Best Albums
These are all just opinions, but from past conversations with fellow Current93 fans and friends with good taste, there seems to be a pretty good consensus about which albums to seek out and which to skip completely. I will make another post about the skippable releases.
NOISESCAPES
If you are interested in the "spooky loop", musique concrete', dark noisescape period of Current93, you need only three CDs:
Nature Unveiled LP/CD (1984)
Dogs Blood Rising LP/CD (1984)
In Menstrual Night LP/CD (1986)
This stuff, and perhaps some of the later little side forays into noisescapes - "The Dreammoves of the Sleeping King" last track off of Earth Covers Earth and also possibly the Faust EP - will give you everything you need of C93 noise.
Also, if you can track down Emblems: The Menstrual Years, Disc 1 is sort of a "best of" of the noise stuff, which might be as far as some people would want to go. Some people prefer to skip this stuff altogether, but those people are boring.
NASCENT FOLK
I would term the next period of Current 93 the "nascent folk" period where Tibet was trying a lot of different sounds and configurations before he came up with his recognizable folk sound. From this period, all you need is:
Imperium LP/CD (1987)
Earth Covers Earth LP/CD (1988 )
Crooked Crosses for the Nodding God CD (1989)
Island LP/CD (1991)
And, if it came right down to it, you could even skip Imperium. It's repetitive.
Earth Covers Earth often gets insulted for is disjointed-ness and relative weakness, but it's got enough good single tracks to recommend it.
Crooked Crosses, for my money, is a superior item to Swastikas for Noddy. Stapleton and Tibet really ingeniously reclaimed, remixed and recontextualized the music off Swastikas and made a much stronger, more hauntingly complex album.
Island is another one that has definite problems, but it's Current 93's only clear foray into electronics, and many of the tracks are plain brilliant in production and songwriting. The album takes a turn for the weird with dance-oriented stuff like Christopher Robin, Crowleymass and Paperback Honey, but even those seem charming upon repeated listens. Plus the first track features a vocal contribution from Bjork. Neato.
APOCALYPTIC FOLK
The next period represents C93's golden years, and there are certainly three clear winners:
Thunder Perfect Mind LP/CD (1992)
Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre LP/CD (1994)
All The Pretty Little Horses LP/CD (1996)
These three albums, especially the last two, are totally cohesive, beautifully produced albums. Absolutely masterful and totall essential. Of this period, there are also two EPs that are quite wonderful and worth tracking down:
Lucifer Over London EP/CD (1994)
Tamlin 12"/CDS (1994)
These are both terrific, but I've heard that Durtro plans to release a CD reissue of these two on one release, so you may want to wait, as they're a bit hard to track down. Some of the material on these CDs has trickled out on the Calling for Vanished Faces best of comp.
MINIMALIST/SPOKEN WORD
This is the current manifestation of David Tibet. Minimal backing, sometimes just piano or hurdy-gurdy. Powerful stuff here, but some fans started to tune out by this time. Here's the cream:
Soft Black Stars LP/CD (1998 )
Sleep Has His House LP/CD (2000)
Hypnagogue CD (2003)
Soft Black Stars is almost exclusively piano and voice, Sleep is a little more dense with harmonium and guitars and Hypnagogue is just piano and voice again. Another GREAT thing from this period that doesn't fit in anywhere else:
I Have a Special Plan for This World EP/CD (2000)
The only Ligotti/Tibet collab that's really worth your time, this one has Tibet reading out a very spooky monologue with Stapleton doing some excellent noise fuckery and voice mutation.
Also, as I mentioned before, the two 2CD best-of comps - Emblems and Calling for Vanished Faces - are worth tracking down because they collect a lot of LP-only and EP and unreleased @#%$ that's totally worth hearing (especially on disc 2 of Emblems) but would be prohibitive to track down all the originals.
I would say that this is pretty much it, and I've only really mentioned 12 essentials, and it could even be pared down from this given your tolerance for certain aspects of C93's music.
My next post will be about releases that are a waste of time unless you're a psycho. I welcome any comments.
Edited by: indarknessletmedwell at: 4/4/04 1:21 am
I generally agree with the above views, with some exceptions of course.
