Virgin Prunes - Heresie

Genere: Rock / Pop

Style: Post Punk, New Wave, Alternative.

Similar Artists: Fad Gadget, PIL, Bauhaus.

Original Recording Year: Mute, 1982.

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 seven-inch, ten-inch, 12-inch 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 break-up.

Fields Of Haze.

4AD - Dark Paths (Greek Compilation)

Genere: New Wave, Goth, Experimental

Recording Year: Wea Records Greece, 1982.

4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today. It now forms part of the Beggars Group, along with Matador Records, Rough Trade Records and XL Recordings.

Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, employees of the Beggars Banquet record store and label, founded Axis Records in late 1979 as a property of Beggars Banquet that was run by the two. After the first four Axis singles in early 1980, the name was changed to 4AD when it became apparent that the name Axis was already being used by another music company. The solution to this problem came from a promotional flyer that they had printed up to call attention to the new releases. The flyer's designer had added some typography which played on both the new year and the idea of progress:

1980 FORWARD
1980 FWD
1984 AD
4AD

Quickly scrambling for a new name, Ivo glanced at the flyer and suggested "4AD." Peter Kent agreed, and, with that split-second decision, 4AD was born.

An initial idea for the label was that it would be a "testing ground" for Beggars Banquet; successful acts would graduate up to Beggars Banquet after a year at 4AD. The only band to follow this path would be Bauhaus, who were signed to Beggars Banquet in late 1980 right before Ivo and Peter purchased the label outright.

The two were the sole owners for about a year. Kent sold his share to Watts-Russell at the end of 1981, and started a new Beggars Banquet subsidiary, Situation Two Records. Watts-Russell would maintain ownership of the label, and act as its president, until the late 1990s.

Watts-Russell invited the graphic designer Vaughan Oliver to create sleeve art for the label, and as a result, 4AD quickly acquired a visually distinctive identity. Its artists, like Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance, developed substantial cult followings in the mid-1980s, but 4AD continued to evolve, and, after signing Throwing Muses and Pixies, the label increasingly concentrated on underground American rock music. In 1987, 4AD had a UK number one hit with the collaged "Pump up the Volume" by M/A/R/R/S.

In the 1990s, 4AD established an office in Los Angeles and enjoyed success with bands such as The Breeders, Red House Painters, Unrest, and His Name Is Alive. In 1999, Watts-Russell sold his share in 4AD back to the Beggars Group (as it had by then become), but the label continued to release music and add new artists to its roster.

Although fans will greatly debate the exact year the "classic 4AD" period ends, a popular theory places the end with the release of the final Cocteau Twins 4AD album in 1990. Still, 1991 saw the final Throwing Muses album with Tanya Donelly (The Real Ramona, CAD 1002), the final This Mortal Coil album (Blood, DAD 1005), His Name Is Alive's Home Is in Your Head (CAD 1013), and the Pixies' Trompe le Monde (CAD 1014), all of which are generally considered to be "classic 4AD."

Even in 1992, new signings like Belly and Red House Painters produced records which are also considered amongst the classic era of 4AD. However, the label's deal with Warner Bros. Records in the United States in 1992 would start the beginning of a truly new phase in 4AD history. By 1995, whatever remnants of the "classic era" that were left were dying out, as evidenced by the final 4AD release for Red House Painters (Ocean Beach, CAD 5005), and the last albums and break-ups of Belly and The Wolfgang Press. New signings that year included American underground acts Kendra Smith, Tarnation, Air Miami and The Amps.

In 2008, the Beggars Group recognized that 4AD was its most prestigious and successful label, and re-aligned itself so that several labels (including Beggars Banquet itself) were folded up on to the 4AD label. Bands like Stereolab and The National were signed to 4AD as a part of this merger.

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Christian Death - Only theatre of Pain

Genere: Goth Rock.

Similar Artists: Swans, Sex Gang Children, Faith and The Muse.

Recording Year: Epitaph, 1982.

