Pillows & Prayers (Cherry Red Records 1982-1983) - Pillows & Prayers (Cherry Red Records 1982-1983) / Various - Expanded Edition

Three CDs. Digitally remastered and expanded 40th Anniversary edition. 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 it's own time and place. Four decades later, to celebrate it's 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. Presented here in a deluxe hardbacked book format, and including no fewer than 17 previously unheard recordings, this edition of Pillows And Prayers arrives complete with insight from the men who made it happen - Iain McNay and Mike Alway - the artists and The Times' Will Hodgkinson. All of which makes for a must have review to a time and place when the aftershocks of punk were still being felt, "indie" wasn't yet a genre and a pound could buy you entrance to a whole new way of thinking.