NOTES

'Tender' features Audrey Riley (cello, backing vocals), Anne Stephenson (violin) and Jocelyn Pook (viola). The recording and mixing sessions for the track were held at Maison Rouge studio in Fulham, Jam in Tollington Park and Wessex Sound, Highbury New Park.

In a press interview for Jamming! at the time, Virginia refered to 'Tender' as being about "Someone hurting someone else but always thinking things are going to get better. It's about having an affair with someone who is really going out with somebody else, and thinking 'what's the point?'"

'Mindless Days' was produced by Virginia Astley at Elephant studios, in Wapping, with Nick Robbins engineering. Contributing to this recording session was London musician, Colin Healy, who played the xylophone on the track. Virginia met Colin while he was busking in London. "I came to the studio unprepared. My only regret is that I didn't play very well. With a bit more preparation I could have done much better."

Martin Stephenson plays guitar on 'A Long Time Ago'.

The version of 'Tender' featured on this release is an extended version.

TRIVIA

Producer Richard James Burgess came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and co-lead singer of synth-pop outfit Landscape, best-known for their 1981 single 'Einstein a Go-Go'. His first major production role was for Spandau Ballet's debut 1980 single 'To Cut a Long Story Short'.

The sleeve photo was shot at Shingle Street, Suffolk during the summer of 1985 by photographer Mark Bayley.

Shingle Street is probably best known for the 'rumoured' failed German invasion in 1940. The location was also the inspiration for Thomas Dolby's song 'Cloudburst at Shingle Street' from his album The Golden Age of Wireless.

The house (known as 'The Beacons') that can be seen on the sleeve photo was also the home of John Lennon in Danny Boyle's 2019 film Yesterday.