the Virgin Prunes, Gavin Friday - classic or dud

The rest of the Virgin Prunes output is pretty patchy (as they were really more of a 'performance art' troop than a real band.) Gavin Friday's solo material (well, with Maurice Seezer) is pretty brilliant, if you ask me, the best probably being his debut, EACH MAN KILLS THE THING HE LOVES, which dips handily into the darl cabaret bag ala Edith Piaf/Jacques Brel (whom he covers here), but often ends up sounding like a slightly campier Nick Cave. Some great moments overall, though.

ADAM & EVE (his second) had some worrying Europop moments (notably the dancey single, "I Want to Live," later covered worryingly by irritating supermodel and one-time Adam Clayton wife, Naomi Campbell). There are some nice tracks, but not his finest hour.

SHAG TOBACCO (the third and last, not counting Friday & Seezer's score to "The Boxer") is a deft meshing of his histrionic cabaret stylings mixed with elements of glam stomp and svelte pop. Not quite as cohesive as EACH MAN..., but a fine album.

Onstage, Gavin Friday is both compelling and hilarious (sometimes unintentionally). He is also guilty of encouraging his ol' buddy Bono into all that cringe-worthy MacPhisto shtick (which Friday probably could've pulled off with style and aplomb, but at Bono's hands just turned into an embarassing display of ludicrousness).

Anyone who picks up either a Virgin Prunes disc or a Gavin Friday disc hoping to hear something simillar to U2 will be sorely mistaken and surprised.....and probably not pleasantly.

Also, for anyone who is already a Gavin fan, I would recommend you seek out The Boxer for the opening track, which is one of two vocal tracks on the soundtrack. It's really great.

I always loved the title track from the In The Name Of the Father soundtrack (duet with Bono), but only for Gavin's part.

Never heard "the Boxer." Must seek that out.

He's not been up to too much lately, has he.

http://www.gavinfriday.com/

seems pretty up to date on his career. I don't know that there is a new solo album in the works, but the recent news mentions, among other things, a collaboration with Bono on a song for the movie In America, and something about Gavin covering Coldplay's Yellow.

Yeah, Googie (Guggi?) was the other one. He's a painter now.

In theory I should hate this...ex performance trouper does campier Nick Cave with Wilde pretensions...but its a record I played over and over when it came out and still really like (first side especially) I think the reason is: Its. got. tunes. Nagging memorable ones at that.

IS THERE NO BALM IN GILEAD?

This sad monstrosity aside, an absolute genius in and out of the Prunes. Recently saw a videotape of the VPs -- Sons Find Devils -- and I was happy indeed.

It´s pretty OK now, a lot better than most of the music i listened too.

Mute records report: in Mute News that Virgin Prunes reissues are on the way, in September.

<em>The Grey Area of Mute is pleased to announce the release of 5 remastered CD albums by the truly inspirational and often controversial Virgin Prunes on September 27th. This will be the first time most of the Virgin Prunes catalogue has been officially available on CD.</em>

The official Virgin Prunes website will be previewing the new front cover artwork over the next few weeks.

-- shookout (shookou...), June 21st, 2004.

heh. i was at that show.

So, I was forced out of the apartment today for the very last visit from our nanny (she got a full-time job). I ran out of practical errands, so found myself needlessly visiting disc shops (though I'm currently on a self-imposed quasi-moratorium, being that I'm trying to get rid of discs instead of acquiring more. Despite this, I spotted the Virgin Prunes re-releases (overseen by Gavin Friday this time). While I surprisingly wasn't tempted to buy If I Die I Die for the third time (I have both the Rough Trade edition and the New Rose edition...do I really need a third?), I was sorely tempted to pick up the 2-disc unreleased/rareity compilation, Over the Rainbow. Then I thought, do I need more music from this band? I mean, there are a clutch of intensely great tracks on If I Die.., but a lot of grating chaff as well (by design, I'd imagine). Do I need to purchase yet another disc that I'll only give the odd cursory spin?

I left it there, but someone convince me that I made the right/wrong choice. And cite reasons.

As far as the CD, I don't know what to tell you. Usually when I'm in this situation I end up going back to the store the next day. But I think you made the right decision because you can already forsee ahead of time that it's basically going to just sit there once you have it. I tend to see that as a good (and unusual!) omen that you're (I'm) on the right track in avoiding it.

But I also think it's likely that if anyone tries to talk you into going one way, you'll naturally want to go the other!

Probably won't be going back for the `Prunes reissues. There's just no need, really. I dialed up "Pagan Love Song" and "Baby Turns Blue" and was satiated. By the time I got to the purposely cloying "Down Memory Lane," both my ears and my wallet thanked me profusely for not buying them.

