4AD - classic all round?

Probably my favorite anecdote:

"Mention Lonely Is an Eyesore to Guthrie and his response is typical: 'I've never had a royalty statement for that album,' he claims, 'which is interesting.' Guthrie also says he never received one of the hundred limited edition versions, a wooden (American beech) box designed by Vaughan Oliver to house vinyl, CD, cassette, and video versions plus a booklet and two art prints by Terry Dowling. 'All this by little 4AD,' says Oliver, whose commitment to design was second to none. (One of them can be found in London's Victoria and Albert Museum's permanent collection, evidence of 4AD's place in British design.) Guthrie takes pleasure in recounting that Martyn Young -- who WAS sent a box set -- turned his into a cat litter tray. 'I saw it round his house!' Guthrie smirks. 'But then Martyn is a very obtuse character.'"

Enjoying this, so far:

https://www.nts.live/shows/80srampwalk/episodes/80s-rampwalk-4ad-special-13th-august-2018

No idea who 80s Rampwalk are.

Reminds me: used to have that tube of 4ad posters, with the best stuck to my (childhood) bedroom wall. They'd be in frames now. Anyway, I think my mum threw them out many decades ago.

there were a couple, i think. yes

1991 poster pack
XAD23 (1991)

Package of 15 promo posters in A2 size. Has «Gigantic», «Here Comes Your Man», «Velouria», «Bossanova», «Dig For Fire» (from Pixes), «Ultra Vivid Scene», «Joy 1963-1990» (from UVS), «Aion» (Dead Can Dance), «Livonia» (His Name Is Alive), «House Tornado» (Throwing Muses), «Scar», «Mad Love», «Sweetness and Light» (Lush), «Comforts of Madness» (Pale Saints) and «Pod» (The Breeders). Most of the posters are similar to the releases listed, but «Livonia» is completely different.

and

v23 (posters) volume two
FAD23 (1993)

12 A2 (594mm x 420 mm) poster pack released in a cardboard tube. Sleeve by Vaughan Oliver, Chris Bigg, Paul McMenamin, Simon Larbalestier, Jim Friedman, Dominic Davies, Kevin Westenberg, Nigel Grierson, Chris Gorman (Belly) and Shinro Ohtake. Posters from «Home Is In Your Head», «Love», «Heidi Berry», «Frank Black», «Star», «Cobalt Blue», «Safari», «Trompe Le Monde», «Blood», «Blow», «Down Colorful Hill», «For Love». Initial quantities of this set (first presented at the 13 Year Itch) included a 13 Year Itch poster.

and a couple of calendars. one of which was the same size, the other half that,

I had that first poster pack, given to me by a record store friend. Lost it in a move somewhere down the line.

Yeah, the 1991 pack. Think Ultra Vivid Scene, Dead Can Dance, one of the Throwing Muses and possibly Pale Saints made it onto the wall.

i actually won one of the deluxe calenders in an NME competition - like a proper answer this question on the back of a postcard and mail it to... type comp. I think I was 13-14) (i don't know if there was a non deluxe version tbh but i do remember that you couldn't buy it).

^ Excellent.

Anyway, that NTS show has fulfilled a need.

Trying to decide whether I just managed to not hear about the Bing & Ruth album or whether I heard (some of) it and dismissed it.

there were three calendars from what i can tell, 1990 (XAD0001), 1993 ("Anatomy", 2020) and 1996 ("Modern", MINTY 23). could've sworn i only had two of these but they all look very familiar.

i've just checked, i do have all three. and a copy of This Rimy River.

There's also the WAD23 poster set from 1986, but it came in a folio, not a poster tube.

Yeah, slightly before my time. First thing I bought was probably Pearly Dewdrops. But my completist years ran from 89 to the middle of 96 or so, those heady days of 4ad-l, which is how I know you 8)

Ironic, or maybe not, that the thing that's appreciated the most in that time are the calendars rather than the music. (One is listed for 150 quid on eBay ATM, I can't immediately think of anything else from those years that will go for anywhere near as much. Wooden eyesore? Rimy River ltd edition?)

(discogs is saying £1.3k for a wooden eyesore but think those were mega expensive to start with, limited to just 100)

ha, 4ad-l ... I was there 1993? - 1997, it was fun.

wooden eyesore is exceptionally rare, you almost never see them for sale and rarely for under a grand.

I really love that compilation! It has Muscoviet Mosquito!

FWIW, I bought a damaged copy in 2011 for $400 (from Discogs).

Made a 4AD compilation last night (had horrific insomnia). It wasn't particularly thought through but made me listen to some neglected records.

