New Form of Beauty [Original recording remastered]

Virgin Prunes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 5, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Mute U.S.
• ASIN: B0002YCUTS
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,875 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Beautiful People, October 8, 2004

By 

Todd Wallop "Todd Wallop" (Sherman Oaks, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Form of Beauty (Audio CD)

Although I must admit to being a bigger fan of their first album, many fans -most perhaps-consider this to be the Virgin Prunes definitive statement and maybe it is. For its singularly dark vision and evil as hell sonic onslaught, I give this one five stars. If "Come to Daddy" isn't the most evil sounding racket in history, I don't know what is. Sound quality is superb and on a good stereo you can really hear how dense and tripped out -almost "dubby" at times-the production is. It's a pity the original artwork for this was lost. The original album was an amazing looking object.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbingly disturbing, November 23, 2004

By 

Alastair McLean "Alvis" (Wellington, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: New Form of Beauty (Audio CD)

I've waited a long time for the Virgin Prines to appear on a legitimate CD re-release - so long in fact that I paid big money for the original vinyl in the interim. The original version of this came out in 4 different parts, most of which were broken up by owners who sold the less interesting parts and kept the rest. I have never seen a copy of the original Din Glorious cassette (which was the only bit I've never heard before), so it's great to get everything in one place.

So what does the New Form of Beauty contain after all this? It contains some of the most challenging music to ever be released basically. Throbbing Gristle were toughter, other industrial noise makers noisier, but the Prunes had something better - they were ethereal and ghostly, brutal and obsessive, and spacey and vulnerable, all within the bounds of a stripped down minimalist studio set up. What they did with silence was more powerful than people like Laibach did with jackhammer slabs of noise. The effect lasts longer and it makes the hairs rise on the back of your neck at times. It's almost spiritual in it's beauty, while being simaltaneously unsettling and creepy.

Disc one here has the goods. "The Beast" is the most evil piece of music ever. End of story. No heavy metal excess can even come close. "The Slow Children" and "Sad World" are gentle pieces that act as the flip side. "Come to Daddy" is depraved and violent. The others are somewhere in between. It's worth getting for this disc alone.

Disc two features the Din Glorious cassette of the original release. It's a patchy mosaic of dated sounding sound effects and cut up samples of sound. Interesting, but not as worthy of attention as the other stuff.

Later Prunes releases had their moments, but this is their apex. If you want to visit the farthest left field of music you need to go with these guys. You won't be dissappointed.