Biography
The ensemble that would later be called the Virgin Sleep originated in 1966 under the name the Themselves, founded by Alan Barnes, Keith Purnell, Rick Quilty, and Tony Rees. Once the name had been altered, the quartet obtained a contract with Deram, an imprint of English Decca, in 1967 and made its first appearance on disc that year via the single “Love,” a punkish specimen of psychedelic rock marked by pronounced Eastern inflections, among them a sitar audible in the background. Their next Deram release, the 1968 single “Secret,” centered on the textures of a Mellotron supported by a small string orchestra. Activity ceased after 1968, yet four extant Deram tracks have subsequently surfaced on assorted anthologies devoted to 1960s music, among them The Psychedelic Scene.