Orange Juice - Ostrich Churchyard

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Orange Juice - The Heather's On Fire

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Orange Juice - The Orange Juice

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Love and Rockets - Love and Rockets

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Love and Rockets - Sweet F.A.

Love and Rockets have always had a penchant for the sins of the flesh. And while their lyrics sometimes border on the cartoonish with their over-the-top fantasies, the songs themselves are irresistibly catchy. The English trio's sixth album, Sweet F.A., is a return to the Love and Rockets sound found on the late-'80s efforts Express and Earth Sun Moon, with many of Sweet F.A.'s songs combining eerie, hazy drug moments with squalls of sexy guitar and thumping dance beats.

On "Sweet Lover Hangover," guitarist Daniel Ash wraps a slippery riff around his sultry cooings, while "Use Me" grinds away over Ash's gleeful cave-in to a partner in a lurid domination fantasy. Just a horny young boy's wet dreams? Sure, but instead of simply being locker-room material, Sweet F.A. is a slinky ride through trashy living, making for a refreshing escape from lily-white conservatism.

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Love and Rockets - Earth, Sun, Moon

Love and Rockets' Earth, Sun, Moon reins in the rampant excesses of Express while remaining psychedelic; the near white-out of the cover gives a clue to the music, as many of the songs emerge from a soup of white-noise guitar distortion. Much of the record addresses, in its nebulous fashion, hope and disappointment; the title track and "Youth" are two of their most simple, yet most affecting songs. Not a "normal" pop record by any means, it's more straight-ahead than their previous work and includes the upbeat single "No New Tale to Tell," a college radio hit that set the stage for the band's popular breakthrough a year later.


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Simple Minds - The Best of Simple Minds

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Simple Minds, the Scottish group led by Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, has had a very different career in the U.S. from the one it's enjoyed in its native U.K., and that leads to different estimations of this compilation. As far as Britain is concerned, it is a much-needed, comprehensive collection of the band's hit singles, no less than 26 of which placed in the charts between 1979 and 1998, including eight that hit the Top Ten. But Simple Minds' stateside success was much more modest. The group is recalled as a phenomenon of the synth pop style of the mid-'80s, when it went to number one with "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from the movie The Breakfast Club, then broke three Top 40 hits from its gold-selling 1985 album Once Upon a Time. Subsequent efforts were not nearly as popular, and by 1998 its most recent album, Néapolis, wasn't even given an American release. On U.S. terms, therefore, the two CDs and nearly two and a half hours of The Best of Simple Minds are much more than fans really need. If they give it a chance, however, they will hear a band that had much more to offer than its American chart-topper. The album is not in strict chronological order, but the first disc covers material from 1979 to 1986, much of it heavily produced music in which every possible hole is filled by keyboard sounds, big drums, and Kerr's echoey vocals declaiming portentously. The second disc, covering the years 1989 to 1998, leaves more space in the arrangements to make room for even more serious lyrical sentiments. Virgin probably counted on the '80s revival during the early '00s to justify this American release, and U.S. fans who know only Simple Minds' few stateside hits will find much else to admire here.

The Danse Society - Seduction: The Society Collection [2001]

Seduction: The Society Collection (not to be confused with its 1982 Seduction release) concentrates on its early-'80s recordings for the Society label. These, keyboardist Lyndon Scarfe intimates his liner notes, were their best and most indie-oriented. It's not as rich in texture and other qualities as the most renowned goth of the era, and not as tuneless as the worst of it; it's somewhere in between. The group could have used more melody and diversity to more effectively convey its messages of angst and scarred modern landscapes -- an observation, true, that could apply to many acts working this territory. Some imaginative synthesizer lines and a few just-about-danceable beats are of some worth. But it's too droning and unvariegated to make a significant mark, and hard to distinguish from much other post-punk murk since the early '80s that has leaned on similar attributes.


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Southern Death Cult - Southern Death Cult

Formed in Bradford, England, in 1981 by Ian Astbury, Southern Death Cult was the first incarnation of the group that would achieve international fame as the Cult by the late '80s. This posthumous album compiles tracks from Southern Death Cult's only release (the 1982 Fatman/Moya EP) alongside radio-session and live versions of numbers that would probably have featured on the group's never-recorded first album. (Astbury broke up the band in 1983 and promptly formed another group under the abbreviated name Death Cult -- eventually just the Cult -- with new members including Theatre of Hate guitarist Billy Duffy.) Given that the Southern Death Cult hadn't planned to release these particular versions of its material (some of which are marred by inferior sound quality), this album is best approached as an officially sanctioned bootleg. All the signature elements of the Cult's eventual sonic formula can be heard, albeit in embryonic form and on rougher, less memorable songs: piercing, jangling guitars; driving, tribal rhythms; and Astbury's distinctive, dramatic vocal style. Southern Death Cult's finest achievements were undoubtedly the charging, anti-capitalist tirade "Fatman" and the ominous, anthemic "Moya," on which Astbury denounces U.S. culture and expresses solidarity with Native Americans. That lyrical focus on Native American themes, also evident on less compelling songs like "Apache," would prove to be a recurring concern of Astbury's subsequent work. Despite those highlights, however, the value of this release resides mostly in its documentary function; consequently, it's of primary interest to Cult fans only. The album provides an interesting sampling of the band's sound in its formative stages and, moreover, captures the raw and hungry post-punk energy of Ian Astbury's first musical venture -- in marked contrast with what the Cult would become by the time of 1991's overblown and self-indulgent Ceremony.

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Switchblade Symphony - Bread and Jam for Frances

Bread and Jam for Frances took the darkwave pretensions of Switchblade Symphony's previous material and pushed it through an even more stylized electronic filter. Bristol beats were positioned next to hip-hop scratches and regular guitar riffs and the band would experiment around the goth scene's regimented bleakness to surprising effect. Tina Root's vocals were as unreliable as ever -- sometimes disturbing, sometimes pantomime -- but the new flamboyantly trip-hop approach to songs like "Soldiers" and "Harpsichord" and the large majority of the rest of the album suited the band well.


