Born in 1972, Virgin Records has become something of a global empire during the past 40 years. Co-founded by Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Tom Newman and Nik Powell, the first recordings didn't appear on the label itself until the following year when a teenage Mike Oldfield appeared from nowhere with the ground-breaking 'Tubular Bells'. The rest, as they say, is most definitely not just history but a cultural heritage that made the UK the envy of the globe for a while, especially from 1977 onwards when a certain bunch of 'oiks' called The Sex Pistols turned this country on its head and woke it up.
Not surprisingly, there have been several '40' shows, events, memorabilia and now, as a set of 3CDs, a heap of intriguing compilations designed to showcase and celebrate the best that Virgin offered during its heyday as both an independent label and a major subsidiary.
Losing Our Virginity - The First 4 Years 1973 - 1977 - ★★★★
Fittingly, Mike Oldfield's sinister Exorcist theme, Tubular Bells by its proper name, heads up the first volume of the five-set series on offer. The onus is on the experimental and Krautrock (Klaus Schulze, Faust, Gong, Can), the oddball gumbo (Captain Beefheart, Henry Cow, Hatfield and the North), the masterly abstract songwriters (Robert Wyatt, Kevin Coyne, Tom Newman) and the genius (all of the above and Ivor Cutler) with a few artists getting the nod a few times - and so they should. Listening to this reminds me of English cricket greens, wrought-iron gates, real ale, boarding school (never went to one but if I did, this would be the soundtrack to my learned years) and chalk engravings on middle-England hillsides.
Never Trust a Hippy - Punk & New Wave 1976 - 1979 - ★★★★★
Before Malcolm McLaren gave us The Sex Pistols, 'God Save The Queen' and controversy, Virgin unleashed several sweet roots reggae anthems via its own FrontLine imprint. Island Records and trojan may have had all the kudos but FL-prefixed albums were consistently brilliant and spoke more to Britain's deprived youth than even the great Bob Marley. The Mighty Diamonds, U-Roy, Johnny Clarke and Linton Kwesi Johnson created some of reggae and dub's most enduring works, including Clarke's 'Crazy Bald Head' and the Diamonds' 'I Need a Roof'. But then came the brutal fist of punk, spewing and spitting its glorious legacy all the place and delivering some of the greatest basic two-chord music of the era. Gone were the 15-minute hippy work-outs and in came 3, no, 2-minute outbursts instead. 'God Save The Queen', 'EMI' (of course) and 'Bodies' represent the Pistols oeuvre here, but the likes of Penetration, Magazine, The Ruts, The Members, The Skids and XTC took things further by crafting superb radio-friendly singles that carried an air of menace and storytelling in equal measure. Virgin kept its eye on lighter pub-rock and blues with Roogalator, Wilko Johnson, Jane Aire etc but surpassed its avant-garde roots with the marvellous Flying Lizards, here presented with their first dubbed up single 'Summertime Blues', and the under-rated comedic John Dowie with his ironic taunt of xenophobics, 'British Tourist'. No Devo though? Chopper bikes, earwax, comprehensive schools, cheap fireworks, Ford Corsairs and bubble-gum football cards.
New Gold Dreams - Post Punk & New Romantic 1979 - 1983 - ★★★★★
The first 75% of this triple combines the iconic with the countless acts Virgin invested in (or not) as it desperately searched for the next big thing. By the early '80s, thanks to Culture Club, Japan, Simple Minds and, er, The Flying Pickets, paydirt was well and truly hit, although the most interesting music fell by the wayside. Lately though, the likes of Public Image Limited, OMD and Magazine have been garnering rave reviews for both old and new output, while Fingerprintz, Essential Logic, Rip Rig and Panic and The Flying Lizards are still playing comparative catch-up - when ARE those Fingerprintz reissues ever going to appear? So aside from big hits like 'Ghosts' by Japan, 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?' by Culture Club and 'Temptation' by Heaven 17, you get three tracks that bareky reached the shops, let alone radio. OMD's 'Electricity', Magazine's "A Song From Under The Floorboards' and Fingerprintz' 'Houdini Love' - play them now. See? White socks, highlights, Grifters, homework, second-hand record shops, dank subways, fights, Lincoln biscuits and the farmer's daughter.
