Browse by Label: VIRGIN (UK)

Artist:	GONG
Title:	Angel's Egg
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	CAR 66556CD

Part II of Radio Gnome Invisible. 2004 remaster of the 5th Gong album, originally issued 1973; with 4 bonus tracks. "Two definitive '70s progressive rock classics digitally remastered from the original masters. Each CD features previously unreleased bonus tracks and an expanded, illustrated booklet. Angel's Egg is the rock equivalent of a mad tea party, with lyrics involving Pothead Pixies, Octave Doctors and Radio Gnomes; all set to Pierre Moerlen's tight and sophisticated drumming, Didier Malherbe's multicoloured sax and flute leads, Steve Hillage's cosmic guitar soloing, and Daveid Allen's amusing vocals and glissando guitar layers."

Artist:	MAGAZINE
Title:	Play
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.50
Catalog #:	EMI 87347CD

"Formed by original Buzzcocks lead singer Howard Devoto, Magazine featured a line-up that included Robin Simon of Ultravox, and Barry Adamson, who became a key member of Nick Cave's Bad Seeds before launching a critically praised solo career. Magazine's combination of punk rock's nervous energy and art rock's experimentalism pushed the boundaries of music. Little wonder that this top post-punk group has been cited by today's top post-rock group, Radiohead, as an influence, with Radiohead even paying tribute by performing Magazine's 'Shot By Both Sides' during their Kid A live shows. But Magazine's influence doesn't stop there. It also includes fans like U2's The Edge, Blur, Maxīmo Park, Manus, Manic Street Preachers, Elastica, Morrissey (who covered 'A Song From Under The Floorboards'), and both Ministry and Peter Murphy who each covered 'The Light Pours Out Of Me.' Play is the only live document ever released by this legendary band. Recorded in Melbourne in 1980, it is a veritable live hits collection that also includes tasty extras such as their broodingly sinister cover version of the Sly & The Family Stone classic 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).'"

Artist:	FAUST
Title:	Faust IV
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	V 2004LP

Exact replica, officially reissued by EMI. 180 gram audiophile pressing with printed inner sleeve; digitally remastered from original tapes. This reissue was "researched, spearheaded and co-ordinated" by Tom Recchion who has supplied rare artwork for the inner sleeve -- and, in general, this is a state-of-the-art edition. The fourth and final album to be released during Faust's original lifespan, originally released by Virgin Records in 1973. "As an album, IV matches the band's trajectory: Jumbled, fragmented, with random data integrity issues, but seeming more the brainchild of inspired pop anarchists than calculating avant-gardists. Yes, the record sounds more 'professional' than any of their others, but somehow that doesn't actually equate to slick sounds: Opener 'Krautrock' (which Irmler says was inspired by the band's perception of the British still fearing the 'krauts') is on the noisiest end of Faust's spectrum, using distortion and feedback as springboards for tripping into galactic clouds. For better than seven minutes, minute gradients of angelic, overdriven major-chord-sheets are exploited by who knows what devices before the drums come in and the track moves from milky, third-ear noise into MINDFUCKING KRAUTROCK. And before you can explode from the sonic congestion, 'The Sad Skinhead' starts, replete with ridiculous 60s go-go beat and skank guitar. They sing, 'Apart from all the bad times you gave me, I always felt good with you,' 'Going places, smashing faces-- what else could have happened to us?' I say needlessly: it's a jam. And then they keep going." -- Pitchfork (9.4 rating)

Artist:	FAITHFULL, MARIANNE
Title:	Kissin Time
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	VIR 20092

Marianne Faithfull's best work since Broken English (1979), featuring collaborative tracks with the likes of Beck Hansen, Blur, Jarvis Cocker, Dave Eurythmic Stewart and Billy "Somebody Forgot To Kill Me" Corgan. Apparently not destined for US release. "Faithfull's cracked growl and painfully personal lyrics are an acquired taste. But if you can deal with sexual and emotional honesty, as well as deliberately eclectic tunes and textures, you'll be treated to bold, bitter, and elegantly profane pop art."

Artist:	FAUST
Title:	IV
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	VIR 56362CD

2006 digital remastered version, double CD. Bonus disc features rarities, alternate takes, a BBC John Peel radio session and expanded liner notes. The fourth and final album to be released during Faust's original lifespan, originally released by Virgin Records in 1973. Opens with one of their most relentlessly mantric tracks, "Krautrock", a searing post-VU drone, and then delves into what is some of the most accessible Faust material ("The Sad Skinhead," "Jennifer," etc. Less revolutionary than its predecessors (Faust, So Far, Tapes), but still contains many memorable moments & this is the definitive version.

Artist:	JAPAN
Title:	Gentlemen Take Polaroids
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	VIR 91016CD

"Influenced by Roxy Music, David Bowie and Brian Eno, Japan's stylish synth-pop sound made them one of the more intriguing and successful artists of their time. Featuring David Sylvian on vocals, bassist Mick Karn, guitarist Steven Jansen and drummer Richard Barbieri, Japan's atmospheric approach to pop captured fans of groups like Duran Duran, Ultravox, Talk Talk and Bill Nelson. After a series of successful albums the band split with each of the members releasing solo projects, the most successful being the series of David Sylvian solo albums (which will also shortly be issued in remastered and repacked form). Seven years after their split, nearly all the members of Japan reformed for a one-off album project under the name Rain Tree Crow a highly sought-after release which has been unavailable for several years."