NOISESCAPES:
I didn't reallly like In Menstrual Night. In fact a couple of tracks on Dawn I liked (even if it is not a great composition).
NASCIENT FOLK
I thought Imperium is quite a good album (and not repetitive) and definitely preferrable to Island. Island I agree has problems.
As I said in another post, I prefer Swastika's to Crooked Crosses.
APOCALYPTIC FOLK
TPM has some tracks that take getting used to - it is a long album so there is quite a bit of material to aquaint yourself with, but overall is a very good release.
Tamlin isn't worthwhile. Lucifer is good.
MINIMALIST
Sleep Has His House is a bit boring. Hypnogogue is good, and some tracks on SBS.
SBS being a slow album may take awhile to get used to, you have to be in the right mood - although that might apply to most of C93 for the beginner.
best and worst
it all goes down hill after 'Thunder Perfect Mind'.
That was the high. The rest is generally nauseating.
Dogs Blood was great as was Nature Unveiled but
all this holier than thou very voice of God bullshit stinks.
The retrospective compilations- Emblems and Calling For Vanished Faces- should be got. However CFVF pretty much only includes more conventionally structured song based material, and doesn't really reflect the more expansive sound-scape stuff, so be aware that in this regard CFVF is not such a perfect starting point.
Nature Unveiled: The original LP (the first two tracks on the CD) is excellent, very atmospheric and (especially in the case of the second side) beautifully crafted. The CD version is spoiled by the inclusion of some early live tracks which are absolute rubbish. The other bonus tracks (from two early 7"s) are somewhat interesting, but not brilliant.
Dogs Blood Rising: Vocals take centre stage, with bad results. "Jesus Wept" is excrusiating to listen to, grating and tedious. The best part of this album is the second half of "Fields of Rape". Not something I listen to often, and if I do, almost never all the way through.
Live at Bar Maldoror: like an ambient remix of the first 2 tracks from Nature Unveiled (that is to say, the album proper) with some elements of Dogs Blood rising thrown in. Mildly interesting but not brilliant.
In Menstrual Night: My favorite C93 album. Absolutely wonderful, and perfect. Even people I know who cant stand C93's other material have liked this. Always something new in it. CD version is spoiled by the inclusion of "Killykillkilly (Fire Sermon)" which doesn't fit in, and doesnt work at all. The track starts off well, but soon becomes dreadful. Tibet and Stapleton dislike this track.
Dawn: Awful. "Great Black Time" I sort of like, but probably only because I heard it the first time I took MDMA. Still, its messy, sloppy and confused sounding. Rest of the album is worthless. Tibet and Stapleton also dislike this one.
Swastikas/ Crooked Crosses: I much prefer Crooked Crosses, it has some real gems on it (All of them on Emblems and CFVF: Oh Coal, Hey Ho, Stair Song, Looney Runes) but still sounds rather sloppy in places. The original album has very dull production.
Imperium: Imperium, parts 1-4 and Time Stands Still are amazing and wonderfully moving, sounding totally timeless. The rest of the album (with the exception of "Be") I dislike, mainly because it all sounds 'new wave', and thus totaly dated.
Horsey: "Death of The Corn" is a nice track, and I really like "Broken Birds Fly". The album generally sounds sloppy in places, and not really all that interesting. "Horse" has great lyrics and is musically atypical (sounds like Crass) but is far too long.
Crowleymass: Mildly amusing, but thats it.
Island: "Falling" is by far the best track, and on CFVF. Other decent tracks are "Anyway, People Die", on Emblems, and "A Dream of a shadow of Smoke". Rest of the album sounds horribly dated. Think synths.
Christ and The Pale Queens: Dull and repetative.
Earth Covers Earth: The title track is absolutely wonderful. The rest of the album is mediocre and unremarkable.
The Sadness of Things: Very good. The second track- "The grave and Beautiful name"- is stunning.
Thunder perfect Mind: Excellent. No filler tracks. All very strong material. Highly recommended, although Tibet's voice is a little extravagant in delivery on this one.
Of Ruine: Brilliant. All good. Stapleton's favorite C93 album. Beautiful melodies.
Lucifer Over London: Very good.
Tamlin: Unremarkable, mediocre.
Inmost Light/ Pretty Horses: Patchy. Has some stunningly good moments (all captured on CFVF, though). The rest is over-drawn, over-written, and over-long.
