4AD's major event as a label in 1993 was a five-night festival at London's ICA. The 13 Year Itch featured live performances from the bulk of the label's artists, including the first-ever solo performance by Dead Can Dance's Brendan Perry. In addition, a limited edition CD, sold only at the shows, featured 13 exclusive tracks from the participants - good luck finding a copy.
Belly's first album Star (CAD 3002) proved a major hit in the United States (although it was released by Sire, not 4AD) when the single "Feed The Tree" (BAD 3001) became a major MTV and radio hit.
Ultra Vivid Scene's final release was the Blood And Thunder EP (CAD 3003), featuring a remix of the title song (drastically shortened from its ten-and-a-half minute running time on the Rev album) and three other tracks, including a superb reading of John Cale's obscure "Winter Song".
Charles Thompson, who'd fronted the Pixies under the nom du rock Black Francis, inverted his alias and launched his solo career as Frank Black. His self-titled debut (CAD 3004), produced with Eric Drew Feldman (Pere Ubu, Captain Beefheart), successfully traded the chaotic blast of the Pixies for a far more structured, Bowie-esque pop sensibility. Frank's cover of Brian Wilson's "Hang On To Your Ego" (CAD 3005) was the album's single.
This Mortal Coil's legacy was collected in a four-CD boxed set, 1983-1991 (45135), a US-only limited edition containing the three original TMC albums, plus a fourth disc featuring 21 original versions of songs that TMC had covered.
Mouth By Mouth (CAD 3006), the third His Name Is Alive album, was actually composed of pieces of two separate albums that Warren Defever had recorded : one was a His Name Is Alive set, the other was a collection of songs by The Dirt Eaters, one of Warren's near-infinite array of other projects. Splicing the best bits together into a single unit resulted in a richly diverse - and decidedly more song-oriented - collection.
Ivo had reissued Imperial f.f.r.r. by Washington DC's pop chameleons Unrest on Guernica the previous year. They made their 4AD debut with the Isabel Bishop EP (BAD 3007), a collection of singles and excerpts from work in progress. The full-length album that followed - Perfect Teeth (CAD 3012) - was a fascinating catalog of the band's musical obsessions : early 80's British indie rock and 60's easy listening records. The sunny pop single "Cath Carroll" - an ode to the ex-NME journalist, frontwoman of C86-ers Miaow and Perfect Teeth cover star - was also issued in expanded form on an EP (BAD 3015) which paired it with the relentless droning brilliance of the 33-minute-long "Hydro".