Artist:	SYLVIAN, DAVID
Title:	Gone To Earth
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$19.00
Catalog #:	VIR 91309CD

2003 digital remastered edition, in deluxe foldout digipak; originally recorded 1985-6. "Featuring King Crimson's Robert Fripp, Bill Nelson, and Mel Collins (flute and saxophone sessionist for Bryan Ferry, King Crimson, and Dire Straits). Gone To Earth was Sylvian's ambitious double album project moving between atmospherically textured songs and ambient instrumentals, which has now been expanded to a double disc set including 7 additional tracks."

Artist:	SCRITTI POLITTI
Title:	Songs To Remember
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	VIR 10242

Mid-line reissue of their first album, originally released by Rough Trade in 1982. "Wire had Foucault and FM rock; Gartside had Derrida and digital dancehall. The Scritti double A-side 'Asylums In Jerusalem/Jacques Derrida' [both included here] took Nietzsche, sunny Jamaican pop styles and noted the Frenchie deconstructivist to Number 43 in the hit parade...Lovers Rock and Left Bank intellectualism have rarely combined more fruitfully." -- Mojo.

Artist:	PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
Title:	Paris au Printemps
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	VIR 12183CD

The last document of the quintessential line up of Lyndon/Levene/Wobble/Atkins, originally released in 1980. Recorded in Paris in January of 1980, in front on of many confused French lunks. Seemed somewhat unnecessary at the time, now sounds like an amazing last gasp & quite pleasing to hear. Has never been released in the US. "Lydon says he hates live albums. Paris Au Printemps -- PAP -- the best of two nights recorded in Paris this spring, is consumer service for people that would have shelled out vast sums for low-fi bootlegs of the (currently) extinct species, PiL live. It was cut for the cost of two reels of tape, and edited down in two hours, with none of the overdubbed parts common in live LPs Parisian non-comprehension of PiL in the spring of 1980 seems daft, given the quality of the music. But then, PiL's instinctive suspicion (and frequent rejection) of the way things like music and its means of production generally toddle along means they're disturbing, hence often resented. PiL seem to feel most secure when they're poised over the live wire in the Underground, checking out the noise of the onrushing train for possible recording potential. The bedrock is solid drumming, deliberately straightforward, the least imaginative element. Beyond that, it's Wobble's steady bass, teetering on the brink of the nimble jazz runs that displeased Lydon and Levene. Excellent, actually. Beyond that, it's Levene's extraordinary relationship to music; an obsessive perfectionism that leads him to loathe sounds that do not extend the known boundaries of contemporary Western popular music. Lydon luxuriates in his words, method acting the themes: greed, ignorance, stupidity. The intelligence is fierce, the delivery 3-D. The meaning behind the moaning gets clearer all the time." -- Vivien Goldman/NME 1980. Tracks: "Theme", "Chant", "Careering", "Bad Baby", "Attack", "Poptones", "Lowlife".

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART
Title:	Doc At the Radar Station
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	VIR 71362

Apparently out of print in the US, this is an European pressing of this 1980 classic, featuring the lineup of: Don Van Vliet, Jeff Moris Tepper, Eric Drew Feldman, Robert Williams, Bruce Fowler, John French and Gary Lucas. "Filled with junkyard rhythms and effortless, delirious poetry, Doc At The Radar Station marked a return to the more familiar side of Captain Beefheart street. Hardcore Captain Beefheart, the album is as extreme as anything this side of Trout Mask Replica."

Artist:	CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND
Title:	Ice Cream For Crow
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	VIR 86739CD

UK issue of the final Captain Beefheart studio album, originally released in 1982. "The best thing about Ice Cream is that it meshes up the best elements of Beefheart: rampaging garage rock, Delta blues, dislocated jazz/avant-garde rhythms, and most of all, very catchy songs. The bulk of the record borders on twisted pop, much like Safe As Milk: a mixture of wild R & B/trash-rock and maudlin, schlocky harmonies. This album was released at a time when 'rock' music of any stripe wasn't very fashionable, yet it rocks harder than the bulk of its contemporaries. Whilst many admirers of Beefheart from the punk era had either gone New Wave, synth-pop or completely underground Beefheart sounds oblivious to it all. The rough, earthy sound of Ice Cream for Crow, along with its stunning sleeve art comprising of a mournful photo of The Man placed on top of an original, desert-tinged painting by himself, always brings to mind visions of Beefheart heroically sailing off to his caravan in the Arizona desert for a lifetime of retirement after one of his strongest artistic statements." -- David Lang.

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Artist:	VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR
Title:	World Record
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	EMI 32957CD

Artist:	RAIN TREE CROW
Title:	Rain Tree Crow
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	VIR 91025CD

Artist:	MASSIVE ATTACK
Title:	Special Cases
Label:	VIRGIN (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$9.00
Catalog #:	VST 1839