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Rosetta Stone - Adrenaline [1992]

Goth rock outfit Rosetta Stone started in 1988 when vocalist/guitarist Porl King and bassist Karl North yearned to escape the traditional Brit-pop scene happening in their native Liverpool. A year later, the duo met the Mission's Wayne Hussey, who offered to produce Rosetta Stone's first album. Shortly thereafter, Hussey pulled out of production duties and 1990's self-titled album was released without him. Several singles were put out through the '90s, and Rosetta Stone issued their first full-length, Adrenaline, in 1993. Foundation Stones and the Epitome EP also followed that same year. It was during this time that Rosetta Stone lead the naturally overlooked goth rock/darkwave movement into other musical outlets. Bands such as Nine Inch Nails and the Cult were getting brief national exposure. Drawing from musical influences such as Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, and the Cure, Rosetta Stone was delving into their own sonic seascape of brooding vocals and synth-inspired sounds. The band returned with Tyranny of Inaction in 1995 and Hiding in Waiting in 1996 while establishing themselves as one of Cleopatra's household names. Their fifth album, Chemical, was released in 1998 and the band continued to carry the gothic torch into the mainstream rock & roll circuit. Two years later, Rosetta Stone issued their biggest release, Unerotica.


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Rosetta Stone - The Tyranny of Inaction [1995]

Track Title
1	Nothing	4:45
2	Friends and Executions	4:43
3	Side Effect	5:58
4	The Goods Gone	4:33
5	Interference	5:10
6	One Angel Short Of Heaven	4:25
7	Never	4:41
8	Right As Rain	4:46
9	Spoiler	4:49

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All About Eve - All Aboutt Eve [1988]

This London quartet features the rather lovely (and often multi-tracked) voice of Coventry-born Julianne Regan (an early bassist in Gene Loves Jezebel) and utilizes, of all people, former Yardbird bassist Paul Samwell-Smith in the producer's chair. With dreamy-looking cover art and songs about children, angels and clouds, one might expect lots of wispy, ethereal music, but 1988's All About Eve mostly offers up mainstream, big-guitar rockers. Even the quieter moments, such as "Like Emily" and "Shelter from the Rain" (with Wayne Hussey of the Mission adding vocals), sound like arena fare by some U2 support act. (The CD adds three.)

Samwell-Smith gives Scarlet and Other Stories a much lighter, more acoustic sound. This setting is better suited to Regan's voice, but the LP drags along laboriously; the softer spots come dangerously close to resembling Renaissance. In comparison to this, the debut's variety is a real asset.

Guitarist Tim Bricheno left in '90 and resurfaced later that year in the Sisters of Mercy.

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And Also the Trees - A Retrospective 1983-1986

And Also The Trees started in the dawn of the 1980s in Inkberrow, a small village in Worcestershire, far in the countryside. The band was inspired by the ideology of the burgeoning post-punk movement, but took its rural roots to heart.

A home demo tape was sent to The Cure which led to a friendship between the two bands. In 1981 And Also The Trees played several shows in support of The Cure's UK tour. Their second demo tape From Under the Hill (1982) was partly co-produced with Robert Smith and Mike Hedges.

Their first two single releases ("Shantell" and "The Secret Sea") and their debut album, simply called And Also The Trees, were produced by The Cure's Laurence Tolhurst and released in 1983. The debut album reflected the tentative post-punk influences.^{[citation needed]} They got the attention of John Peel and were invited to do a session on April 7, 1984 produced by Dale Griffin for broadcast on April 24.

After a second tour with The Cure in 1984, they severed their musical relationship and developed their own sound. The EP A Room Lives In Lucy (1985) introduced the mandolin-like guitar sound which became their trademark for the next few years. Justin Jones in 1985 on the first releases: "I think our musical progression is similar to that of Joy Division's. If you listen to 'Warsaw' and then 'Joy Division', their awareness of atmosphere increases. Creating an ambience is very important."

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Alien Sex Fiend - The Very Best of Alien Sex Fiend

Is this the best of Alien Sex Fiend? Unless you've been frying the fat with the band all along, you'll have a hard time even figuring out (or remembering) where and when the cuts were first released. All came out from 1983-1997, but otherwise there's no documentation, the liner notes consisting of a huge jumble of black-and-white scraps of Alien Sex Fiend chart listings, print reviews, and advertisements. From those chart reprints, at least, even a dunce can figure out -- with enough patience -- that many of the 15 songs made the charts, even if these were usually, or maybe always, British indie or specialized charts. Among those songs are the singles "Ignore the Machine," "Lips Can't Go," "Dead and Buried," "E.S.T. (Trip to the Moon)," "The Impossible Mission," and "I'm Doing Time in a Maximum Security Twilight Home," the last of these, surely the wittiest title from a band not known for being good-time Charlies. It's a sufficient overview of music that helped to define the goth rock genre, even if their on-the-edge outrage -- "I walk the line between good and evil" (from "I Walk the Line") being a typical proclamation -- was more bark than bite.

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Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits - Smashing Pumpkins

Some bands release Greatest Hits packages and some releases collections of B-sides and rarities. This release does both in one-handy-suits-all double CD.

The Greatest Hits disc, named Rotten Apples, features a decades worth of work from their first album Gish to their last, Machina / the machines of God. All your favourite songs are here including "Cherub Rock" and "Today", the hits that took the cool alternative band into stadium rock territory. These tracks still make the hairs on the back of the neck stand on end with Billy Corgan's strained vocals presiding over raging guitars and relentless drum beats.

The band built their success on angst fuelled lyrics, getting wild and loud whilst remaining controlled and tuneful and therefore accessible to the masses. The heavy tracks are there ("Zero" & "Stand Inside Your Love") but they are placed next to the quieter, dreamy pop songs ("Tonight, Tonight" & "Try, Try, Try"). The highs and lows of their music are inevitably compared to their off the field activities.

