VA - Pillows & Prayers (Cherry Red Records 1981-1984) (40th Anniversary) (2022) [CD-Rip]

Originally conceived as a label sampler by A&R man Mike Alway, ‘Pillows And Prayers’ quickly became both an iconic compilation and a must-have artefact of early 80s Thatcherite Britain.

Famously retailing at “No more than 99p”, the album provided an accessible gateway to both the Cherry Red label and the independent scene. Over 100,000 people took up the offer, found a pound and became a part of something that resonated perfectly with its own time and place.

Four decades later, to celebrate its 40th Anniversary, this extensive companion to that original release features the Japan-only 1984 ‘Pillows & Prayers Volume II’, selected singles and album tracks, live recordings, demos sourced from the artists’ own archives and the best of the Peel sessions recorded by Cherry Red artists at that time, this time capsule package both celebrates and revels in the eclectic, inclusive and downright unpredictable attitude of the label.

From the hesitant lo-fi of Marine Girls, through the ranting verse of Attila The Stockbroker and the ethereal pop of Felt to The Passage’s state-of-the-art synth pop and the brutalist avant-noise of Eyeless In Gaza, ‘Pillows And Prayers’ remains a fascinatingly eclectic brew, and something of a membership card to that world, standing alongside the NME’s ‘C86’ cassette as an 80s indie time capsule which remains relevant and in demand today.

Tracklist
Disc 1
1. Five Or Six – Portrait
2. The Monochrome Set – Eine Symphonie Des Grauens
3. Thomas Leer – All About You
4. Tracey Thorn – Plain Sailing
5. Ben Watt – Some Things Don't Matter
6. Kevin Coyne – Love In Your Heart
7. Piero Milesi – Modi 2 (Extract)
8. Joe Crow – Compulsion
9. Marine Girls – Lazy Ways
10. Felt – My Face Is On Fire
11. Eyeless In Gaza – No Noise
12. The Passage – XOYO
13. Everything But The Girl – On My Mind
14. Attila The Stockbroker – A Band And A Wimpy
15. The Misunderstood – I Unseen
16. The Nightingales – Don't Blink
17. Quentin Crisp – Stop The Music For A Minute
18. Five Or Six – Another Reson
19. Dead Kennedys – Too Drunk Too Fuck
20. Medium Medium – Hungry So Angry
21. Soul – Tribes
22. Alan Burnham – Music To Save The World By
23. Thomas Leer – Letter From America
24. Second Layer – Fixation
25. Kevin Harrison – All Night Long
26. A Tent – No Way Of Knowing

Disc 2
1. Marine Girls – A Place In The Sun
2. Jane – It's A Fine Day
3. Kevin Hewick – Feathering The Nest
4. Fantastic Something – If She Doesn't Smile (It'll Rain)
5. Eyeless In Gaza – New Risen
6. The Monochrome Set – The Jet Set Junta
7. Morgan Fisher – Un Homme Et Une Femme
8. Felt – Penelope Tree
9. Maurice Deebank – The Watery Song
10. Grab Grab The Haddock – I'm Used Now
11. Swallow Tongue – Animation
12. The Nightingales – Paraffin Brain
13. The Reflections – 4 Countries
14. The Passage – Sharp Tongue
15. Red Box – Chenko
16. Creation Rebel – Love I Can Feel
17. Bodhi Beat Poets – Wake Up Unemployed
18. Martyn Bates – Cut Like Sunset
19. Jane & Edward Barton – I Want To Be With You
20. Swallow Tongue – Hitch Up Honey
21. Patrick Macnee & Honor Blackman – Kinky Boots
22. The John Barry Seven And Orchestra – The Lolly Theme
23. No Artist – The Compassion And Humanity of Margaret Thatcher (Extracts From…)

Disc 3
1. Thomas Leer – On The Wire
2. Five Or Six – Black Balloons Drop
3. Jane – Don't Say It
4. The Monochrome Set – I'll Cry Instead (Demo)
5. The Monochrome Set – Ten Don'ts For Honeymooners (Live In Oslo)
6. The Monochrome Set – Cast A Long Shadow (Live In Oslo)
7. The Passage – Man Of War
8. The Passage – Love Is As
9. The Passage – Empty Worlds
10. The Passage – Horseplay
11. Attila The Stockbroker – Death In Bromley
12. Attila The Stockbroker – A Bang And A Wimpy
13. Attila The Stockbroker – The Night I Slept With Seething Wells
14. Kevin Coyne – Tell The Truth
15. Kevin Coyne – Liberation
16. Kevin Coyne – You Won't Like It
17. Kevin Coyne – I Talk To Myself
18. The Nightingales – Joking Apart
19. The Nightingales – It Lives Again
20. The Nightingales – OK Corale / The Crunch
21. Attila The Stockbroker – England Are Back / Holiday In Albania
22. Attila The Stockbroker – Sawdust And Empire