Following a lavish reissue of their breakthrough album Bridge of Spies, British rock group T'Pau will release The Virgin Anthology, a four-disc companion piece of sorts to that reissue which chronicles the band's hits and rarities.
Produced with the approval of frontwoman Carol Decker, the first disc The Virgin Anthology includes, for the first time in one set, all of the group's single A-sides, including "Heart and Soul," "China in Your Hand," "Valentine," "I Will Be with You" and "Whenever You Need Me"--as well as the U.S. single "Bridge of Spies" and the Canadian single version of "Only the Lonely." The next disc collects 12" mixes of "Bridge of Spies," "Only the Lonely," "Whenever You Need Me" and "Soul Destruction"; the remixes of three tracks on the superior Canadian version of the band's sophomore album Rage (1988) and six unreleased demos, including an early version of the band's biggest international hit, "Heart and Soul."
The set then closes out with expanded and remastered editions of the group's latter two Virgin albums, Rage and The Promise (1991), each appended with the non-LP tracks found on each album's respective singles. All in all, a treasure trove for the T'Pau faithful.
The Virgin Anthology will be available March 24.
T'Pau, The Virgin Anthology (Virgin EMI/UMC (U.K.), 2017)
Disc 1: The Singles
- Heart and Soul (Single Version)
- China in Your Hand (Single Version)
- Valentine
- Sex Talk (Live Single Version)
- I Will Be with You
- Bridge of Spies (U.S. Single Edit)
- Secret Garden
- Road to Our Dream (Single Edit)
- Only the Lonely (Guitar Remix)
- Whenever You Need Me (Single Version)
- Walk On Air
- Soul Destruction (Single Remix)
- Only a Heartbeat (Single Edit)
Original versions of Tracks 1-6 from Bridge of Spies (Siren, 1987)
- Track 1 from Siren single SRN-41, 1987
- Track 2 from Siren single SRN-64, 1987
- Track 3 from Siren single SRN-69, 1988
- Track 4 from Siren single SRN-80, 1988
- Track 5 from Siren single SRN-87, 1988
- Track 6 from Virgin single 7-99417 (U.S.), 1987
Original versions of Tracks 7-9 from Rage (Siren, 1988)
- Track 7 from Siren single SRN-93, 1988
- Track 8 from Siren single SRN-100, 1988
- Track 9 from Siren/Virgin single VS-1501 (Canada), 1989
Original versions of Tracks 10-13 from The Promise (Siren, 1991)
- Track 10 from Siren single SRN-140, 1991
- Track 11 from Siren single SRN-142, 1991
- Track 12 from Siren single SRN-145, 1992
- Track 13 from Charisma promo single PRCCD-041 (U.S.), 1991
Disc 2: Remixes, Rarities and Demos
- Bridge of Spies (AOR Mix)
- Arms of Love (Remix)
- Running Away (Remix)
- Island (Remix)
- Only the Lonely (Nightmare Mix)
- Whenever You Need Me (Extended Mix)
- Whenever You Need Me (Requiem Mix)
- Soul Destruction (Extended Remix)
- Soul Destruction (Heavy Bliss Remix)
- Heart and Soul (Demo) *
- I Will Be with You (Demo) *
- Soul Destruction (Demo) *
- Whenever You Need Me (Demo) *
- Only a Heartbeat (Demo) *
- The Promise (Demo) *
Track 1 from Siren/Virgin 12" single 609 946, 1987
Tracks 2-4 from Canadian pressing of Rage (Siren/Virgin CDV-3051, 1989)
Track 5 from Siren 12" single SRNT-107, 1989
Track 6 from Siren 12" single SRNT-140, 1991
Tracks 7-9 from Siren CD single SRNDG-145, 1991
Tracks 10-15 previously unreleased
Disc 3: Rage (Siren SRNLP-20, 1988) and B-sides
- Arms of Love
- Only the Lonely
- Running Away
- Between the Lines
- Road to Our Dream
- Island
- Heaven
- Taking Time Out
- Secret Garden
- Time Will Tell
- This Girl
- Time of Our Lives
- Call Me
- Road to Our Dream (Instrumental)
- Crying
- You Never Notice Me (Live @ Hammersmith Odeon, London - 3/30/1988)
- Downtown (Live @ Oxford)
Tracks 12-13 from "Road to Our Dream" 12" single - Siren SRNT-100, 1988
Track 14 from "Road to Our Dream" CD single - Siren SRNCD-100, 1988
Track 15 from "Secret Garden" 12" single - Siren SRNT-93, 1988
Track 16 from "Secret Garden" CD single - Siren SRNCD-93, 1988
Track 17 from "Only the Lonely" 12" single - Siren SRNT-107, 1989
Disc 4: The Promise (Siren SRNLP-32, 1991) and B-sides
- Soul Destruction
- Whenever You Need Me
- Walk On Air
- Made of Money
- Hold On to Love
- Strange Place
- One Direction
- Only a Heartbeat
- The Promise
- A Place in My Heart
- Man and Woman
- Purity
- All the Love
- Dirty Town
- Hold On to Love (Acoustic)
Track 13 from "Whenever You Need Me" single - Siren SRN-140, 1991
Tracks 14-15 from "Walk On Air" 12" single - Siren SRNT-142, 1991
M Wayne says
Whilst there are a few reasons to happily anticipate this, "Dirty Town" being one, this was the next-to-last best opportunity to include the post "Bridge of Spies" videos. It's fantastic to have the corresponding videos included on the super deluxe reissue of "Bridge" but Universal and Carol have not finished the job. This omission from "Virgin Anthology" at least puzzles, and at worst frustrates and disappoints. The logical conclusion to the T'Pau/Virgin story would now be a "Greatest Hits" CD/DVD.
BillyD says
For a band that only had one big hit in the US, and a few more in the UK, this is the most egregious case of flogging a dead horse.