Siamese Dream catapulted them to stardom but then the band almost collapsed when drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and Jonathan Melvoin, the group's touring keyboardist, overdosed on heroin. Melvoin died and although Chamberlin survived, he was temporarily fired from the band. The remaining members managed to re-group, with the near perfect "Perfect" being the high point of the Adore album. Then suddenly Corgan announced that it was all over and their 2000 tour would be their last, ensuring that they finished on a high rather pursuing a career treading water.

The Judas O B-sides and rarities collection will satisfy Pumpkin obsessives with its outtakes from the Adore and Machina sessions, but it simply cannot compete with its sister CD. "Here's to the Atom Bomb", "Waiting" and "Rock On", (yes, a cover of the David Essex classic - which also features lyrics from Van Halen songs) stand out from the others, which at worst slip into incoherent rock ramblings.


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The Creatures - U.S. Retrace

U.S. Retrace is quite a self-explanatory release from the Creatures, as Siouxsie and Budgie have repackaged the Eraser Cut EP and some otherwise hard-to-find remixes for the American market. So what you have here is some fine industrial goth music with an emphasis on percussion that will make any fan of the genre happy.



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The Creatures - Hybrids

Remix albums often can be cynical exercises, lacking even tacit approval from the original bands in question while hired hands spin out boring extended versions for little more than the money. Happily, Hybrids takes a much different approach. As Doug H. of Hydrogen Dukebox, the coordinator of the project, puts it in the liner notes, screening who wanted to participate was simplicity itself: "If they couldn't sing 'Mad-Eyed Screamer' down the phone, I hung up." Assured of actual fan participation and a willingness to really get creative work, the Creatures gave Doug H. the go-ahead and this is the truly entertaining result. Tracks all come from the Creatures' late-'90s work on Anima Animus and Eraser Cut, and while some tracks seem to use only Sioux's vocals instead of Budgie's drums, the end results generally make a fine adjunct to the original recordings. Among the more well-known figures, one of the more interesting results comes from the Black Dog collective. Apparently not so much dead as merely resting, they tweak "Guillotine" into an entertainingly chaotic collage of glitch techno, dub, and woozy psychedelia. Howie B kicks off the album as a whole with an appropriately dramatic, slinky revamp of "Prettiest Thing," while the Witchman serves up both a "radio-friendly" and a drum'n'bass "4x4" version of "Say." Obscurer folks working on Hybrids have their own moments of glory as well. Chamber's take on "Slipping Away" keeps both Sioux and Budgie to the fore while converting the music to a relentless, bass-heavy roil; elsewhere, Superchumbo's wholly separate remix of "Prettiest Thing" becomes quick and upbeat while not lacking the implicit drama Sioux herself always brings. In general, the combination of avant techno approaches and the Creatures' own path provides fine results, worth at least a listen from Creatures fans and rave denizens both.


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Xmal Deutschland - Devils

TRACKS
01. I'll Be Near You
02. Searchlights
03. You Broke My Heart
04. Sleepwalker
05. When Devils Come
06. Heavens and Seas
07. Dream House
08. I Push It Harder
09. I Should Have Known
10. All in My Hands
11. Drowned You
12. Dreamhouse Theme

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Xmal Deutschland - Tocsin

TRACKS
01. Mondlight
02. Eiland
03. Reigen
04. Tag Fur Tag
05. Augen-Blick
06. Begrab Mein Herz
07. Nachtschatten
08. Xmas in Australia
09. Derwisch
10. Incubus Succubus II
11. Vito

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Siouxsie and the Banshees - Join Hands

In 1978 Siouxsie and the Banshees released their debut Album "The Scream" to the unsuspecting World. This blast of Punk inspired Rock classics was both commercially and critically a huge success. Today, "The Scream" is considered by many to be amongst the greatest Albums of all time. Such a strong debut Album would always be difficult to follow. It is even harder to follow when the Band members are in turmoil with one another, quibbling over which musical direction they should take. The results of these frictions are sadly clearly evident in the Band's second Album "Join Hands" which was released in 1979.
"Join Hands" is widely considered to be Siouxsie and the Banshees worst Album. However, before you dismiss it you must bear in mind that this comparison is on the on the back of such a strong debut and it is also a retrospective comment based on what the Band were later to go on and achieve. "Join Hands" despite its many criticisms also happens to contain the finest Single that Siouxsie and the Banshees ever released.
In comparison to the debut Album "Join Hands" is a much darker Album. Musically the sound is similar to the their first Album but one of its main faults lies its production. The production here is by Nils Stevenson & Mike Stavrou and at times Siouxsie's voice sounds dull and flat, during other moments it has more or less been drowned out. Nearly thirty years on Siouxsie and the Banshees are known more as a Goth Band than a Punk Band, and this is probably their most Goth inspired Album to date. There are songs about death, cremation and burials amongst other subjects.
This Album was re-issued in a deluxe remastered version in 2006 along with several of their other early Albums.