I succumbed. I caved in and bought the above `Prunes "rareities" compilation (after reading interviews with Gavin at www.virginprunes.com, I couldn't resist). Am happily not disapointed. Instant indication of quality: whilst blasting "Moments'n'Mine" here at work -- and mistakenly thinking everyone else had left -- a researcher from down the hall came in with a look of abject disgust and said: "What on earth are you listening to?" Heh!

Supposedly, all the re-issues have been sonically "baked," and the sound quality is light years better than the New Rose releases of a few years back. I was even tempted to buy If I Die, I Die.. for a third time. But wisely demured. Over the Rainbow is also appended with some archival photos, which is nice (if you care about such things). Hard to believe from listening to these recordings that they were so buddy-buddy with U2.

Hadn't realized Gavin had spinal surgery a couple of years back! My slight petulance over his seeming musical disappearance is now disspelled.

NED: Where the hell have you been? Sorry, but I need new music, and I need it now. I'm tired of waiting.

GAVIN: I can't feel me legs.

NED: Fair enough.

FADE TO BLACK.

Wow. I didn't know that either. Certainly explains a lot.

Well, yes and no:

http://www.virginprunes.com/archives/20040929sisterrayfans01.html

Yes, that's Gavin with the massive muttonchops -- and yes, that's Guggi next to him.

The three part interview on the virginprunes.com site starting here, which talks about the remastering/rerelease deal and so forth, is well worth a read.

He looks like a Rock Star out of a movie.

The way rock Stars should look.

Also, much to my amusement, trawling around the main fan site turned up this news item from last June:

http://www.virginprunes.com/news/prunes_at_i_love_music.html

!

It recently occurred to me that every NYC music venue I ever saw Gavin Friday perform in -- CBGB, Sin-e, The Bottom Line and The Westbeth -- is gone. :::sigh::::

arrrggh I cannot believe I have missed this thread.

My favorite, and in my opinion the most essential of, the allstar cast of Rough trade records circa 1980-83.

The New Form Of Beauty series deserves an entire essay that I don't have time to write this evening. Some of my all time favorite records, marrying theatrical excess and sonic experimentalism with song structure in a way that not much else has since.

They were on Touch & Go, for the last studio LP.

All the stuff was reissued by Mute on a series of double CD's a few years back ad should be findable, in order of amazingness:

New Form Of Beauty
If I Die, I Die
Over The Rainbow (includes Heresie and early singles iirc)
The Moon Looked Down And Laughed (Touch & Go LP)

There were also some excellent DVDs that went around on the net a while back, much welcomed because this was in many ways a live/visual band.

well I ripped my Mute reissues and by chance took a look in the wave editor, these CDs are ruined by a truly astonishing amount of clipping and overmodulation. really really disappointing, my vinyl rips sound way better.

Don't think "Come To Daddy" was nominated in the 10minutes plus poll. Such a fucking great song.

Some of their cds are going for crazy prices. I don't think the early singles are on any of them except Artfuck and some reissues have different bonus tracks. They really need a box set.

What the hell does Gavin Friday even do these days? Adam n Eve and Shag Tobacco are pretty neat albums.

those Mute reissues are clipped garbage, see my post above. avoid at all costs. that might explain why other CDs are going for more, though.

one of my favorite bands ever, at least before they "lost the ability to fly" to quote the Heresie 2x10" reissue liner notes

I've got the Mute versions and the sound fine to me. These are becoming a bit scarce and expensive too.

if you look at those files in a WAV editor you can see the clipping, it's not just an audiophile issue. thousands of samples per song are flatlined.

I'll try and listen out for that next time.

like, I grant you that the Rudimentary Peni remasters we discussed don't sound THAT different, but this is truly egregious overcompression, worst I've ever seen, and just lazy negligence on the part of whoever oversaw the reissues.

whomever, argh

I only bitch about this because I love these records so much. Also a total outrage/tragedy that the original artwork for the New Form series was apparently lost.

All the albums on Amazon's mp3 store appear to be the same Mute releases

of course (cries)

Man, I tried and tried to like this band . I was working at Tower when the reissues came out and bought them all. If I Die was alright and The Moon Looked Down Laughed had a couple okay songs, but overall, it was audio performance art and I wasn't into it.

Now, on the other hand, Gavin Friday's solo catalogue is awesome.

Shag Tobacco is one of the clearly overlooked classics of the '90s imo

man I don't know that shit at all, I like the fearless art/noise vibes a lot more than the cabaret overdose that I imagine he got into later

that being said, I should listen.