Most of the 4AD stuff I own is from what I think of as their "middle-period" - after the goth/post-punk stuff but pre-Ivo's departure. Anyway, it was sounding good and then I realise I ruined it by cramming later stuff on there (Ruined through lack of coherence rather than crapness).

There's a flyer in one of the 4AD albums I own that lists the catalogue as:

Air Miami
Bauhaus*
Belly
The Birthday Party
Frank Black
The Breeders
Michael Brook
Cocteau Twins
Colourbox
Dead Can Dance
Tanya Donelly
Dif Jux*
Lisa Germano
Gus Gus
Kristin Hersh
His Name Is Alive
Lush
MARRS
Modern English*
Mojave 3
Pale Saints
Pixies
Red House Painters
Rema Rema*
Scheer
Tarnation
This Mortal Coil*
Throwing Muses
Wolfgang Press
Ultra Vivid Scene
Unrest.

It could well be inconsistent time-wise but I tend to think of this as when I listened to 4AD (The ones marked with a * I think as "before my time".) Anyway, what are the best compilations that capture prior to this list? And/or anyone want to make a CD-R in return for an end of year comp or similar (eg. a drunken 4AD best of)?

A kinda not entirely obvious "Rough Guide to 4AD" was posted in 2004 on The Rough Guide Two.... Every act on the comp except for Clan of Xymox and In Camera (which both certainly belong to the era you mention) are in the list you quote.

It's Dif Juz with a Z, btw.

(a kind of take on the word "diffuse" iirc)

THat biography Facing the Wrong Way was an interesting read. it was in FOPP as one of their 2 for £5 items at the beginning of last year i think.

djh, you want the Natures Mortes - Still Lives comp, for early-era 4AD stuff

xp actually book is called Facing the Other Way: The Story of 4AD by Martin Aston

Thanks - Hadn't seen that (entertaining) Rough Guide to ... thread before..

Posting it here so I can find it speedily:

The Rough Guide to 4AD Records:

1. Bauhaus: Double Dare
2. Throwing Muses: Call Me
3. This Mortal Coil: Song to the Siren
4. The Birthday Party: Nick the Stripper
5. The Wolfgang Press: Kansas
6. Belly: Seal My Fate
7. Dead Can Dance: Anywhere Out of the World
8. Clan of Xymox: After the Call
9. Pixies: Where Is My Mind?
10. In Camera: Fragments of Fear
11. Lisa Germano: ...a psychopath
12. His Name Is Alive: Why People Disappear
13. The Breeders: Hellbound
14. Lush: Scarlet (Scar version)
15. Ultra Vivid Scene: Mercy Seat
16. Red House Painters: New Jersey ("Rollercoaster" version)
17. Dif Juz: No Motion
18. Unrest: Make Out Club
19. Pale Saints: Time Thief
20. Cocteau Twins: Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires

"Natures Mortes".

And, ta, I was pondering this.

also the CD version has five more tracks than the vinyl

^that's a weird list.

Since This Mortal Coil were basically the 4AD house band you could do a lot worse than just listening to the three TMC albums. Filigree & Shadow is my favourite and one of my favourite albums of all time.

The Rough Guide?

Yes, although I guess every list would be weird.

I guess that song choices are very subjective ... I think, more generally, it misses out on the early years, though.

With the first track of 4AD's first ever album ("Double Dare"), plus another EP track from the label's first year ("Fragments of Fear"), I'm not sure I can agree with that. Not that I have any interest in defending or promoting this particular weird list from other potential or actual weird 4AD lists, mind.

The Rough Guide threads are indeed very entertaining! I'd not thought of them for years when your request jogged a neuron. :-)

And for some reason I feel a strange urge to listen to Dif Juz I've not had for even more years.

oh wait, there's this as well:

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Facing-The-Other-Way-The-Story-Of-4AD/release/5238954

Volume One: 1980-1989
1-1 –Dif Juz Hu 2:53
1-2 –The Birthday Party Zoo Music Girl 2:37
1-3 –Throwing Muses Hate My Way 4:05
1-4 –Rema-Rema Rema-Rema 4:27
1-5 –Dance Chapter Anonymity 4:53
1-6 –Matt Johnson Time Again For The Golden Sunset 3:52
1-7 –Bauhaus Dark Entries 3:52
1-8 –Clan Of Xymox No Human Can Drown 3:26
1-9 –B.C. Gilbert* / G. Lewis* Barge Calm 1:06
1-10 –A.R. Kane Sado-Masochism Is A Must 3:19
1-11 –Cocteau Twins Musette And Drums 4:38
1-12 –Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares Schopska Pesen (Diaphonic Chant) 1:28
1-13 –Richenel L'Esclave Endormi 6:44
1-14 –Modern English Gathering Dust 4:23
1-15 –Ultra Vivid Scene Mercy Seat 4:07
1-16 –In Camera Die Laughing 4:35
1-17 –Pixies Tony's Theme 1:52
1-18 –Colourbox Baby I Love You So 3:18
1-19 –XMal Deutschland* Geheimnis 3:19
1-20 –Dead Can Dance In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated 4:11
1-21 –Pieter Nooten & Michael Brook These Waves 3:11
1-22 –This Mortal Coil Song To The Siren 3:32

