4AD box

25 years of 4AD boxed up

The immortal 4AD label celebrates its 25th anniversary in spectacular style with the essential budget priced 2CD compilation "1980 Forward - 25 Years Of 4AD" exploring the highways and byways of the label's legendary history.

While 4AD will remain forever associated with the ambient swirls and fairy-tale vocals of the Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil, in its first decade it also introduced the world to Bulgarian choral music, worked at the cutting edge of American underground rock music with Throwing Muses, The Pixies and Red House Painters, and even tasted unlikely pop success when Colourbox and A R Kane collaborated (as M/A/R/R/S) on the groundbreaking house collage "Pump Up The Volume", a UK number one single.

Later, after The Breeders had taken the world by storm with "Cannonball" and "The Last Splash", the label could be found releasing rootsy Americana by Tarnation and Mojave 3 and exploring quirky electronica from Iceland's Gus Gus and Birmingham's Magnétophone, as well as enjoying fruitful long-term relationships with artists like Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry Dead Can Dance), Kim Deal, Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, all of whom continue to record for 4AD.