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Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju

One of the band's masterworks, Juju sees Siouxsie and the Banshees operating in a squalid wall of sound dominated by tribal drums, swirling and piercing guitars, and Siouxsie Sioux's fractured art-attack vocals. If not for John McGeoch's marvelous high-pitched guitars, here as reminiscent of Joy Division as his own work in Magazine, the album would rank as the band's most gothic release. Siouxsie and company took things to an entirely new level of darkness on Juju, with the singer taking delight in sinister wordplay on the disturbing "Head Cut," creeping out listeners in the somewhat tongue-in-cheek "Halloween," and inspiring her bandmates to push their rhythmic witches brew to poisonous levels of toxicity. Album opener "Spellbound," one of the band's classics, ranks among their finest moments and bristles with storming energy. Siouxsie's mysterious voice emerges from dense guitar picking, Budgie lays into his drums as if calling soldiers to war, and things get more tense from there. "Into the Light" is perhaps the only track where a listener gets a breath of oxygen, as the remainder of the album screams claustrophobia, whether by creepy carnival waterfalls of guitar notes or Siouxsie's unsettling lyrics. "Arabian Nights" at least offers a gorgeously melodic chorus, but after that the band performs a symphony of bizarre wailings and freaky imagery. As ominous as the cacophony is on its own, close attention to Siouxsie's nearly subliminal chants paints a scarier picture. A passage such as "I saw you...a huge smiling central face with eyes and lips cut out but smiling and eating lots of other lips" doesn't exactly brighten one's day. Siouxsie is full of such quips throughout the album's running time, but her delivery packs as much punk as her message. Her attack-the-world dynamic range on "Voodoo Dolly" predates and out-weirds Björk's similar styling years later. McGeoch, Budgie, and bassist Steven Severin deserve just as much credit for crafting an original sound that would inspire a diverse group of future bands from Ministry to Placebo. All the while, producer Nigel Gray maintains the sense that the album is an immediate, edgy performance unfolding right in front of the listener. The upfront intensity of Juju probably isn't matched anywhere else in the catalog of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Thanks to its killer singles, unrelenting force, and invigorating dynamics, Juju is a post-punk classic

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Clan of Xymox - Weak In My Knees

Tracklisting:

1		Weak In My Knees (5:09)
2		Weak In My Knees (Azoic Remix) (6:32)
		Remix - Azoic, The
3		Calling You Out (5:21)
4		Michelle (Deep In Pain Remix By Destroid) (3:46)
		Remix - Destroid
5		Weak In My Knees (Dimitri NI Remix) (5:19)
		Remix - Dimitri NI
6		Michelle (Re-Recorded Version) (2:54)
7		Weak In My Knees (Grendel Remix) (6:46)

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Bjork - Medulla

“You show me continents, I see the islands”

Seemingly lost in the grey area of sound, Bjork continues to keep her message and intentions crowned with secrets and riddles. She reappears in 2004, gracing us with her fifth studio album Medulla. Probably her most challenging collection of work, Medulla follows in the tracks of 2001’s introspective Vespertine, pushing the envelope and forgoing any guarantee of accessibility.

“Where is the line with you?”

Where as Vespertine was an IDM laptop affair, on Medulla, the Icelandic diva conveys her vision with only the human voice, only deviating from this theme with a few synth beats and sampled bleeps scattered throughout the album. The result: this is one of those albums most will find hard to grasp and appreciate until after several listens. “Desired Constellation” captures this ambivalent portrait of sound, with compelling lyrics: “It's slippery when / Your sense of justice / Murmurs underneath / And is asking you/ How am I going to make it right?”

“Carry my joy on the left, Carry my pain on the right”

Mike Patton and the Icelandic Choir join Bjork in her dark and distraught piece “Where Is the Line." Layers and layers of opposing voices fill this supernatural track, some barbaric and some angelic. Bjork exudes, “My purse wide open / you ask again / I see you trying to / Cash into accounts / everywhere.”

Compare this to the album’s most accessible (and percussively bizarre) track “Triumph of the Heart." A circus of sounds in celebration of life, fueled with a beatbox rhythm underneath. Her lyrics here probably characterize her artistic intentions best, “Smooth soft red velvety lungs / Are pushing a network of oxygen joyfully / Through a nose, through a mouth / But all enjoys, which brings us to / The triumph of a heart that gives all.”

"Show me forgiveness, for having lost faith in myself"

In the end Medulla is an experience of lyrical bite and vocal combat. Her symbolism explodes with textures none of her other albums have ever exposed or fully explored. Like her unexpected (and to some, uninvited) predecessor Vespertine, Bjork’s Medulla should produce every type of reaction, even amongst her biggest and most dedicated fans.

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Peter Murphy, a trippy lyricist with a whiskey bracer of a baritone and a flair for the exotic, writes songs that often fall a few details shy of literal sense. His gift is impressionistic. Sometimes – both with Bauhaus and in his early days as a solo artist – the impression he leaves is precious and fey. But when he's working at the height of his powers – as he has been for the most part since Love Hysteria, from 1988 – he evokes the mystical.

Holy Smoke, Murphy's fourth solo album, is a shadowy tour through the singer's winding tunnel of love. An intriguing blend of biting guitar rock and tuneful minimalist pop, Holy Smoke shifts its sonic gears with aplomb in an attempt to keep pace with Murphy's visions.

Beginning with the prayerful "Keep Me From Harm," Holy Smoke links love and redemption. Half meditation, half pop song, the track finds the singer pleading with a former lover for human closeness ("Love me hold me") and Messianic protection ("Keep me from harm"). The song's galloping coda seems less a routine pop contrivance than an assertion that through his plea, the singer has achieved an epiphany.

"You're So Close" is a catchy rock raveup that finds Murphy pining away in lust, and "Low Room" is an angry exploration of love's inequities. But it's the concept of love as a spiritual tonic that lends Holy Smoke its substance. "Our Secret Garden," in which the singer apparently achieves the perfect union, is a charming concoction of shuffling British pop and suggestive imagery: "Don't bother to close your heart," Murphy intones, "Let's drink honey in the park/Swap hats and go for free/To our secret garden." "Let Me Love You" offers a beautiful, floating chorus to imply, once again, that love is a hot line to heaven.

Truth be told, Murphy does still occasionally slip into preciousness: "The Sweetest Drop" drowns in rock-opera excess; "Kill the Hate" is incoherent posturing. But those slips are too infrequent to be damning. And the rest of Holy Smoke is strangely affecting progressive rock that works on the soul as well as the cerebellum.