I can't really vouch for CD2 but it goes like this:

Volume Two: 1990-1999
2-1 –Tarnation Game Of Broken Hearts 3:03
2-2 –Lush Laura 3:27
2-3 –GusGus Blue Mug 4:12
2-4 –His Name Is Alive As We Could Ever 2:40
2-5 –Kristin Hersh Me And My Charms 4:18
2-6 –Unrest (2) Make Out Club 4:21
2-7 –The Wolfgang Press Honey Tree 2:54
2-8 –Tanya Donelly Mysteries Of The Unexplained 4:52
2-9 –Frank Black The Vanishing Spies 3:39
2-10 –Michael Brook Slow Breakdown 2:34
2-11 –Starry Smooth Hound Coco Crush 4:42
2-12 –The Hope Blister Dagger 4:55
2-13 –Heidi Berry Only Human 3:54
2-14 –Mojave 3 Mercy 4:48
2-15 –The Breeders New Year 1:57
2-16 –Pale Saints Hair Shoes 5:48
2-17 –Cocteau Twins Road, River And Rail 3:19
2-18 –Red House Painters Take Me Out 4:47
2-19 –Lisa Gerrard Sanvean (I Am Your Shadow) 3:51
2-20 –Lisa Germano The Darkest Night Of All 4:41

That's a pretty solid set, interesting choices

i didn't really get the Dif Juz name until anatol_merklich mentioned it. So it's pronounced Dif Yuz then?

The Richenel track is a true gem and his vocal on "I Must Have Been Blind" wrecks me.

Music from Memory did the good job of reissuing Richenel's mini-album La Differencia last year. This is probably the prime cut from it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Avjl-FDg9k&list=RD8Avjl-FDg9k&t=45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Avjl-FDg9k

sorry to go off on a tangent.

x-posts.

Thanks Jed_ - Disc One is exactly what I was looking for - I can only find it as a hideously expensive version but it gives me some titles to Youtube or the like.

Bought "1980 Forward" - the 25th anniversary compilation - for less than a couple of quid. Has some good tracks but ... the label had stopped caring by then, hadn't it?

Am Friday night drunk and compiling volume 3 of a fairly drunkenly compiled third disc of a 4ad best of.

What would appear on your Disc 3 of a 4ad best of?

what's the timeframe?

I'd certainly put this on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlIb34ElJ4A

No particular time-frame although I do have an idea that there are bands that have been on 4ad that I don't regard as 4ad bands, Tindersticks being the obvious one. I'd include Bing & Ruth, though.

Mostly the comps have been permutations of Air Miami, Breeders, Cocteaus, DCD, Lisa Germano, GusGus, HNIA, Mojave 3, Pale Saints, Pixies, Red House Painters, Tarnation, Throwing Muses and Ultra Vivid Scene ... and outliers from compilations.

Was hoping someone would (by coincidence) suggest a (great) track that I owned but had dismissed.

Insides? Spirea X? TMC? Lush? Belly?

Was that a repress of a Cocteaus LP I just saw in rough trade?

Yeah, was head over heels

https://thevinylfactory.com/news/two-cocteau-twins-lps-reissued-vinyl/

Though I included a That Dog song on Vol 3, I tend to think of the Guernica stuff as slightly separate (possibly because the Insides and Spoonfed Hybrid albums are two of my favourite *ever*.)

I don't own much This Mortal Coil (going to buy some of the re-issues), not keen on Belly and only like the odd Lush track (particularly "Desire Lines") though I'm open to the idea that I have just heard the wrong tracks.

Any thoughts on current 4ad? Anything worth exploring?

I think that between Aldous Harding, Holly Herndon, Big Thief, and The National they've had a pretty stellar year so far.

There's no longer a "4AD sound". It's just curatorial imprimatur that someone on staff found the artists, if not the current release, excellent. My fandoms moved on to other curiously similar brands (A24:film::4AD:80s rock), but I'll at least give every 4AD artist a listen.

I like the new Holly Herndon, though it doesn't flow so well as an album (or collection of avant compositions). Its closer to where I expected music to be now (30 years ago) than most music.

Had a massive 4ad "rediscovery" over the last year or so which has probably helped me to find Harding and Herndon (both would fit on "the curated 4ad", I'd guess).