Austin, the New Form records are where it's at

If I die I Die is relatively straightforward and totally amazing. The transition from "Ulakanakulot" to "Decline and Fall" is sublime.

And the part in "Come To Daddy" that goes "I told you not to wear that dress" to him shouting "NO ONE CARES ABOUT MUMMY" is just incredibly awesome. So many other great things about it too.

I bought this one when it came out: https://www.discogs.com/Virgin-Prunes-A-New-Form-Of-Beauty/release/1159366

It was my least favorite of that remaster campaign.

That's the one I've got. I think it's been heavily abridged?

It's missing the live side of the Part 4 tspe

Colin Newman's fingerprints are all over "If I Die", which is what makes it their most consistent album.

Gavin's "Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves" is such a special record. A blend of his Scott Walker love and a touch of his Virgin Prunes weirdness. Totally slept on.

Like I said, I love Gavin Friday's solo discography. You want to talk about overlooked, but brilliant, his album Catholic from a few years back was fantastic and it was totally ignored.

Really impressed by The Moon Looked Down And Laughed (the Baby label version, not Mute), so many great songs and Gavin's voice is so wonderful. As much as I would have liked more of the early savage stuff, it has it's own fascinating strangeness and odd touches like Gavin sounding like he's buzzing with electricity at the end of "Love Lasts Forever". "Betrayal" is gorgeous, I think maybe it should have ended with that because it packs much more punch than the actual last track. I'm in two minds over whether they should have milked the "my whole world is on fire" part for longer. A beauty.

The old irish guy voice on Heresie is brilliant. Second track is like a subway nightmare.

I think The Moon Looked Down And Laughed is my favourite now, even though it doesn't really represent their usual style.

one of the more beautiful soundtracks i own is the Gavin Friday/Maurice Seezer score for THE BOXER. Very moving and haunting and moody, mostly, and an impressive achievement for guys who afaik haven't done much in the way of film scoring. it has some film dialogue mixed in sparingly, on a few of the tracks. it can probably be found for a couple bucks on ebay.

I'll keep it in mind.

Dude, the live album (The Hidden Lie, I think it's called) is my favorite thing by them. Got it in the cut-out bin years ago, was totally blown away. Lost my records in a devastating home situation and I truly miss this.

Have to admit I was getting nervous at remembering the song titles "Caucasian Walk" and "White History Book" but the former seems to be a dystopia in which black slavery is allowed and there isn't much I can read into the latter song.

There's a quote here that suggests the former song doesn't really mean much at all...
https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858552956/

i played "Caucasian Walk" in a disco last week for the first time since the 80s. it sounded incredible. i have never understood the lyrics so figured it was ok to play.

Some amazing stuff on Over The Rainbow (2 disc version). Gavin's voice in "King Of Junk" is hilarious, "Greylight" is beautiful, "Revenge" is a great horrory track.

But what on earth is that secret track after "Love Lasts Forever"? Cant find anything about that. Gorgeous song that must have been from Moon Looked Down And Laughed era.

Some real surprises in Gavin's discography
https://gavinfriday.com/discography/score-get-rich-or-die-tryin/

Classic. This almost went in The Irish thread.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0916/1076206-virgin-prunes-theme-for-thought/

Nice

their glory days, it just wasn't the same without Guggi :(

eons ago in college a friend had a bootleg cassette tape of a show where they did "Moon Looked Down And Laughed" tracks but with the 5-piece (6 if you count Dav-Id) lineup, wish I could find that somewhere

(sorry for revive, no news) How is there so much 1983 live footage from them on Youtube? Not complaining though, amazing

Ohohoh! Seen an expanded remaster of If I Die, I Die today! I think that's the only album reissue so far, some vinyl single reissues, and seemingly everything is available digitally.

Lots of new stuff on youtube, mini podcasts and video projects
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdvpXJq5vis

thanks!

"2022 remaster" - I have no problems with the 2004 remaster?

I liked it too, but it was very clipped and Sleeve didn't like it, so I'm curious about what people say and if the extras are noteworthy

lol yeah don't get me started on those botched Mute CDs, more clipping than I have ever seen anywhere else ever

oh I see - yeah, the new remaster fixes that.

yeah this new LP remaster sounds great, can confirm

it's such a bummer that all the original artwork from this era seems to be lost, but there are tons of super cool new photos from the era that are used here to great effect, I'm still keeping the 1982 Italian Base pressing that I've had for decades because the art is all different but this is a worthy reissue and highly recommended

this is also available as a double CD with bonus tracks on the 2nd disc, I can't comment on the mastering here but I assume it's better than previous CD iterations
https://www.discogs.com/release/25162990-Virgin-Prunes-If-I-Die-I-Die

I can really hear the remastering details on "Bau-Dachong" which is my fave, I am thrilled

It would appear that "Fádo" from the 2004 reissue is different than "Fado (rough mix)" on the new release. The piano-driven second half of the former in particular doesn't appear in the latter.