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Peter Murphy - Deep

Perhaps the stars were right, or perhaps his American company, flush from the unexpected success of Murphy's former bandmates in Love and Rockets, just decided to give Murphy a well-deserved publicity push. Whatever it was, with Deep Murphy scored an honest to goodness American radio/MTV hit thanks to the tender, lively "Cuts You Up," a love song with solid energy and an inspired vocal. It was a perfect calling card for the album as a whole, with Murphy in excelsis throughout and his Hundred Men providing everything from the lush, acoustic guitar wash of "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem" to the stripped-down Arabic-tinged funk/hip-hop punch of the commanding "Roll Call." Through it all, Murphy simply sounds like he's having the time of his life, singing both for the sheer joy of it and for the dramatic power of his commanding voice. He's even comfortable enough to do an open rewrite of Bauhaus' "In the Flat Field," renamed "The Line Between the Devil's Teeth"; it has almost the same verse structure, definitely some of the same lyrics, but still, it's something he could have only done in his solo days. Quite why nothing else on the album connected with the public as strongly as "Cuts You Up" is a mystery; its follow-up single, "A Strange Kind of Love," was a striking love song, with acoustic guitar and plaintive Statham keyboards supporting one of Murphy's strongest lyrics and performances. Regardless, Deep showed Murphy balancing mass appeal and his own distinct art with perfection.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1428" -->>

Peter Murphy - Should The World Fail To Fall Apart

Peter Murphy's (Bauhaus) first solo album available domestically for the first time. 10 tracks featuring Final Solution, Canvas Beauty, God Sends, and others



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Clan of Xymox - Farewell

There was a time, back in the mid-'80s, when the name Clan of Xymox was spoken in the same breath as those of Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance, bands that epitomized a sort of ethereal pre-goth genre that was simultaneously soothing and challenging, and that inspired thousands (but not millions) of British and American teenagers to wear black lipstick and hide their eyes behind large and unsettling hairdos. Clan of Xymox never achieved the commercial success of Cocteau Twins or the critical success of Dead Can Dance, but unlike both of those bands, they're still making records. Their fourth album for the Metropolis label, Farewell, finds them continuing in a musical vein that the press materials describe, quite aptly, as dark goth electro. Song titles like "Cold Damp Day," "Dark Mood," "There's No Tomorrow," and "It's Not Enough" will probably give you a good idea of what to expect: deep voices, minor chords, thumping beats that refer to industrial music without embracing it. This is mood music for when you're in a bad mood, and it's not at all unattractive. Note particularly the relatively upbeat "Courageous" and nicely tuneful (if weakly sung) "Losing My Head." Recommended.

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Bauhaus - Heroes EP

May 18th of 2007 saw the release of "Heroes E.P.". Ronny takes one of the classics in music history and gives it back to the fans, new and improved. The industrial version of the song is slow, almost melancholic - in other words, typical CLAN OF XYMOX - while the pop version of the original song is more of an homage to his time without the Clan. The first time Ronny performed the song was as a guest singer for PINK TURNS BLUE at Wave Gotik Treffen 2006.
“On A Mission” is a brand new track, done in the best tradition of club hits such as “There’s No Tomorrow” or “Weak In My Knees”. This isn’t the first time we’ve said it, and it won’t be the last, but no other artist outside of Ronny can get modern Electro sounds out of a guitar for the Dancefloor scene and remain trend free. This is the reason for his longevity and his loyal fanbase.
With “Be My Friend”, one of the most successful songs from the “Breaking Point” album was added in a new mix.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1519" -->>

Bauhaus - Burning from the Inside

If The Sky's Gone Out felt like a collection of various recordings, Burning From The Inside really was, due in large part to outside events -- Murphy had fallen victim to a life-threatening illness, so the rest of the band began recording without him, which more than anything else foreshadowed both Bauhaus' breakup and the trio's future work as Love And Rockets. As a result, two songs ended up on the album, the piano-led cinematic moodiness of "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight" and the sweet acoustic drive of "Slice of Life," with David J and Ash on lead vocals respectively. Furthermore, more songs from the earliest days of the band were dug up to provide material, the most notable and successful being the dub-inflected, heavily dramatic "She's in Parties," using filmmaking as a metaphor for romance and life, with Murphy's excellent lead balanced against a near-whispering chorus from the other two singers. The end result of all this was an album that was good in spots but not as strong throughout as it could be, while betraying the other performing and writing strains that would soon cause the band to call it a day. As before, though, when the band members were on, they were on with a vengeance, such as the medieval folk dance "King Volcano" and the starkly beautiful "Kingdom's Coming." The ten-minute title track takes a good idea and stretches it out a little too long, but the concluding track "Hope" follows it with a life-affirming, inspirational vibe that serves as much as a farewell for Bauhaus' audience as anything else. While imperfect, Burning From The Inside has much more to recommend it than many other albums.

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The Chameleons - Why Call It Anything?

It is quite likely that many Chameleons fans will claim that the band's new album Why Call It Anything is the album that should have been released in 1987.

In a perfect world, the Chameleons would have released an album in 1987 which would have propelled the group to greatness, much like U2's The Joshua Tree turned a popular college rock band into superstars. Unfortunately, after the death of the group's manager, Tony Fletcher, the Chameleons broke up.

The quality of the group's work prior to its demise puts it in the running with the Replacements, Big Star and the Minutemen for the title of "band that deserved to make it big." That may never happen, but luckily for Chameleons fans and music lovers everywhere, the band got back together last year, 14 years after breaking up. The group has since played live, released an acoustic set of old songs, and recorded its first new album since 1986's Strange Times.

