Including this album in this blog series is almost a cheat. Yes, it is indeed a record label sampler in that all the tracks are from bands that were signed to the label at the time, and it includes all the bands that were signed to the label at that time.
But all the tracks are unique to this compilation (except for one, where we get a (superior) demo version of a tracks already released), so it’s more of a showcase for the label than a regular sampler.
It’s really elaborate — it was done in a variety of formats, and one of them was as a wooden box in an edition of 100.
So… it’s like a fetish object for record collectors.
But! It’s also, indeed, a really, really, really good album in and of itself, and it probably worked well as a promotional tool.
Some of the bands were uncomfortable with the album, since it seemed to focus so much on the label itself and not the artists — in interviews, there were mutterings about how there’s no such thing as a “4AD band”, and they’re all individuals, and etc… While it didn’t seem so at the time, I guess you could see this as the start of the end of what made 4AD 4AD.
02:57 Colourbox - Hot Doggie 05:27 This Mortal Coil - Acid, Bitter and Sad 05:35 The Wolfgang Press - Cut the Tree 04:29 Throwing Muses - Fish 02:58 Dead Can Dance - Frontier 03:17 Cocteau Twins - Crushed 04:49 Dif Juz - No Motion 04:03 Clan of Xymox - Muscoviet Musquito 08:48 Dead Can Dance - The Protagonist
Here’s the full album, or individual tracks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmJOSILZ5y0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBho758ccaU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSbwAhIURVw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxF7lj-6w3A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLBQfKt18CA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JylmjGKFrNs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlZNE9Rc_Qc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58XbwXgIcYg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWqd8DBnZow
This blog post is part of the Record Label Samplers series.