Virgin at 40

The National Theatre is 50 this year but Virgin is just 40. It's odd to think of something like Virgin having a birthday and celebrating it - these days it's just another multinational company raking in the money. Ah, but back in the day it meant something.

It started out as a hippy record company and it's the music that's being celebrated. Its first release was 'Tubular Bells' by Mike Oldfield (which I've never heard other than the bits in 'The Omen'). A few more hippy and prog rock releases later and after dipping its toes into reggae, Virgin signed the Sex Pistols and everything changed. It saw the light of punk (or possibly just the money making potential) and suddenly punk records were available all over the place. At around the same time it started to open record shops and I remember the small shop behind Newcastle City Hall that I seem to recall always smelled of patchouli (once a hippy ...).

To celebrate its birthday, Virgin has released a series of triple CDs:

Losing Our Virginity: The First Four Year 1973-1977 - featuring artists like Mike Oldfield, Robert Wyatt, Can, Steve Hillage, Kevin Coyne, Gong and Captain Beefheart.

Never Trust A Hippy: Punk & New Wave 1976-1979 - with the Sex Pistols, X-Ray Spex, Penetration, U-Roy, the Mighty Diamonds, Magazine, the Skids and the Members.

New Gold Dreams: Post Punk & New Romantic 1979-1983 - Public Image Ltd, the Human League, The Ruts, Japan, Simple Minds, Culture Club and Heaven 17.

Methods Of Dance: Electronica & Leftfield 1973-1987 - with Sparks, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Cabaret Voltaire, Public Image Ltd and China Crisis.

Fascinating Rhythms: Sound Systems & Dancefloor - Neneh Cherry, Soul II Soul, Jesus Loves You, Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers and Everything But The Girl.

There's also a sort of 'hits' compilation called 'Virgin Records: 40 Years of Disruptions' with Mike Oldfield, the Pistols, the Spice Girls, Meatloaf, Chemical Brothers and. bringing the collection right up to date, some of the recent hits from people like KT Tunstall and Bastille.

I like the CD sleeves that resemble a 7" single from back in the day with the logo of the time. I'm especially pleased to see two previously unavailable songs from Jane Aire & The Belvederes on the 'Never Trust A Hippy' record - her picture-disc single 'Call Me Every Night' and 'Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache', from Jane's only album. I will invest in 'Never Trust A Hippy' and 'New Gold Dreams' (obv) and, maybe sample some of the others.

The Unthanks - 'Songs From The Shipyards' at The Purcell Room

This evening I went to see those Unthanks lasses perform their new record, 'Songs From The Shipyards' live at the Purcell Room in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It's the soundtrack to a documentary made up of film clips over the years since 1910 about the shipyards on the River Tyne. The Unthanks - Rachel and Becky, Niopha, Chris and Adrian - sat underneath a big screen that showed the documentary and they sang and played along to it.

It's a collection of songs that describe the ups and downs of shipbuilding on the Tyne, of the men who built those ships that sailed the world and created trade routes that fed the country, defended our island  and went to war in the Falklands. The skyline of cranes, of ships being built beside the back to back terraced houses of Wallsend, the closure of Swan Hunter and Scotswood Road. I remember some of the scenes shown in the film, vague memories of skeletal cranes on the riverside and factories with walls black with coal dust and smoke. It's all so very different today.

I was particularly taken with the song 'Big Steamers' about those ships that roamed the oceans of the world bringing food back to our little island. It reminded me of my Dad who was in the merchant navy in his younger days, travelling round the coasts of Africa. He left the merchant navy to be an apprentice engineer and he then built the machines that built other things. None of my immediate family worked in the shipyards but they're part of the proud heritage of every Geordie.

There was also a touching version of 'Shipbuilding', the Robert Wyatt song made famous by Elvis Costello in the '80s. They sang it against footage from the Falklands war and groans at the sight of Maggie Thatcher. That sets the tone for the rest of the film and the record as the decline sets in and the shipyards close, with the refrain of 'You might steal our future but you'll not steal our glory'.

If you get the chance to see them on this current short tour then you should. And get the record. It's a melancholy feast and one I'll play for the memories. The Unthank sisters grew up on the banks of the Tyne in the same little village as me. I remember things that they won't because of the age difference, but it's lovely to hear them sing of things that mean something to me even though it's history to them. Thank you, lasses, it was lovely to see you again. It's a great record.