Cheekily titled Why Call It Anything, the album shows the Chameleons back in full force. The leadoff track, "Shades," rumbles like a Ned's Atomic Dustbin barnstormer, but with more menace. Most of the rest of the album is quite mellow in comparison, mixing the psychedelic sound of 1985's What Does Anything Mean, Basically? with the gothic overtones of the band's 1983 debut Script of the Bridge. Those early albums have often been criticized for overproduction, but Why Call it Anything sounds just right. Highlights include the dark "Lufthansa" and the more sedate and dreamy "Music In the Womb." "Truth Isn't Truth Anymore" is about as creepy as the album cover, which depicts a twisted clown face obscured by a giant blue barcode. "Miracles And Wonders" is a smooth merger of rock and Jamaican toasting that should put lesser bands like Sugar Ray to shame.

Fans may still be disappointed, however, because this is most certainly not the album the Chameleons would have released in 1987. The band members' side projects during the hiatus seem to have brought a maturity in the songwriting and performance. Despite the strength of its songs, Why Call It Anything is missing much of the unbridled energy of the '80s work. Not all of the songs are winners, either — particularly "All Around," a soupy, unimpressive, feelgood track that doesn't fit very well in the Chameleons canon. Mark Burgess' vocals — normally one of the most stirring, distinctive elements in the group — are much more conservative.

The liner notes quote fellow Mancunians Mark E. Smith of the Fall and Pete Shelley of The Buzzcocks: "Regardless of what critics might tell you a band doesn't survive for ten years in this business if what they record is crap," says Smith. This certainly rings true of the Fall, which has been around for 22 years with no signs of stopping. Perhaps the more appropriate comment comes from Shelley: "No matter how hard the struggle to establish oneself might become, if an artist makes a truly great record it will be heard." Why Call It Anything is a very good but not great album. All three of the band's '80s albums (Script of the Bridge, in particular) are leaps and bounds above what the group's contemporaries were recording. As Why Call it Anything has yet to be released stateside, the curious listener is encouraged to check out those albums. Prepare to be blown away.

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The Chameleons - This Never Ending Now

The Chameleons were one of the fixtures of the Manchester music scene, from the mid-80s right through to the early 90s. In Mark Burgess they had the obligatory tortured genius frontman, and their songs featured an eerie echoed guitar sound that influenced a wave of bands from The Smiths to The Wedding Present.

Yes, The Chameleons were the godfathers of the jangly guitar sound, and although they never quite achieved the success they deserved, they retained legendary status in their native Manchester. Although it was to all to end in tears, with the band splitting in 1987, they put their differences aside and reformed in 2000. The comeback album was Strip, which as the title suggests, was stripped down versions of Chameleons classics. This record is, more or less, the sequel.

This Never Ending Now is basically The Chameleons 'unplugged', consisting as it does of acoustic renditions of some old favourites. So while this is an essential purchase for any fan, it also makes a good introduction for the uninitiated. The opening track, Fan And The Bellows is quintessential Chameleons. The guitars strum furiously, which Mark Burgess sounds rather like Tim Booth, formerly of James. The lyrics too are either poetically enigmatic or wilfully obscure, depending on your point of view - "A Beechers Brook is love/a hurdle at which greater men have fallen" for example.

The Chameleons deal in atmospheric music with emotions pushed to the fore - Swamp Thing being one of the best examples of this. However, being an all-acoustic affair means that there isn't much variety here, especially as all the songs tend to stick to a mid-paced tempo. Yet sometimes, as on Home Is Where The Heart Is or Miracles And Wonders, the acoustic setting works beautifully (although the reggae toasting on the latter sounds completely out of place).

The other problem with the record is that it's mostly a rather po-faced collection. The acoustic setting and rather portentous arrangements of some of the songs (such as the drawn out ending of View From A Hill) means that the album can seem rather heavy going. It takes the cover version of David Bowie's Moonage Daydream to remind us what a little injection of fun can add to a song.

Whether this collection will add any younger members to The Chameleons loyal army of fans is debatable. Some may say that their brand of jangly guitars has no relevance in 2002. Yet that is doing the band a mighty disservice. If you've heard of The Chameleons but never experienced their music, this is a good place to start exploring the back catalogue of one of indie's most under-rated groups.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1628" -->>

Simple Minds - Sparkle in the Rain

Scotland's Simple Minds continue to dazzle and impress with their sixth (and best) album, Sparkle in the Rain. The record was produced by Steve Lillywhite (U2, et al.), and it's a perfect match-up: Simple Minds aspire to music of a trancelike otherworldliness, and Lillywhite has the knack to lead them up that proverbial stairway to heaven.

The sound is Roxy Music-gone-2001, and it works remarkably well (one exception: their unlikely choice of an outside song in Lou Reed's "Street Hassle," which doesn't bear covering by anyone). Initially, vocalist Jim Kerr might seem like just another Bryan Ferry clone, but as he stokes his inner fires with some private perception of the emerald beyond – reaching an absolutely feverish pitch on "The Kick inside of Me" – he emerges as an obsessive visionary in his own right. The band, meanwhile, weaves a complex web of sound from the unlikeliest parts: churchy, staccato keyboards; lacelike, arpeggiated guitar lines and soaring wisps of feedback; and metallic-sounding drums.

Sparkle in the Rain is filled with potent images that can be read as religious emblems: baptismal immersion or death ("Waterfront"), redemption on the Cross ("East at Easter"), the Word ("Book of Brilliant Things"). Simple Minds find religious illumination in the vertigo of their fertile imaginations, and it comes out as psychedelic testifying – all fast movement and kaleidoscopic repetition – that builds to a crescendo of ecstasy and release. When Kerr sings, "Someday, some of them say that our hearts will beat like the wheels of a fast train" (from "Book of Brilliant Things"), you know you're in for a wild ride. All aboard.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1658" -->>

Killing Joke -Hosannas from the Basement of Hell

After seven years of wandering their own private wildernesses, Killing Joke reformed in 2003, releasing a self-titled album that seemed a bottled-up, guttural response to a new(er) world order led by a new(er) President Bush. While the intensity of that 2003 effort announced the band was still mad and paranoid as ever, its uneven composition reflected the setting of its creation: three old band mates, living on three separate continents, intermittently recording tracks for a project with a session drummer-to-be-named later (Dave Grohl, it turned out, for various commercial and karmic payback reasons).