Methods of Dance - Electronica & Leftfield 1973 - 1987 - ★★★★
This volume seems to gather up the waifs and strays that didn't quite sit right on the first three collections. Disc one leans heavily on Krautrock again, as well as pioneers such as John Foxx, D.A.F., Sparks and The Human League. The second disc continues the dance-pop fusion laid down by new romantics and under-achievers - Fingerprintz again, earlier contributors to the budget-priced Methods of Dance series such as Simple Minds, China Crisis and Snakefinger and top-notch hits-not-hits from Cabaret Voltaire, Allez Allez and I-Level (another great act who should have had the reissue treatment by now). Disc three is oddball though - Brit-soul champs Loose Ends stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy, Public Image Limited (and Lydon's temporary Time Zone), Hue and Cry, Danny Wilson and 'Together In Electric Dreams'. Nope, me neither. Teenage spots, hands up jumpers, crazy golf, discos, deely-boppers, Top Of The Pops, Smash Hits, Sounds and long-grey raincoats.
Fascinating Rhythm - Sound Systems & Dancefloor - ★★★
And so to the period in which Virgin waved goodbye to naivety and ushered in slick pop, soul and arguably, a loss of identity. Still, the fifth volume contains enough bangers to justify the price - both Inner City anthems 'Big Fun' and 'Good Life', Soul II Soul's timeless 'Back To Life' and "Keep On Movin'' and Bass-O-Matic's 'Fascinating Rhythm' all stand the test of time on disc one while disc two boasts early '90s staples from The Grid, Future Sound Of London, Fluke and Dreadzone, not forgetting 'Perfume' the then-re-released epic from the short-lived Paris Angels. John Lydon's part in Virgin's rise and rise is well-documented throughout - solo, Sex Pistols and Public Image Limited all get the nod with the latter's 'Warrior' proving to be a belter, represented here with a rare Dave Dorrell remix (originally the flip to 'Don't Ask Me'), one of the band's best club mixes. Sadly though, for all of the great and good, there's the inane and dull. Pretty much all of disc three is throwaway tedium with Massive Attack, Lydon and Empire of the Sun saving the day from the pedestrian trance-pop of late. I just don't get Guetta, sorry.
Somewhat predictably, there are some glaring omissions across all five discs (Devo, Tangerine Dream etc) but overall, if you want to chart the course of one of the world's most iconic and enduring labels, you could do worse than fork out for all of these.
For a bit of fun, I've invented sixth and seventh collections below - well, you can't have everything can you?
Missed Opportunities - Unsung Heroes 1973-1982
Disc One
1 - Slapp Happy - Casablanca Moon
2 - Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn (excerpt)
3 - Can - Vernal Equinox
4 - Ivor Cutler - Go And Sit Upon The Grass
5 - Philip Glass - Music In 12 Parts (excerpt)
6 - Delroy Washington - Midnight Ravers
7 - Keith Hudson - Civilisation
8 - Peter Tosh - Legalize It
9 - The Gladiators - Mix Up
10 - Ashra - Sunrain
11 - Philip Glass - Lady Day
12 - Glenn Phillips - Lies
13 - Delroy Washington - Stand Up And Be Happy
14 - Derek and Clive - I Saw This Bloke
Disc Two
1 - Poet And The Roots - All Wi Doin Is Defendin'
2 - Devo - Uncontrollable Urge
3 - U-Brown - Black Star Liner
4 - XTC - Are You Receiving Me?
