''Virgins and Philistines'' is the debut album by
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
new wave band
The Colourfield
The Colourfield were an English band formed in 1984 in Manchester, England, when former Specials and Fun Boy Three frontman Terry Hall joined up with ex-Swinging Cats members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale. Despite the fact that all three members ...
.
Overview
''Virgins and Philistines'' failed to gain a large audience due to difficulty in marketing an album with such a diverse sound—it mixes 1960s and early 1970s
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
with more
acoustic based
melodies
A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
and
string
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
s. The album is often regarded as the direct musical predecessor to the later work of
The Lightning Seeds
The Lightning Seeds (also known as Lightning Seeds) are an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1989 by Ian Broudie (vocals, guitar, producer), formerly of the bands Big in Japan, Care, and Original Mirrors. Originally a studio-based so ...
in the 1990s, with whom singer
Terry Hall would later collaborate in a
songwriting
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
role whilst providing occasional vocals.
''Virgins and Philistines'' contained all original material except "The Hammond Song" (a
cover
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of co ...
of
The Roches
The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey.
Career
In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry", ...
song), and "Can’t Get Enough of You Baby" (written by Linzer/Randell), which was the only track that received much airplay (radio), airplay. The album was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport (near Manchester) and was record producer, produced by Hugh Jones (producer), Hugh Jones and Jeremy Green, and sound engineer, engineered by Chris Jones.
Additional personnel featured on the album included Pete de Freitas (Echo & the Bunnymen) on drums, Paul Burgess (musician), Paul Burgess (ex-Camel (band), Camel, also drums), Preston Heyman (percussion), Ian Nelson (clarinet), and Katrina Phillips (backing vocalist, background vocals).
Release
''Virgins and Philistines'' was released in April 1985 over a year after the group's first release. It charted at #12
on the UK Albums Chart and #28
on the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, New Zealand Album chart. It was preceded by three singles. The first, "Take", did not chart as highly as their début and only made #70
[ in the UK. The second single, "Thinking of You", was much better received and returned Hall to the top forty in the UK and Ireland, reaching #12][ and #11][
The album was released in the US with different track listing including the band's self-titled début single. It also added the B-sides "I Can't Get Enough of You Baby", "Pushing Up the Daisies" and "Your Love Was Smashing". "Armchair Theatre" and "Yours Sincerely" were not included, but were later released in the US on the EP; ''The Colour Field''.
The album was released in Canada with the same track order as the US release. Faint Hearts is a shorter 3:58 minute version that excludes the 20 second slow vocal introduction. Another notable difference is the song titles: "I Can't Get Enough of You Baby" appears as "Can't Get Enough Of You Baby" and "The Colour Field" is listed as "The Colourfield".
In 1999, the album was re-released in Japan with twenty tracks, including all of the songs on the UK and US versions of the album plus all of the singles, B-Sides and remixes that were released before and immediately after the original release of ''Virgins and Philistines''.
In 2010, the album was reissued once again, this new version was released by Cherry Red Records, Cherry Red and it included most of the bonus tracks of the 1999 version.
]
Track listing
All tracks written by Terry Hall and Toby Lyons, except as indicated.
US version
Personnel
;The Colour Field
* Terry Hall - all instruments and voices
* Toby Lyons - all instruments and voices
* Karl Shale - all instruments and voices
;Additional musicians
* Paul Burgess (musician), Paul Burgess - Drum kit, drums
* Pete de Freitas - drums on "Take" and "Cruel Circus"
* Katrina Phillips - backing vocals on "Thinking of You"
* Ian Nelson (musician), Ian Nelson - clarinet on "Virgins and Philistines"
* Preston Heyman - percussion
References
{{Authority control
1985 debut albums
The Colourfield albums
Albums produced by Hugh Jones (producer)
Chrysalis Records albums