In A Foreign Town: Very good, though not one i listen to regularly. Cant help but feel that this one would have worked much better with no vocals on it. Still great in parts.
Musical Pumpkin Cottage/ Octopus: Dull and uninteresting, although "the fire of the mind" is pleasant but not brilliant.
Soft black stars: very good, but not for everybody. Simple and moving. The penultimate track on the CD (Judas as Black Moth) is stunning.
I have a special plan: Essentially spoken word, but with some facinating audio disortions and crafting. Very disturbing. For what it is, very good. But not something I listen to often. Also it is very short- 20 minutes or so.
Faust: Good. Repetative yet highly atmospheric.
Sleep Has His House: Fantastic. Really stunning.
Bright Yellow Moon: Could have been good, but ends up being boring and generally weak. The only track I like is "Nichts", a nice noise piece.
Great in the Small: Worthless.
Maldoror is dead: Worthless and pointless.
Seahorse Rears To Oblivion: Worthless and pointless.
A Little Menstrual Night Music: Great, excellent remixes. One should have the original first, however.
Hypnagogue: Sounds unfinished, the music doesn't really gel with the vocals, very short. Not really worth it.
Live albums: they have their moments, but really are all very similar to one another, and the tracks dont deviate all that much from the album versions. Only of interest to collectors and concert goers, really.
lysergic
Unregistered User
(3/31/04 10:52 pm) Reply
best album
interesting to see the divergent opinion. from what i read, i am in the minority as I think that "Dawn" is the pinnacle of enjoyment. mind you, the vinyl version has the superior mix and i don't listen to the cd version as much. perhaps because it was my entry point i hold it dear. for those who have not heard it, please give it a listen before dismissing it on the reviews of others.
Dawn
Well, I think "Great Black Time" is a somewhat interesting and strange piece.
However, "Maldoror Est Mort" is nothing more than a demo (and in my opinion inferior) version of "Maldoror Is Dead" from Nature Unveiled. As an aside, this was done pre-Stapleton.
"A Day in Dogland" I consider to be a pretty messy, uninteresting track, originally a compilation track. But I know some people like this one.
"Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus", however, irritates me. It is nothing more than the first six minutes of "Maldoror Is Dead" played backwards. Pointless. Absolute filler.
Horse Hospital CDs
Forgot to mention this one. I really like this release. The C93 disc is very nice background music, perfect dinner or reading music. The NWW one is one of my favorite things to put on when going to sleep. The packaging is very nice, also.
Although, I do believe that this release is rather expensive to get hold of.
Best album
IMPERIUM
Soft black stars
Of ruine
Thunder perfect mind (the first one I've listened to in 1993)
Emblems
Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty In Sorrow
As the World Disappears
Island
Hitler As Kalki
and also the cd with unreleased tracks plus Heeman and Cashmore
and the live in Lisbon !
Nature and Organisation
This album is so perfect- one of my all time favorites as it combines ever-so-sweetly thee talents of many of my/our fav artists: Rose McDowall, David Tibet, Michael Cashmore, Douglas P.- I mean, it's so perfect and beautiful, with the noisebursts into softly sweet and disturbing tales from the minds of these great artists and their takes on certain songs of others- truly great!
Re: Best Releases
I really like "Hypnagogue".
Of course "Thunder Perfect Mind" is classic, but rest of Current releases don't get to me.
Maybe because there are too much of them...
Re: Best Releases
I haven't really listened to C93 much since the InMostLight trilogy. I do have 'Soft Black Stars', but have listened to it rarely, but I think I had burned myself out by the time it came out. (Nature and Organization's "Death in a Snow Leopard Winter" is an excellent instrumental piano album of a similar structure).
My absolute favorite is "Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre...".
Followed by "In Menstrual Night"
I actually still really like "Emblemz: The Menstrual Years". It was the first Current 93 I picked up (I think it had just been released when I did so), and it's an excellent compilation and the tracks work quite well together. It had a lot of the extra tracks from Thunder Perfect Mind - especially "They Return to their Earth" - that I understand have finally been released in a new TPM package. Some of the tracks that didn't make the initial TPM package I thought were much better than what appeared on TPM.
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