The Complete Virgin Years

1980年にリバプールで結成されたネオアコースティック・バンド、ペイル・ファウンテンズのVIRGIN期を網羅した4枚組ボックス・セット！未発表音源も収録！

今回のボックスにはヴァージンからリリースされ高い評価を得た2枚のアルバム 『PACIFIC STREET』 (1984)、『...FROM ACROSS THE KITCHEN TABLE』 (1985)に加え、B面曲、ラフ・ミックス、アーカイヴから発見された未発表曲の一部を収録。

■収録内容
DISC ONE
1 Reach
2 Something On My Mind
3 Unless
4 Southbound Excursion
5 Natural
6 Faithful Pillow (Pt 1)
7 (Don’t Let Your Love) Start A War
8 Beyond Fridays Field
9 Abergele Next Time
10 Crazier
11 Faithful Pillow (Pt 2)
BONUS TRACKS
12 Thank You - Single
13 Meadow Of Love - Single B Side
14 (There’s Always) Something on My Mind - Remix
15 Palm Of My Hand - Single
16 Palm Of My Hand - Instrumental - Single B Side
17 Love’s A Beautiful Place - Single B Side
18 Unless - Extended Version 12 Single
19 (Don’t Let Your Love) Start A War - Single
20 (Don’t Let Your Love) Start A War - Extended Version 12 Single
21 Love Situation - Single B Side

DISC TWO
Mixes And Unreleased Tracks
1 Partner Picking Man - Rough Mix with Bass and Drums*
2 Fight Think Love / Love Situation - Rough Mix Take 1*
3 Jock’s A String Bean - Rough Mix*
4 Fight Think Love / Love Situation - Rough Mix Take 2*
5 Spanish Tragedy (Beyond Fridays Field) - Rough Instrumental Mix*
6 Take A Little Shelter - Rough Mix Take 2*
7 Partner Picking Man - Acoustic*
8 Sun Drenched Girl (Crazier) - Acoustic
9 Lavinia’s Dream - Rough Mix Take 1
10 (There’s Always) Something on My Mind -
Rough Mix
11 Hey There Fred - Rough Mix
12 One By One - Rough Mix Take 2*
13 Norfolk Broads - Rough Mix Take 1
14 Untitled Jam / 7 and 7 Is*
15 Unless - Rough Mix
16 (There’s Always) Something on My Mind - Rough Mix
17 Sundrenched Girl (Crazier) - Rough Mix
18 Southbound Excursion - Rough Mix

DISC THREE
From Across the Kitchen Table
1 Shelter
2 Stole The Love
3 Jean’s Not Happening
4 Bicycle Thieves
5 Limit
6 27 Ways to Get Back Home
7 Bruised Arcade
8 These Are the Things
9 Its Only Hard
10 ...From Across the Kitchen Table
11 Hey
12 September Sting

DISC FOUR
Mixes And Unreleased Tracks
1 From Across the Kitchen Table - Extended Version 12 Single
2 Bicycle Thieves - Remix Single B Side
3 Just A Girl - Remix Single B Side
4 Thank You - Remix Single B Side
5 Silver Bendix – Demo*
6 The Outsider – Demo*
7 Detrimentally (Stole the Love) - Demo
8 27 Ways to Get Back Home - Demo
9 Summertime (It’s Hard) -Demo
10 Shelter - Demo
11 Yeah Eah Eah – Demo*
12 These Are the Things (Stay) - Demo
13 Bruised Arcade - Demo
*Previosuly unreleased

The Pale Fountains make a strong claim for being one of the great "lost" bands of the first half of the 1980s on this career retrospective -- The Complete Virgin Years -- which gathers up their two albums (1984s Pacific Street and 1985s ...From Across the Kitchen Table), all the singles and B-sides, plus a healthy number of extended versions, rough mixes, and demos. The group were equally inspired by the mystical garage rock of Love and the sophisticated craft of Burt Bacharach while sharing the smooth production of contemporaries like the Style Council, the psychedelic shimmer of Teardrop Explodes, and the take-no-prisoners approach of Dexys Midnight Runners. Their songs -- like quite a few bands of the day -- were full of fretless bass runs, banks of synths meshing with real strings, drum machines battling acoustic guitars, and the kind of brittle production it was hard to escape in the early 80s. What set the Paleys apart were a couple of vital factors: a staggering ambition and the songs and vocals of Michael Head. To the first point, they were the kind of band who would demand -- and get -- a huge signing deal from a label, then spend it all on hiring an orchestra or delay releasing a record until it was just right (something that did them no favors commercially). To point number two, not everyone was lucky enough to be guided by someone like Head, a singer who had equal amounts of daredevil and lad next door in his vocal delivery, a lyricist who could turn a phrase like he was ringing a bell, and a songwriter who could knock the listener out the easy way with a unbelievable strong melody or the hard way with an impossibly tricky chord change or extended bridge. The groups early singles like "Thank You" or "(Theres Always) Something on My Mind" were fully developed slices of majestic post-punk meets big pop that were too clever to top the charts, but just enough to stand the test of time. Pacific Street is an epic album, filled with rockers ("Natural"), sweeping ballads ("Beyond Fridays Field"), and blindingly luminescent pop ("Abergele Next Time"); ...From Across the Kitchen Table is a little more straight-ahead and guitar pop-focused. Its highlights -- the brilliant "Jeans Not Happening," the rollicking "Shelter" -- are the equal of anything on the debut, and Head proves just as adept at stripped-down sounds as he is at building mini-symphonies. The extended versions and remixes included are nice to hear, but the rough mixes and demos are revelatory on a very small scale. Quite a few of the demos are for songs the band never released, and the rough mixes find the group trying different approaches on the songs. Its hard to say that any of the demos top the tracks that were actually on the albums, but there are quite a few that easily could have been. "The Outsider is a joyous, jangling ramble of a rocker and "Detrimentally (Stole the Love)" fits the bill too. The rough mixes are for the true fans of the band, and its to Cherry Reds credit that the label dug up and released them. Hearing the band live in the studio unadorned by studio sheen gives one a new perspective and almost a glimpse of what they would have sounded like in a small club, while the tracks stripped of lead vocals let the subtle loveliness of the music and backing singers truly shine. Just the two albums, reissued and remastered, would have been enough; the extra material makes the set essential and goes a long way in putting the Paleys in their proper place in the 80s pop pantheon. ~ Tim Sendra