But since then, Killing Joke are a band again: completing a world tour and live 25th anniversary concert recording, drafting a full-time drummer, and living together while occupying Prague’s basement Faust Studio as their personal rehearsal and recording pen.

The result of this new cohesion is 2006’s Hosannas From the Basements of Hell, and the contrasting method of its creation versus its predecessor’s is palpable. For starters, the band self-produced, though with mixed results. The sound is refreshingly raw thanks to older recording equipment the band also used for its first album. However, the songs are epically longer, sometimes gratuitously so: With no producer to rein them in, only one track finishes in under five minutes. That song is the opener, “This Tribal Antidote,” which begins with lead singer Jaz Coleman’s incantation: “Lift up your spirits!” The song is indeed uplifting and serves as the album’s invocation: Play these trance-like songs, put aside the horrors of the world for a moment, and celebrate alternative lifestyles.

After the metallic sound of 2003’s Killing Joke, older fans will recognize the return of guitarist Geordie Walker’s cascading chords. His anti-solo ethic and hollow-bodied bell tones dominate this album, bounding in and out of valleys of cycling chord patterns that frame every song. Walker’s trademark sound is best exemplified in the chorus of the title track and throughout the rousing “Majestic”—itself an example of everything Killing Joke does well.

The lone exception to Walker’s lead is “Invocation,” where Coleman borrows from his day job conducting symphonies to lay a horrific orchestral landscape for the coming “lawless war without end.” Otherwise, Coleman sticks to singing—though his growling voice now limits him—and adding his atmospheric synthesizer to establish a subtle layer of tension.

But underneath their dark yet revelrous tribal ethos, Killing Joke is a groove band, and Walker teams with bassist Paul Raven to create relentless, driving grooves on “Implosion,” “Walking With Gods,” and “Lightbringer.” Together, the three songs could be their own compilation, Music to Run for Your Life To.
Over these grooves, despite happy intentions, lie modern fears and rage. “Accelerated eco-meltdown, no one gives a damn/Keep everyone in debt while the big banks own the land,” Coleman fumes on “Majestic.” Still, his appreciation for life surfaces in “Implosion”: “The highs and lows of every day, laughter and screams won’t go away/But the total experience of it all blows me away.” These sounds blow me away too.

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Peter Murphy - Unshattered

With stories of a Bauhaus comeback and new album rapidly gaining momentum, cynics would suggest this is an attempt for the original band members to take advantage of the revival in post-punk/gothic music. A lack of commercial success in their respective solo careers could also be a factor but in the case of Peter Murphy's latest foray, there's still plenty of worth in going it alone. Rather than being caught up in the past, 'Unshattered' embraces modern production values and Murphy raises his game accordingly on this markedly upbeat and tuneful record. From dark, romantic pop ('I Kiss Myself', 'The First Stone') to the funky and insiduous ('The Weight Of Love'), good songs and surprises are never far away. Granted, the occasional bland 80s pop soul moments will win him few fans (least of all Bauhaus die-hards) but when a lovely acoustic melody like 'Thelma Sings To Little Nell' or the wonderfully intense 'Give What He's Got' show up, a few minor flaws here and there are forgiveable. With a voice still powerful enough to raise the dead, this is a surprise triumph to rival Dave Gahan's 'Paper Monsters' as a great comeback album.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1777" -->>

Killing Joke -Killing Joke (2003 Album)

It's hard to overstate the influence of '80s industrial icons Killing Joke on present-day hard rock: Everyone from Metallica to the Foo Fighters is in on the Joke (Dave Grohl even plays drums on this record). And no wonder: The band's brutal one-chord guitar riffs, pounding beats, and politically charged lyrics are intense, and the original lineup (re-formed for the new Killing Joke) still knows how to rage against the machine. Only the somewhat sterile production detracts from a fine reunion.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1789" -->>

This Mortal Coil - Filigree and Shadows

This late 80's release is a perfect example of what we like to call "The 4AD Sound." 4AD brought us Dead Can Dance, the Cocteau Twins, the Wolfgang Press, and other English bands who thought eyeliner was truly da bomb. Maybe it was-- hell, maybe it is, but that's hardly the point. The point is that members of the aforementioned bands along with folks from other 4AD acts teamed up with label owner Ivo Watts-Russell to craft semi-eponymous milky music for the drug set. And they succeeded.

Filigree and Shadow is the second in a line of three This Mortal Coil releases, and is considered by many to be the best. (I'll still take their third album, It'll End In Tears, even if it does have that godawful cover of Big Star's "Kangaroo.") If you're into 4AD, you're probably on your third copy of this disc. If you're not familiar, this is a great place to start... that is, if you like your music spooky and woozy.

The great thing about Filigree and Shadow is how fresh it still sounds. That's not always a good thing; the cover of Tim Buckley's "Morning Glory" would sound perfect on an MOR station wedged in between Paula Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" and Wham's "Careless Whisper." That aside-- I'm sorry, that and the amazingly hideous cover of Talking Heads' "Drugs" aside-- Filigree and Shadow must have sounded like the proverbial sore thumb of the mid-1980s. It's heavy on effects and synthesizers, some tracks merely exist to establish mood and bridge gaps, and the overall mood is somber. In other words, Pieces of You it ain't. It's make-out music for people who crave absinthe and bisexuality.

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The Wolfgang Press - Funky Little Demons

The Wolfgang Press, the longest-signed band on 4AD Records, has been recording since 1983. On Funky Little Demons, the threesome (Michael Allen, Mark Cox, and Andrew Gray) scales back on the brooding, dark-carnival ambiance of their earlier records, and expands into a more melodic and easy-flowing presence. As a result, Funky Little Demons has a rhythm and flow that carries it past the usual ambient-trance swirl.