5 - Mike Oldfield - Incantations Part 4 excerpt 1
6 - Sly Dunbar - Queen Of The Minstrels
7 - I-Roy - Fire In A Wire
8 - Culture - International Herb
9 - Tangerine Dream - Thru Metamorphic Rocks
10 - Fingerprintz - Mr Smith
11 - The Records - Rock and Roll Love Letter
12 - John Foxx - A New Kind Of Man
13 - The Human League - The Black Hit Of Space
14 - The Colonel - Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen
Disc Three
1 - Devo - Whip It
2 - Ken Lockie - Today
3 - The Monochrome Set - Strange Boutique
4 - Flying Lizards - Lovers and Other Strangers
5 - Hambi and the Dance - Too Late To Fly The Flag
6 - Fingerprintz - Madame X/Tickled To Death 12"
7 - Martha and the Muffins - Women Around The World At Work
8 - Nash The Slash - Dead Man's Curve
9 - Modern Eon - Child's Play
10 - Shakin' Pyramids - Take a Trip
11 - Tangerine Dream - White Eagle
12 - Captain Beefheart - Ice Cream For Crow
Big New Beginning - 1982 - 1990
Disc One
1 - Hunters and Collectors - Talking To a Stranger 12"
2 - D.A.F. - Verlieb Dich In Mich
3 - Prince Charles and the City Beat Band - Cash Money
4 - I-Level - Minefield 12"
5 - Pale Fountains - Palm Of My Hand
6 - OMD - Silent Running
7 - Mike Oldfield - Crime Of Passion
8 - Scott Walker - Track Three
9 - John Foxx - Endlessly (orig)
10 - Peter Blegvad - How Beautiful You Are
11 - Pale Fountains - Unless
12 - I-Level - In The Sand
13 - The Dukes Of Stratosphear - Your Gold Dress
14 - Working Week - I Thought I'd Never See You Again
Disc Two
1 - The Big Dish - Big New Beginning
2 - Anne Clark - Heaven (John Foxx 12" Remix)
3 - 52nd Street - Tell Me (How It Feels)
4 - Ryuichi Sakamoto w/ Thomas Dolby - Fieldwork
5 - It's Immaterial - Ed's Funky Diner
6 - Gabriel Yared - Betty Blue theme
7 - Ennio Morricone - The Mission theme
8 - The Edge w/ Sinead O'Connor - Heroine
9 - Mick Karn w/ David Sylvian - Buoy (Remix)
10 - Mantronix - Music Madness
11 - Microdisney - Mr Simpson
12 - Alan Rankine - The Sandman
Disc Three
1 - It Bites - The Old Man and the Angel
2 - The Dolphin Brothers - Second Sight
3 - Microdisney - Singer's Hampstead Home
4 - Ziggy Marley - Lee and Molly
5 - The Railway Children - Somewhere South
6 - The Big Dish - Wishing Time
7 - Mary Margaret O'Hara - Help Me Lift You Up
8 - Win - What'll You Do 'Til Sunday Baby
9 - XTC - Chalkhills and Children
10 - Camper Van Beethoven - Sweethearts
11 - Botany 5 - Nature Boy
12 - Frazier Chorus - Nothing
13 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Diabaram
14 - Rain Tree Crow - Blackwater
Not surprisingly, there have been several '40' shows, events, memorabilia and now, as a set of 3CDs, a heap of intriguing compilations designed to showcase and celebrate the best that Virgin offered during its heyday as both an independent label and a major subsidiary.
Losing Our Virginity - The First 4 Years 1973 - 1977 - ★★★★
Never Trust a Hippy - Punk & New Wave 1976 - 1979 - ★★★★★
New Gold Dreams - Post Punk & New Romantic 1979 - 1983 - ★★★★★
Methods of Dance - Electronica & Leftfield 1973 - 1987 - ★★★★
Fascinating Rhythm - Sound Systems & Dancefloor - ★★★
Somewhat predictably, there are some glaring omissions across all five discs (Devo, Tangerine Dream etc) but overall, if you want to chart the course of one of the world's most iconic and enduring labels, you could do worse than fork out for all of these.
For a bit of fun, I've invented sixth and seventh collections below - well, you can't have everything can you?
