Throwing Muses visited the UK for the first time at the end of 1986, playing a handful of live shows. They also found time to go back into the studio with Gil Norton and record the EP Chains Changed (BAD 701), which was issued in early 1987. ("Fish", the band's contribution to Lonely Is An Eyesore was also recorded during these sessions). Later in the year, they released a mini-LP - The Fat Skier (MAD 706) - which featured six new compositions together with a lengthy re-working of "Soul Soldier", a song from the first album.
The Wolfgang Press had returned to the studio following the release of Standing Up Straight and emerged with a new EP, Big Sex (BAD 702). Although the group's music was continuing to evolve (this EP showed a pronounced Talking Heads influence) they were still struggling to find an audience.
Lonely Is An Eyesore (CAD 703) was an all-encompassing 4AD showcase that had been in the works for a year and a half by the time it was issued in mid-87. Ivo had invited each of the artists on the label to contribute a new song (Dead Can Dance also contributed a second track, a remix of an ancient demo) for which Nigel Grierson would then direct a video (the Throwing Muses and Xymox clips wound up being shot by outside hands). The result was a gorgeously packaged snapshot of 4AD's roster of the period, featuring a number of classic tracks from the bands involved. The most extravagant package of all was a limited edition (of 100) art object : a Vaughan Oliver-designed wooden box that held a deluxe gatefold LP, a cassette, a CD, a home video and two specially-commissioned etchings. The Victoria & Albert Museum acquired one for their permanent collection.
A.R. Kane, a duo of Alex Ayuli and Rudi Tambala, had released an EP on the One Little Indian label before their brief spell with 4AD. They were among the first bands of the era to explore the intersection between harsh noise and dreamlike beauty; their EP Lollita (BAD 704) was produced by Robin Guthrie.
While the EP was being finished, Alex and Rudi mentioned to Ivo that they were interested in working with producer Adrian Sherwood. Ivo's suggestion that they work with Colourbox instead resulted in the biggest single in 4AD's history. The sessions with Colourbox were hardly a full-fledged collaboration. Of the two pieces that were completed, one, "Antina," was an A.R. Kane track with drum programming by Colourbox's Steve Young. The other, "Pump Up The Volume," was a propulsive Martyn Young track constructed largely of samples, including one of A.R. Kane's guitars. Released under the alias M/A/R/R/S - an acronym for the participants : Martyn, Alex, Rudi, Russell (an associate A.R. Kane member who doesn't actually appear on either side of the record) and Steve - "Pump Up The Volume" (BAD 707) became an underground club sensation before exploding into the charts, hitting No. 1 in spite of legal action by producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman (Martyn Young had sampled a bit of their hit "Roadblock"). The single became a global hit, while its cut-and-paste sample collage technique proved enormously influential in dance and hip-hop circles.
Dead Can Dance's third album, Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun (CAD 705), was their finest offering to date. Split into two distinct halves, with Brendan Perry's increasingly Scott Walker-influenced vocals on Side One, and Lisa Gerrard's regal glossolalia streaming across Side Two, its ambitious grandeur was a harbinger of things to come. More than either of its predecessors, it was this album that sowed the seeds of Dead Can Dance's worldwide following (a good thing, as no one in the UK seemed to take much interest).
Ivo had admired a demo tape sent to him by Brighton's Frazier Chorus and sent the group into the recording studio with Gil Norton. Although "Sloppy Heart" (BAD 708) was a delightful piece of flute-driven pastoral pop, it was their only 4AD release. The group signed to Virgin shortly afterwards.