To celebrate its new corporate partnership with Warner Bros., 4AD released this beautiful two-disc promotional package that, sadly, never earned traditional retail release. What's a shame is that
Lilliput offers a definitive overview of 4AD's output up to 1992, assembling 16 tracks from the label's salad days capturing its most influential and enduring acts at the peak of their respective powers. Landmark songs like
Modern English's "I Melt with You,"
Cocteau Twins' "The Spangle Maker,"
This Mortal Coil's "Song to the Siren,"
M/A/R/R/S's "Pump Up the Volume" and the
Pixies' "Monkey Gone to Heaven" were enormously critical in shaping the sound and spirit of their times, and even if only a handful of 4AD's releases were commercial hits in the traditional sense, no label was home to more of the great acts of '80s U.K. indie music. A 13-track compilation of next-generation signings like
Pale Saints,
Swallow, and
Spirea X rounds out the set.