Somewhere between singer Allen's gruff, deadpan baritone and the music's taut, textured abrasions, the Wolfgang Press have created their own signature sound. While the band has previously been noted for its moody tendencies, Funky Little Demons escapes them. In fact, cuts like "Derrick the Confessor" and "New Glass" have a distinctly approachable, pop-oriented sound.

While shifting from an intense avant-funk to a more accessible, syncopated soul sound, the band has also become more relaxed and open. The band admits that a turning point was De La Soul's iconoclastic classic, Three Feet High and Rising. As Allen reflects, "It seemed such a joyous record. There was a freshness and ease about the way it was made that inspired us to look at ourselves and reassess our working process. It wasn't so much a change in sound as in approach, a getting back to the enjoyment of making music."

My primary knock with ambient dance music is that the vocals are usually indecipherable. Cast as "dream vocals," the words are buried and layered, and can't be discerned at any volume. This defeats the whole purpose of songwriting; why waste time writing lyrics that are so deeply obscured that no one can understand them?

Fortunately, Funky Little Demons doesn't fall into this trap. While the disc has a techno, ambient feel (with overtones of electronic dance material), the lyrics are understandable (and even printed in the liner notes).

Funky Little Demons works as an album, not a collection of singles. While it's hard to pinpoint individual tracks that stand out, the overall feel is moody, moving, and danceable. As the dance music threatens to fracture into further camps (such as ambient, jungle, breakbeat, and worldbeat), the Wolfgang Press is helping to restore a much-needed sense of coherency. Find Funky Little Demons and get out of your techno dancing shoes.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1837" -->>

The Bolshoi - Lindy's Party

The Bolshoi almost drown themselves in studio gloss with Lindy's Party. Since the band produced the album themselves, the commercial polish of the LP is baffling; given the creative freedom, one would predict the Bolshoi to head in the opposite direction. The Bolshoi aim for the dancefloor with "Auntie Jean," "Please," and "Can You Believe It". Of course, the Bolshoi have never been immune to the allure of discotheques; "A Way," for example, was remixed several times for the club circuit. However, Lindy's Party has an overall bigger sound that doesn't complement the Bolshoi, a group that only excels when they rein themselves in. The drums beat louder and more rapidly than before; there are too many synthesizers, too. Nevertheless, Lindy's Party shouldn't be completely dismissed by its excesses. The uncharacteristically spirited "T.V. Man" cleverly juxtaposes lyrical references to Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry films with music from a western. "She Don't Know" is propelled by the moody jangle of early R.E.M., and "Swings and Roundabouts" has the ominous, swirling guitars of old Bolshoi. Even "Auntie Jean" and "Please," for all of their concessions to American radio, have decent hooks. In their live performances the Bolshoi were probably able to shed much of the fat from Lindy's Party.


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The Wolfgang Press - Everything Is Beautiful (A Retrospective 1983-1995)

Beginning life as a typically miserable post-punk group The Wolfgang Press moved on to incorporate hip-hop and dance influences into their musical melting pot. 'Everything Is Beautiful' claims to encompass 1983-1995 but its earliest tracks are from 1985; namely the still vital sound of the funk workout that is 'Sweatbox' and, less impressively, a drunken karaoke version of Otis Redding's 'Respect'. That apart, this compilation draws from their later work whose any similarity with their nascent sound is Michael Allen's brooding vocals. Somehow Allen's monotone worked well alongside the grooves, hip-hop and remix tricks that litter this collection; offering an edgy cool over the subtly danceable backgrounds, reaching a chilled-out peak with 'Chains' and 'Executioner' from 1994's Funky Little Demons; arguably their album of most consistent greatness. The full story isn't told here but what the listener does get is an oddly compelling mix of archetypal 4AD-style miserablism and De La Soul-influenced subversion.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1887" -->>

Promise - Gene Loves Jezebel [1983]

The Jezebels were always attuned to the darker side of romance and sex, unlike the shiny, neutered pop yearnings of their contemporaries. Like most early 80's bands, they'd been weaned on glam rock, but it was the underground that was receptive to their punk-funk undertones and vision. Fronted by androgynous twins Jay and Michael Aston and featuring an evolving cast of musicians, the early recordings had an experimental edge that has kept the music fresh.


link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1921" -->>

Immigrant - Gene Loves Jezebel [1985]

With their second album, the Astons had the advantage of both a stabilizing band lineup (Rizzo had joined on bass) and one of the best producers around, John Leckie. The English mastermind's sharp ear for bringing bands up to newer levels proved the case here, slightly streamlining the wild sound of Promise while sacrificing none of the group's edgy weirdness. The Astons themselves whipped up a series of more focused rockers, letting the hooks show through a bit more strongly. The opening "Always a Flame" conclusively demonstrates how well the new combination worked. Buried drums, echoed guitar, and soft cries suddenly transform into a blasting romance number; the rhythm section work easily rivals that of any other early '80s post-punkers, while the almost mandolin-like arrangements on the chorus are a lovely touch. Add in the Astons' passionate lyrics to a missing love and the glammy rush of the song, and Immigrant is off and running. Like Promise, variety is part of the album's appeal, ranging from the slow punch and chanting of "Stephen" to the giddy blasts of "Worth Waiting For" (with an intentionally hilarious spoken-word break in the middle) and "Cow," Immigrant's underrated highlight. When at their most mystic and tribal, the Astons nail it more often than not; the title track connects especially well, sounding like Echo and the Bunnymen's slightly more florid cousin with an especially catchy chorus. The group isn't afraid to let humor sneak through in other areas, as they prove in naming the last three songs "The Rhino Plasty," "Deep South Wale," and "Coal Porter." That final tune is especially good, a lovedrunk remembrance of the past with evocative imagery and a lovely arrangement; its soft percussion and electric guitar are carefully filled out with piano and backing vocals.

Link: "http://firehorsecancer.multiply.com/music/item/1908" -->>