Enjoyed that youtube series. I learned there's another 2 parts of A New Form Of Beauty that might yet be released (Gavin wouldn't tease us without delivering would he?), I was surprised that his favorite release was Heresie

If you can, find "The Hidden Lie".

It's a live album that I picked up at the old cut-out store in Old Town in Chicago.

It's my personal favorite Prunes album. Beautiful sound quality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU9s85pTlz0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEbSSn2meuM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujlhMEHLrsE
4 part doc, on a channel with a treasure trove of Prunes/Gavin Guggi videos

thank you! gee I'd love to hear those other New Form parts before I die, or Gavin dies...

but hey, if I die, I die, right?

Okay, that documentary is badly cropped so I can't see the names of some of the speakers and there's more parts that I can't find, it obviously had longer to go

Revive! what I’ve heard from his upcoming album sounds devastatingly excellent.

thanks, Alex in NYC

the album, Ecce Homo, is out this Friday - I was just coming here to post this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqmKmCIvSZU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F68NB7LIRTw

Ecco Homo—Lyrics are great, the music is kinda ehhhh…

How dare you

could never ever connect with this guy solo, what a great band they were though. pretty much my same take on Marc Almond (sorry Ned), great guest spots with Coil but the solo stuff is way too cabaret/arch for me

Ecco Homo—Lyrics are great, the music is kinda ehhhh…

― Booger Swamp Road (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, October 22, 2024

The beats are the best part!

Oh shit

I always come back to this live footage - totally unhinged - smoking ciggs, drinking wine and being FABULOUS all in the daylight!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXn4zwsrGhg

yeah that's the stuff

pretty much my same take on Marc Almond (sorry Ned)

TSK, etc. Anyway you will all come around on Gavin, so.

I don't hold his bestie relationship with Bono against him.

I really liked hearing about that whole group of friends, especially the way they could get together after a long absence and make art in a room together

Eno said once that Bono's secret sharer isn't Edge or the other U2ers, it's Gavin Friday.

Once I heard Gavin Friday, Bono’s entire vocal style shift in the 1990s made perfect sense. Hearing next to them on the title track to In the Name of the Father was a bit uncanny.

*them next to each other!

I know how to construct sentences, but my faulty voice text does not…

The beats sound totally 1997

That is why they rule

Yeah I'm gonna say, as someone who loved the Tim Simenon-produced Shag Tobacco out of the gate almost thirty years back, play to strengths here.

lol I knew DJP would dig this b/c of that sound and the retro beats

this honestly sounds quite like the time i asked an ai to make an electroclash track about the ulster unionist terrorist turned artist named michael stone.

the combination of the sort of vaguely portentous lyrics and the not really here nor there beats have a definite ai feeling.

other than that not bad tho.

heh, Gavin Friday is never vaguely portentous, he's unabashedly so.

I like Shag Tobacco. I love the Prines though, but you can’t go back.

Prunes

The new GF album is entirely excellent from start to finish. Go get it.

what a band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uP_-QzpTzc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHZo_b9hcWU

caucasian walk is my favourite. hadn't seen this performance so thanks for that.

Just listening to the double cd the other day of if I die…!

Is the newest reissue of A New Form Of Beauty complete? I gather the previous version had missing parts.

no I think I was wrong about that, but those Mute reissue CDs still suck, brickwalled all to hell. The Italian 2LP version is what you want, or the old New Rose CD.

Better than the new BMG version?

probably, haven't heard that yet but the only bonus tracks there are some weirdass modern "remixes" it seems

I mean the OG Rough Trade pressings are unimpeachable, Porky Prime Cuts iirc. This obv does not apply to the tape-only Part 4 which is why you need the Italian 2LP, plus it has all of the original art that has since been lost aiui, the Discogs images of that new reissue look like garbage.

https://www.discogs.com/release/641421-Virgin-Prunes-A-New-Form-Of-Beauty-Parts-1-4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9owvnlZlpEc

Amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rEgsnfthwM

that's an all time fave clip.

i love the audience reaction.

it had energy...it had punch...

this is one of the greatest performances I have ever seen in my life, ignore the blown out sound and marvel at their unadulterated weirdness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeufGQ-YIho