Wednesday 11 November 2015

Various ‎Lonely Is An Eyesore



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In a certain sense, Lonley Is an Eyesore functions as a time-capsule, a snapshot of Post-Punk circa the mid-Eighties, albeit a snapshot saturated with the particular shades and tinctures of the Goth-informed Dream-Pop of the 4AD stable. As a result, there is an aesthetic cohesiveness to this album that is unusual for a compilation, which stems from that fact that, to some extent, 4AD was pushing a particular (Ivo Watts-Russell produced) sound rather than the bands themselves. This approach was taken a step further with the This Mortal Coil releases, in which various 4AD artists were thrown together in the studio (under the control of Watts-Russell) to record cover songs dressed up in 4AD-style gloom. Despite this overriding emphasis on style over substance, Lonely Is an Eyesore holds up quite well 28 years later because it contains an intriguing mix of the influential (Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, Throwing Muses) and the obscure (Dif Juz, The Wolfgang Press, Clan of Xymox), all at the height of their powers. The compilation was also released in a severely limited edition (try 100, of which only 30 were commercially issued), encased in a wooden box with a VHS supplement and a number of graphic prints.

2 comments:

AJ said...

Thanks for this one Aid, my tape copy was chewed up and spat out last century...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this, I had a strong liking of the 4AD sound (cocteau and clan of xymox) back in the day (I have grown somewhat less enthused over the years) but I still go back to them on occasion. It is nice to have a down tempo song in the home mix. I can't wait to try this, hope it has an ethereal song or two.

Lo.

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