NewObject23
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(4/7/04 2:14 am) Reply
Essential Coil
I'm not going to be able to be as objective with this list of essentials as I was with the Current 93 and Death in June posts, as I am extremely partial to the musick of Coil, and feel that most of their releases are great. This might help some of the uninitiated sort out their different releases, though.
There are several different eras of Coil's music that are pretty easy to separate thematically.
MUSICK TO DESTROY ANGELS
Early Coil clearly shows the influence of TG and Psychick TV, but it's a clear step towards producing ritualistic, transgressive, occult-influenced noise music with largely electronic instrumentation. Coil briefly existed as Zos Kia, and some of the early works go under this name. Here are some recommended releases from the early period:
Zos Kia/Coil - Transparent CS/LP/CD (1983)
How to Destroy Angels 12" (1984)
How to Destroy Angels (Remixes and Re-Recordings) CD (1992)
Unnatural History I CD (1990)
A lot of people dislike the abrasive music and tortured screaming of Transparent, but I'm not one of those people. Unnatural History has some other essential material and compilation tracks from the early years.
In a pinch, you could skip the How to Destroy Angels 12" and just get the CD, but it's pretty easy to track down, so why not get it?
PERVERSE POP
More song-oriented material, in this era Coil produced a pair of richly imagined gothic pop concept albums. They took influences from collaborators like Jim Thirlwell (Foetus), Gavin Friday, Marc Almond, etc.
Scatology CS/LP/CD (1984)
Horse Rotorvator CS/LP/CD (1987)
Gold is the Metal LP/CD (1987)
Scatology-era material involves a lot of dark, queasy samples done with a Fairlight synthesizer, sort of like Yes' 90182 album. Good stuff, but Horse Rotorvator was a true artistic evolution, and stands the test of time much better than Scatology. Horse Rotorvator pulls in Arabic music influences, heavy metal, atmospheric folk, and makes great use of Jhon Balance's twisted, possessed vocals. Gold is the Metal consists of Horse Rotorvator outtakes, and has several great moments, including the too-short "Boy in a Suitcase" with vocals by Sleazy.
There are some other releases from this period, including The Anal Staircase 12" and The Wheel/The Wheal 7" that have material in different mixes that never really ended up getting re-released, but whether or not they're worth tracking down depends on your level of obsession.
ANSWERS COME IN DREAMS
Coil travelling deeper into a wormhole of drug-influenced debauchery. Decadent work pulling in influences from electronic dance and house music, including dark paranoiac psychedelia meant to replicate their experiences with amphetamines and hallucinogens.
Love's Secret Domain LP/CD
Stolen and Contaminated Songs CD
Windowpane/The Snow CD
Unnatural History II CD
Unnatural History III CD
LSD is an unparalleled classic, and it's companion CD of outtakes Stolen and Contaminated songs is almost as essential. Unnatural Histories II and III contain many great tracks that appeared on numerous compilations and limited vinyl runs that would be prohibitive to track down, including the themes from Derek Jarman's Blue, The Hills Are Alive, Wrong Eye, Babyfood, Lost Rivers of London and others that everyone should hear.
In hindsight, the Windowpane/The Snow mixes are somewhat average, but a couple of them actually do some interesting things with the material. The Snow is probably Coil's most dated-sounding song, so hearing a bunch of remixes is a little painful.
ELPH/BLACK LIGHT DISTRICT/TIME MACHINES
Coil finding new paths and new ways to express themselves with most lyricless, abstract electronic music. Influenced by scientific abstractions, alien transmissions, obscure chemical compounds, electricity, lightwaves, drone, musique concrete and minimalism.
Coil vs. Elph - Protection CDEP
Elph vs. Coil - Worship the Glitch LP/CD
Black Light District - A Thousand Lights in a Darkened Room CD/LP
Elph.Zwolf CD
Time Machines LP/CD
The Remote Viewer CD
ANS CD
The Restitution of Decayed Intelligence 10"
Some people have a low tolerance for electronic minimalism the likes of Time Machines and Elph, but upon repeated listens, these works are as magickal and immersive as anything else in Coil's catalog.
