VA - Pillows & Prayers, Cherry Red Records 1981-1984 [2000] (2 x CD's)

INDIE ROCK

VA - Pillows & Prayers, Cherry Red Records 1981-1984 [2000] (2 x CD's)

Pillows & Prayers (subtitled Cherry Red 1982-1983) is a compilation album originally released Christmas 1982, featuring artists on the Cherry Red record label. The record was originally sold at 99 pence (in fact, "pay no more than 99p" was printed on the original sleeve), which helped ensure that the album peaked and remained at number 1 on the UK Indie Chart for five weeks and sold over 120,000 copies.  Back in 1983 the idea of releasing a budget-priced indie album wasn't exactly a novelty - Crass Records had been doing this for several years. But Pillows & Prayers reached out to a different audience and offered cash-strapped teenagers like myself some cheap indie thrills. It was an album I listened to quite a lot; the very fact that it encompassed everything from the gentle acoustic offerings of Marine Girls to the punk poetry of Attila the Stockbroker made it compulsory listening for kids like myself who were keen to explore new musical territory at every opportunity.

In 1984 a sequel, Pillows and Prayers 2, was released in Japan. This time, there was no special price. In 2000 the album was reissued on CD together with volume 1. It has excellent tracks on it by Kevin Hewick, Fantastic Something, Red Box, Eyeless in Gaza, Maurice Deebank and Monochrome Set. 

Returning to these albums after a break of almost 40 years it still has an eclectic appeal even if some of the more conventional indie tracks now seem pretty dated. It opens a vivid and eclectic window into the dawn of alternative rock and the death of the U.K. punk scene. (Amazon)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Five Or Six Portrait 2:50

02 Monochrome Set Eine Symphonie Des Grauens 2:19

03 Thomas Leer All About You 3:48

04 Tracey Thorn Plain Sailing 2:01

05 Ben Watt Some Things Don't Matter 4:23

06 Kevin Coyne Love In Your Heart 2:54

07 Piero Milesi Modi 2 (Extract) 1:04

08 Joe Crow Compulsion 4:20

09 Marine Girls Lazy Ways 2:44

10 Felt My Face Is On Fire 3:06

11 Eyeless In Gaza No Noise 2:51

12 Passage The Xoyo 3:55

13 Everything But The Girl On My Mind 3:10

14 Attila The Stockbroker A Bang And A Wimpey 1:43

15 Misunderstood I Unseen 2:00

16 Nightingales Don't Blink 4:01

17 Quentin Crisp Stop The Music For A Minute 1:01

CD2

01 Marine Girls A Place In The Sun 2:31

02 Jane It's A Fine Day 2:47

03 Kevin Hewick Feathering The Nest 3:53

04 Fantastic Something If She Doesn't Smile 3:16

05 Eyeless In Gaza New Risen 2:49

06 Monochrome Set Jet Set Junta 2:06

07 Morgan Fisher Un Homme Et Une Femme 2:47

08 Felt Penelope Tree 4:17

09 Maurice Deebank The Watery Song 4:56

10 In Embrace Shouting In Cafes 3:35

11 Grab, Grab the Haddock I'm Used Now 3:19

12 Ben Watt, Robert Wyatt Walter And John 4:07

13 Five Or Six Another Reason 3:07

14 Red Box Chenko 3:30

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