Missed Opportunities - Unsung Heroes 1973-1982
Disc One
1 - Slapp Happy - Casablanca Moon
2 - Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn (excerpt)
3 - Can - Vernal Equinox
4 - Ivor Cutler - Go And Sit Upon The Grass
5 - Philip Glass - Music In 12 Parts (excerpt)
6 - Delroy Washington - Midnight Ravers
7 - Keith Hudson - Civilisation
8 - Peter Tosh - Legalize It
9 - The Gladiators - Mix Up
10 - Ashra - Sunrain
11 - Philip Glass - Lady Day
12 - Glenn Phillips - Lies
13 - Delroy Washington - Stand Up And Be Happy
14 - Derek and Clive - I Saw This Bloke
Disc Two
1 - Poet And The Roots - All Wi Doin Is Defendin'
2 - Devo - Uncontrollable Urge
3 - U-Brown - Black Star Liner
4 - XTC - Are You Receiving Me?
5 - Mike Oldfield - Incantations Part 4 excerpt 1
6 - Sly Dunbar - Queen Of The Minstrels
7 - I-Roy - Fire In A Wire
8 - Culture - International Herb
9 - Tangerine Dream - Thru Metamorphic Rocks
10 - Fingerprintz - Mr Smith
11 - The Records - Rock and Roll Love Letter
12 - John Foxx - A New Kind Of Man
13 - The Human League - The Black Hit Of Space
14 - The Colonel - Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen
Disc Three
1 - Devo - Whip It
2 - Ken Lockie - Today
3 - The Monochrome Set - Strange Boutique
4 - Flying Lizards - Lovers and Other Strangers
5 - Hambi and the Dance - Too Late To Fly The Flag
6 - Fingerprintz - Madame X/Tickled To Death 12"
7 - Martha and the Muffins - Women Around The World At Work
8 - Nash The Slash - Dead Man's Curve
9 - Modern Eon - Child's Play
10 - Shakin' Pyramids - Take a Trip
11 - Tangerine Dream - White Eagle
12 - Captain Beefheart - Ice Cream For Crow
Big New Beginning - 1982 - 1990
Disc One
1 - Hunters and Collectors - Talking To a Stranger 12"
2 - D.A.F. - Verlieb Dich In Mich
3 - Prince Charles and the City Beat Band - Cash Money
4 - I-Level - Minefield 12"
5 - Pale Fountains - Palm Of My Hand
6 - OMD - Silent Running
7 - Mike Oldfield - Crime Of Passion
8 - Scott Walker - Track Three
9 - John Foxx - Endlessly (orig)
10 - Peter Blegvad - How Beautiful You Are
11 - Pale Fountains - Unless
12 - I-Level - In The Sand
13 - The Dukes Of Stratosphear - Your Gold Dress
14 - Working Week - I Thought I'd Never See You Again
Disc Two
1 - The Big Dish - Big New Beginning
2 - Anne Clark - Heaven (John Foxx 12" Remix)
3 - 52nd Street - Tell Me (How It Feels)
4 - Ryuichi Sakamoto w/ Thomas Dolby - Fieldwork
5 - It's Immaterial - Ed's Funky Diner
6 - Gabriel Yared - Betty Blue theme
7 - Ennio Morricone - The Mission theme
8 - The Edge w/ Sinead O'Connor - Heroine
9 - Mick Karn w/ David Sylvian - Buoy (Remix)
10 - Mantronix - Music Madness
11 - Microdisney - Mr Simpson
12 - Alan Rankine - The Sandman
Disc Three
1 - It Bites - The Old Man and the Angel
2 - The Dolphin Brothers - Second Sight
3 - Microdisney - Singer's Hampstead Home
4 - Ziggy Marley - Lee and Molly
5 - The Railway Children - Somewhere South
6 - The Big Dish - Wishing Time
7 - Mary Margaret O'Hara - Help Me Lift You Up
8 - Win - What'll You Do 'Til Sunday Baby
9 - XTC - Chalkhills and Children
10 - Camper Van Beethoven - Sweethearts
11 - Botany 5 - Nature Boy
12 - Frazier Chorus - Nothing
13 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Diabaram
14 - Rain Tree Crow - Blackwater