And thus was American goth rock born. Perhaps an extreme statement, as one could argue .45 Grave beat Christian Death to the punch, if with a lot more intentional humor. Still, it's about the only thing that can be said upon listening to Christian Death's debut, Only Theatre of Pain, released in 1982 and influencing more bands that can be counted since then. The member who got the most attention was, unsurprisingly, singer Rozz Williams, but guitarist Rikk Agnew is the secret weapon that makes this album so good. With the first phase of the Adolescents (and a solo album) behind him, he brings his punk-inspired work here, and with the help of longtime producer Thom Wilson, who sat behind the boards here, the two created a perfectly ominous world of tolling bells, heavily treated guitar, and general spookiness. Bassist James McGearty and drummer George Belanger keep the murky energy going and thankfully aren't afraid to kick up a storm when needed either. The most memorable song is "Romeo's Distress," a catchy slice of doomy punk-pop that admittedly has one of the most un-PC lyrical starts around. Throughout, the band either kick out the melancholy jams, McGearty's purring bass leading the way, or sheer atmospherics, some quite effective. Witness the slow wash of sound concluding the first side and kicking off the second, or the combination of noise, keyboards, and treated vocals on the closing "Prayer." And then there's Williams -- those who accused Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy of delivering up pretentious lyrics and overwrought performances must have flipped upon hearing this record. Sodomized boys in front of furnace altars, hilariously naïve reversed words meant to be spooky ("Reficul!"), incense-laden sex, "roses and candles, silver knives and spoons," "necrophiliac relationship," song titles like "Mysterium Iniquitatis" and "Spiritual Cramp," all delivered with a breathless moan at once low and whiny. His weird charm comes through after a while, but it usually takes a couple of listens to get the giggles out. [The CD version contains the Deathwish EP as a welcome bonus.]

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Gang Of Four - Another day, Another Dollar (EP)

Genere: Post Punk, New Wave

Similar Artists: The Clash, Band Of Susans, Scritti Politti

Recording Year: Warner Bros., 1982

Formed in 1977 by Leeds University students Jon King (vocals), Andy Gill (guitar), Dave Allen (bass), and Hugo Burnham (drums), Gang of Four (along with the Fall, Mekons, and Liliput) produced some of the most exhilarating and lasting music of the early English post-punk era of 1978-1983. Fueled by the fury of punk rock and radical political theory, Gang of Four successfully welded the two in an inspired display of polemics and music that addressed the vagaries of life in the modern world (including love and romance) as matters of political inquiry. Despite the fact that this sounds rife with the potential for being long on rhetoric and short on groove, such was not the case. What made Gang of Four's polemical clang'n'roll so compelling was that it worked as harsh, bracing, and ultimately liberating rock & roll. With Allen and Burnham combining as a formidable and frequently very funky rhythm section, Gill didn't play guitar as much as emit thick wads of semi-tuneful distortion, while King "sang" in a dry, declamatory fashion similar to that of the Fall's Mark E. Smith. The rhythms were stripped down and jagged; at times Gill would dispense with guitar solos entirely and "play" non-solos, which were (surprise!) silence. Song titles sounded like the titles of radical political essays: "At Home He's a Tourist," "Damaged Goods," "It's Her Factory," "Love Like Anthrax," "To Hell With Poverty," all of it openly challenging the audience's preconceived notions about rock music, performance, the cult of celebrity, and the nature of politics. And in doing so, GOF conveyed rage, confusion, and loss of identity as well as any band of its time.

After three consecutive sensational albums, as well as a handful of EPs and singles, Allen left in 1982 to form the more danceable and less overtly political Shriekback, while Gill, King, and Burnham recorded the misguided "radical soul/R&B" record Hard with veteran American producers Ron and Howard Albert (who'd previously worked with Stephen Stills' Manassas and Firefall). A near total disaster, Hard signalled that the end was nigh. Gill and King, who by this point had final say-so on the band's musical and political direction, sacked Burnham, and the now "Gang of Two" released a so-so live album (At the Palace) and called it quits in 1984. But legends die hard, and Gang of Four experienced a mini-renaissance in the early '90s with the release of two excellent collections (A Brief History of the Twentieth Century and The Peel Sessions Album).

Fields Of Haze.

The Fixx - King Biscuit (Live)

Genere: New Wave

Similar artists: Adam Ant, The Cars, Talk Talk

Recording year : King Biscuit Entertainment, 1982.

A London-based new wave group that managed to sustain a successful career in America for several years in the mid-'80s, the Fixx always flirted with the mainstream with their catchy, keyboard-driven pop. Formed by college friends vocalist/keyboardist Cy Curnin and drummer Adam Woods in the early '80s, the pair advertised in the music press for additional members; the remaining members of the group -- guitarist Jamie West-Oram, keyboardist Rupert Greenall, and bassist Charlie Barret -- all responded to the ad.

Recorded in New York in 1982 for the popular syndicated radio show, King Biscuit Flower Hour presents the Fixx shortly before their sophomore recording Reach the Beach was released, which meant that audiences got a sneak preview of songs like the new wave classic "One Thing Leads to Another," "Liner," and "Reach the Beach." The performances don't differ too much from the studio versions, and they are recorded in excellent fidelity, making this a worthwhile item for devotees.

Fields Of Haze.

