Sifting Singles (3) – 4AD

Well, I’m going to admit partial defeat. I sat amongst all those 4AD singles today and just didn’t know where to start. So, I’ve got two projects to put on the shelf and come back to

Fetish Records – A commentary
4AD Records – A chronology (of my life?)

There’s a third project; a project to prove that U2 always release an album 18 months after a seminal release by someone else. It’s provisional working title is “Bongo and The Sledge: A Study in Artistic Betrayal and Mass Market Deception” (or something like that). This will take the form of a graphical time-line showing the original-genius and the re-worked dross from the Kings of wet-your-pants-save-a-child-stadium-kak!

I digress.

I’ll put a few bits and pieces on here, since I promised I would.

4AD. First purchase was probably something by Bauhaus. But I’d say Cocteau Twins – Garlands got me started. We were all in love with Liz Fraser. (At a recent BBQ there was mention made of a certain TV appearance that became the stuff of fantasy. I’d forgotten that appearance. But a passing, cursory mention and all the males were nodding, and hmmm-ing and grinning with approval. Legend again).

I’m not sure what it was about 4AD. Maybe it was the influence of those amazing sleeves by Vaughn Oliver. The power of a 7″, 12″ or gatefold sleeve is lost now with the CD, and totally lost with the MP3 download! Back then it dominated, or directed my musical direction; Saville – Factory, Brody – Fetish (and beyond), Oliver – 4AD. It was the sleeve of “Surfing On Sinewaves” by Polygon Window that pulled me in to the world of Warp! (That’s probably another project – Musical Obsessions That Started With A Sleeve Related Purchase!)

Back to 4AD. So. Cocteau Twins. Then Modern English, Dead Can Dance and This Mortal Coil. I remember being on a train in Summer 1983, I was reading an NME article on New Order (they’d just release Power Corruption & Lies) and there was another article about a 4AD band; X-Mal Deutschland. I could tell there was a lot of 4AD I hadn’t explored. I started looking for the 4AD logo in record racks. Scouring the press for new release details. I even ended up on their mailing list (snail-mail, gasp, pre-t’interweb)!

So I need to do this justice. Like I said. A project is required.

Cheers. p.

Ahh. Yes. Wikipedia explains the origin of the name 4AD comes from a flier that Ivo saw. The sleeve for “Swans On Glass” by Modern English seems to concur.

~ by pwdxb on July 29, 2009.