This 40th Anniversary Edition of the album sees a full remaster housed in a Limited Edition Special Finish Gatefold Sleeve on Transparent Vinyl. This Deluxe LP also comes with a 16 page booklet featuring sleeve notes by Dr. Jonathan Wood exploring the writing, recording and production of the record. Plus an exclusive 12×12 Art Print. The album is also available as 2CD Mediabook + 28pp Booklet.
I worked from the original master tapes at 24 bit 96khz. I processed them through high end analogue EQ & Compression then hi- Res digital tools for precise manipulation of certain elements. I also employed special techniques for the vinyl. – Tim Turan, audio mastering
…If I Die, I Die was released only weeks before the Heresie box set. The two albums show very different faces of the Virgin Prunes – one that explored mythical worlds and another that showed their surrealistic interest in the creative power of insanity. They also highlight the ways in which the band enjoyed experimenting with different genres, sound forms and recording techniques. As Friday has commented recently, ‘The Virgin Prunes contained four different bands at the same time.’
The album was recorded at the Windmill Studios in Dublin in the summer of 1982 and produced by Wire’s Colin Newman. Rather than adopt an A/B format, the sides of the 1982 vinyl and album cover, which was designed by Steve Averill, were given brown and blue colours, signalling earth and sky respectively. The art work on each side of the sleeve was also inverted so that either side could be read as the front cover. Ursula Steiger’s photography captured, on the brown side, the band running through a forest like a nomadic tribe. On the blue side we then find them in different costumes, performing with fire and mannequins within a derelict building.
Track Listing
Vinyl
A1. Ulakanakulot (2022 Remaster)
A2. Decline and Fall (2022 Remaster)
A3. Sweethome Under White Clouds (2022 Remaster)
A4. Bau-Dachöng (2022 Remaster)
B1. Baby Turns Blue (2022 Remaster)
B2. Ballad of the Man (2022 Remaster)
B3. Walls of Jericho (2022 Remaster)
B4. Caucasian Walk (2022 Remaster)
B5. Theme for Thought (2022 Remaster)
2 CD
1. Ulakanakulot (2022 Remaster)
2. Decline and Fall (2022 Remaster)
3. Sweethome Under White Clouds (2022 Remaster)
4. Bau-Dachöng (2022 Remaster)
5. Baby Turns Blue (2022 Remaster)
6. Ballad of the Man (2022 Remaster)
7. Walls of Jericho (2022 Remaster)
8. Caucasian Walk (2022 Remaster)
9. Theme for Thought (2022 Remaster)
1. Baby Turns Blue (Colin Newman Remix 2004) (2022
Remaster)^
2. Chance of a Lifetime (UK 12″) (2022 Remaster)
3. Yeo (UK 12″) (2022 Remaster)
4. The Faculties of a Broken Heart (What Should We Do If
Baby Turns Blue) (UK 12″) (2022 Remaster)
5. King of Junk (Instrumental) (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
6. Ballad of the Man (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
7. Fado (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
8. Bau-Dachong (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
9. Theme For Thought (Rough Mix) (2022 Remaster)^
10. Pagan Lovesong (Demo) (2022 Remaster)^
11. Pagan Lovesong (2022 Remaster)
12. Dave-Id Is Dead (2022 Remaster)
13. Pagan Lovesong (Vibeakimbo) (2022 Remaster)
^ previously unreleased