The Fall - Slates, a part of America therein

Género /Gender: Indie Rock, Post Punk, Alternative

Artistas similares / Similar Artist: Tirez Tirez, Peter Principle, Mikel Rouse

Año de grabación / Recording year: Cottage, 1982.


The Fall es un grupo inglés liderado por Mark E. Smith, formado en 1977 y ha editado una gran cantidad de álbumes de estudio y en vivo a lo largo de su carrera, en la que hubo muchos cambios en su formación.

El estilo de The Fall se destaca por las letras cínicas de Mark E. Smith y su sonido poco melódico con prominente uso de guitarras y teclados. A pesar de que dos de sus canciones entraron en las listas inglesas, el grupo es considerado mayormente un fenómeno de culto.


The Fall is an English group led by Mark E. Smith, formed in 1977 and who has published a great amount of studio and live albums throughout its career, in which there were many changes in its formation.

The style of The Fall presents cynical letters of Mark E. Smith and their little melodic sound with prominent use of guitars and keyboards. Although two of their songs entered the English lists, the group is considered mainly a cult phenomenon.

The March Violets - The Botanic Verses

Género /Gender: Goth Rock, Alternative Rock

Artistas similares / Similar Artist: Children on Stun, The Sisters of Mercy, Sex Gang Children

Año de grabación / Recording year: Jungle, 1982.



The March Violets fue una banda de rock gótico de los ochentas, cuyas características principales era la incorporación de cantantes de ambos sexos, el uso de máquinas de ritmo y el uso de guitarras eléctricas con eco, muy al estilo de sus coterráneos The Sisters of Mercy, los cuales también eran de la ciudad de Leeds. Tomaron el nombre de la novela detectivesca de Philip Kerr, ambientada en los juegos olímpicos de Berlín de 1936.

-Botanic Verses- viene a reemplazar las compilaciones de la banda que solo se encontraban en vinil, haciéndolos mucho más disfrutables por la calidad de sonido.



The March Violets were an English goth rock band of the 1980s, incorporating singers of both sexes, drum machine rhythms and echo laden electric guitar, much in the way of scene mates The Sisters of Mercy, who also originated from the city of Leeds. Taken the name of a detective novel and the first written by Philip Kerr. Set in Berlin during the Olympic games of 1936.

Replacing early vinyl-only compilations as the definitive history of the band's earliest days, The Botanic Verses -- groaningly obvious pun of a title aside -- makes for mighty fine listening.





Fields of Haze.

Theatre of Hate - Discografía

Género: Post punk

Artistas similares: Gang of four, The exploited, Killing joke


Theatre of Hate fué una banda Post Punk formada en 1980 en Inglaterra. Lidereada por su vocalista-letrista y ex miembro del grupo de punk -The Pack- Kirk Brandon, Steve Guthrie, bajista de -The Straps-, el saxofonista John Lennard y el baterista Luke Rendel, del grupo -Crisis-.

Inspirados en el libro de Antonin Artaud -Teatro y su doble-, la banda tomó su nombre del concepto de 'Teatro de crueldad' (descrito por el Artaud como el involucramiento emocional de la audiencia). El vocalista Brandon tomó prestado el término porque pretendía hacer lo mismo.

La primera producción de Theatre of Hate fué 'Original Sin' sencillo realizado en noviembre de 1980, el cual alcanzó el no. 5 en las listas inglesas. Entonces presentaron su primer LP, ' He Who Dares Wins', una presentación en vivo.

En agosto de 1981 entraron al estudio con el productor Mick Jones (The Clash) para grabar su primer álbum no en vivo, 'Westworld', el cual fue realizado en febrero de 1982.


Theatre of Hate was a Post band Punk formed in 1980 in England. Leaded by its singer-composer and ex- member of the punk group - The Pack- Kirk Brandon, Steve Guthrie, bear of - The Straps-, the saxophonistJohn Lennard and the drummer Luke Rendel, of the group - Crisis-.

Inspired by the book of Antonin Artaud - Theater and its double, the band took its name from the concept of ' Theater of cruelty' (described by the Artaud like the emotional involvement of the audience). Singer Brandon borrowed the term because he tried to do the same.

The first production of Theatre of Hate was ' Original Sin' single realised in November of 1980, which reached no. 5 in the English charts. They presented before its first LP, 'He who dares wins', a live presentation.

In August of 1981 they went into the studio with the producer Mick Jones (The Clash) to record its first non live album, ' Westworld' , which was realised in February of 1982.

Love is Ghost (1981)

He who dares wins (1982)

Westworld (1982)

Aria of the Devil (1983)

Ten Years After (1983)


Retribution (1996)

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