris. Herein is the disillusioned aftermath of glam and punk, as the serpent of Goth eats its own tail. What's left is an unfocused preoccupation with industrial's dynamics, childish melodies and post-punk theatricality. The music here is weird, loose, rumbling and rambling. It lurches rather than flows, it stumbles and falls continually, getting up more wrecked and determined to continue. "Loved One" embodies all the contradictions perfectly with ambient sound swirling in the fore and backgrounds, as an overloaded bass, a drum machine, Dik's squalling guitars and tribal drumming create a wall of pain for Gavin Friday and Guggi to rant and roll over. Less than five minutes in length, it is an alarming freak show of a tune, and one that resonates long after disc one ends. The live disc is a spot-on, lean and mean set that contains a fine version of the band's "Pagan Lovesong" single as well as "Caucasian Walk" and "Walls of Jericho" from If I Die, I Die, and closes with "Come to Daddy" from the New Form of Beauty project. Reissued a few times in dodgy CD versions, Mute Records released a completely remastered version in 2004 that restores the original sonic luster of the vinyl. ~ Thom Jurek

1.01 - Virgin Prunes - We Love Deirdre (2004 Remaster) (1:20)
1.02 - Virgin Prunes - Rhetoric (2004 Remaster) (7:16)
1.03 - Virgin Prunes - Down The Memory Lane (2004 Remaster) (3:27)
1.04 - Virgin Prunes - Man On The Corner (2004 Remaster) (2:21)
1.05 - Virgin Prunes - Nissam Lo (2004 Remaster) (1:29)
1.06 - Virgin Prunes - Loved One (2004 Remaster) (4:39)
1.07 - Virgin Prunes - Go T'Away Deirdre (2004 Remaster) (0:59)
1.08 - Virgin Prunes - Caucasian Walk (Live at the Rex Club, Paris) [2004 Remaster] (5:45)
1.09 - Virgin Prunes - Walls Of Jericho (Live at the Rex Club, Paris) [2004 Remaster] (3:53)
1.10 - Virgin Prunes - Pagan Lovesong (Live at the Rex Club, Paris) [2004 Remaster] (3:44)
1.11 - Virgin Prunes - Theme For Thought (Live at the Rex Club, Paris) [2004 Remaster] (6:00)
1.12 - Virgin Prunes - Come To Daddy (Live at the Rex Club, Paris) [2004 Remaster] (9:20)

1985-01-01 - Over the Rainbow (A Compilation of Rarities 1981-1983) [2004 Remaster] FLAC
Over the Rainbow is a double-CD odds and ends compilation of Virgin Prunes singles, B-sides, compilations and rare tracks assembled in gloriously remastered audio by Mute. This version differs from the original LP and the double-LP versions considerably. For starters, the original compilation contained only CD one of this set, which features the band's first A-side, "Twenty Tens," as well as Rough Trade's (C812) track entitled "Red Nettle," and "Pagan Lovesong Vibe-Akimbo" form the 12" version of the single. Also included are a pair of cuts — "Mad Bird in the Wood" and "Jigsawentallama" — that were released on flexidisc with the Dutch magazine Vinyl.and a couple of other Rough Trade comp cuts. The original CD issue of Over the Rainbow also contained the studio tracks from Hérésie. This one, with a different cover (the "Baby Turns Blue" single sleeve) removes those — because first the band's own label, Baby, and now Mute have released both live and studio Hérésie cuts on their own in another package — and add more rarities to the mix. Included here are "Third Secret" from the Perspectives & Distortions: Cherry Red Rarities comp, "The Faculties of a Broken Heart" from the limited-edition Baby Turns Blue 12", "The Happy Dead," which was recorded for the soundtrack to the New Form of Beauty film but was never released, "White History Book," set on tape during the Moon Looked Down and Laughed session but went unused, the A-side of the band's second single, "In the Greylight," "Revenge" from the Virgin Prunes EP, and "Love Lasts Forever," a single from the New Rose label in 1984. Sure, it's for fanatics, but it's also of real interest to anyone wanting to check out the glorious monstrosity that was the Virgin Prunes. ~ Thom Jurek

1.01 - Virgin Prunes - Down The Memory Lane (2004 Remaster) (3:27)
1.02 - Virgin Prunes - Red Nettle (2004 Remaster) (2:18)
1.03 - Virgin Prunes - Mad Bird In The Wood (2004 Remaster) (4:20)
1.04 - Virgin Prunes - Jigsawmentallama (2004 Remaster) (6:20)
1.05 - Virgin Prunes - The King of Junk (2004 Remaster) (2:51)
1.06 - Virgin Prunes - Just A Lovesong (2004 Remaster) (3:01)
1.07 - Virgin Prunes - The Happy Dead (2004 Remaster) (13:41)
1.08 - Virgin Prunes - Third Secret (2004 Remaster) (4:20)

1986-01-01 - The Moon Looked Down and Laughed (2004 Remaster) FLAC
The sound of 1986's The Moon Looked Down and Laughed is the sound of a band being pulled apart by the differing ideas of its members. This is easily the tamest Virgin Prunes record on the market and the band's nadir. There are more conventional song structures here, on cuts like "Heaven," "Just a Lovesong," and "Betrayal," but they are unfocused, utterly forgettable melodically and even atmospherically. Atmosphere was always the Prunes' strong point. David Bowie's early-'80s work seems to be a strong influence here, and where previously Gavin Friday had been able to carry a song by the sheer force of his voice, his overly enunciated and exaggerated vocal gestures here just water down the proceedings further. But the real tragedy here is the lack of wildness and adventure. The record sounds tired and uninspired, leaving the band to whimper itself out of existence rather than roar. ~ Thom Jurek

1.01 - Virgin Prunes - Heaven (2004 Remaster) (3:43)
1.02 - Virgin Prunes - Love Lasts Forever (2004 Remaster) (4:47)
1.03 - Virgin Prunes - I Am God (2004 Remaster) (3:28)
1.04 - Virgin Prunes - Sons Find Devils (2004 Remaster) (4:59)
1.05 - Virgin Prunes - Alone (2004 Remaster) (3:47)
1.06 - Virgin Prunes - The Moon Looked Down And Laughed (2004 Remaster) (4:25)
1.07 - Virgin Prunes - Uncle Arthur's Lonely World (2004 Remaster) (3:23)
1.08 - Virgin Prunes - True Life Story (2004 Remaster) (3:26)
1.09 - Virgin Prunes - Betrayal (2004 Remaster) (4:04)
1.10 - Virgin Prunes - Days Of Ages (2004 Remaster) (3:17)
1.11 - Virgin Prunes - Deadly Sins (2004 Remaster) (6:15)