Elph.Zwolf was in Raster Noton's 2' to 2000 series of EPs and is probably the best of the Elph stuff.
The Black Light District album has fractured dub, dark brooding house, ambient sound sculptures and other tantalizing sounds. The Remote Viewer is an excellent foray into ethnic-flavored instrumentals. The Restitution of Decayed
MUSICK TO PLAY IN THE DARK
This is the golden age of Coil. All of their myriad sounds and influences came together here, in a series of nearly-flawless albums of complex beauty and spellbinding hypnotic power. No kidding.
The Angelic Conversation CD
Moons Milk (In Four Phases) 2CD
Winter Solstice 2003ev CD-R
Astral Disaster LP/CD
Musick to Play in the Dark Volume 1 LP/CD
Musick to Play in the Dark Volume 2 LP/CD
Queens of the Circulating Library CD
Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil CD
The Golden Hare with a Voice of Silver 2CD
There are many great ways to own the Solstices and Equinoxes - colored vinyl 7"s and CD singles - but for my money, the 2CD collection is the most compact and affordable, plus there's a bonus track!
The Winter Solstice CD-R is notoriously expensive and impossible to find, but it's truly essential. If you can't pay the inflated E-bay prices, use a file sharing service. It is a great album right up there with the best of the Musick to Play in the Dark era.
Queens of the Circulating Library perhaps suffers from a paucity of musical ideas, so it might be skippable. Constant Shallowness is filled with noisier, abrasive material but it's absolutely amazing, especially the first 4-5 tracks.
Golden Hare (the Russian best of comps) are worth having for the two Backwards tracks - A Cold Cell and AYOR - that are both essential.
LIVE EVIL
Coil is an amazing, transcendant live act. The live CDs are essential. They are like all new albums, so many non-album tracks are played and so many songs are altered and lengthened. Some of the live CDs suffer from bad mixing, but what can you do?
Live in New York City VHS/CD-R
Live Four CD
Live Three CD
Live Two CD
Live One 2CD
Megalithomania! CD-R
The Live in New York City VHS/CD-R was available on the web from a chap named Don Poe, and it contains a superior recording of the "Constant Shallowness" concert set that is one Live Two. The VHS is pretty cool too; should tide anyone over who is waiting for the DVDs.
OTHER @#%$
And if you love Coil, you probably wouldn't want to be without these:
Foxtrot - Compilation featuring Coil, Sleazy, Current93 and Nurse With Wound.
There are also some terrific Coil tracks that have appeared on compilations and have never been reissued by the band including the song Broken Aura on the eMRE: Dark Matter CD on Source Research, The Test on the MUTEK 2003 CD, Bad Message on the Lactamase bonsu 10", Mayhem Accelerator on the Brain in the Wire xCD and probably some others I'm forgetting at the moment.
Also worth tracking down, though officially bootlegs, are the Songs of the Week and the Backwards demos. Use a file sharing service.
And of course, projects closely allied with Coil:
Thighpaulsandra - Some Head
Thighpaulsandra - I, Thighpaulsandra
Thighpaulsandra - Michel Publicity Window
Thighpaulsandra - Double Vulgar
Thanks for your comprehensive posts so far: the overviews of Coil, Current 93 & Death In June are useful documents, the sort of thing which objective discographies don't provide.
Edited by: indarknessletmedwell at: 4/7/04 9:07 pm
Re: Essential Coil
I always divide Coil's musick in only two parts:
- all "old" things, beginning with "Scatalogy" of course to the "Love's Secret Domain" and "Stolen And Contaminated Songs"
- second starts with "How To Destroy Angels" new 1992 re-recording and lasts till today (a magical-ambient phase).
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