Goth, a dirty word for so long, has enjoyed a resurgence over the past ten years or so. Previously known as the spawn of post punk, now the boundaries between the two genres are so blurry they’re twinned, best exemplified by the likes of The Horrors, or less successfully, like the disingenuous angst of bands such as White Lies.
If your knowledge of goth doesn’t extend beyond the likes of Bauhaus or Sisters of Mercy, this extensive box set of goth rock between the years 1978 to 1986 highlights that the genre was more than just sad sounding musicians who’d watched too many horror flicks and also makes clear that the alignment of post punk and goth isn’t actually new thing.
If you’re expecting malnourished, overly serious guys (and it is a predominantly male genre) averse to daylight and joy… that’s exactly what you get here. But, as is the norm with Cherry Red compilations, this collection delves way beyond the big bands, which is where the collection becomes a 5CD education in a genre.
All the big hitters are here, the aforementioned Sisters and Bauhaus, The Cure, The Mission, Fields of the Nephilim, Alien Sex Fiend and Southern Death Cult sit comfortably alongside more post punk bands such as Birthday Party, Public Image Ltd and Joy Division, whose classic “Transmission” opens the set – perhaps a way of them telling us this is the first goth track?
Away from the better known artists of the genre you’ll find a deliciously gloomy pre Primal Scream Bobby Gillespie as part of The Wake, doom-pop from Specimen, bleak hate-rock from 1919, psyched up, and proto acid house electronic experiments from Portion Control with “Fiends”. Holding up particularly well is “Ghost” by Part 1, which pre-dates the claustrophobic productions of Dan Carey by several decades.
Clearly five CDs is way too much musical despondency to take in on one sitting, but this compilation does comprehensively show that for a genre known for an insular outlook, there was a surprising amount of scope musically from the bands involved. If punk was the sound of a disaffected London, goth was its Northern counterpart, the “I’m fucked” to 1977’s mantra of “Fuck You”. Turn the dark on and slip inside. — thelineofbestfit.com
CD1
1. Joy Division, “Shadowplay”
2. The Birthday Party, “Release the Bats”
3. Rema-Rema, “Rema-Rema”
4. Paranoia, “Shattered Glass”
5. Section 25, “Charnel Ground”
6. The Sisters of Mercy, “Floorshow”
7. Clock DVA, “The Female Mirror”
8. UK Decay, “The Black Cat”
9. Alien Sex Fiend, “Dead And Re-Buried”
10. Love And Rockets, “Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven”
11. The Associates, “Q Quarters”
12. In Excelsis, “Carnival of the Gullible”
13. Nevilluxury, “Feels Like Dancing Wartime”
14. Flesh for Lulu, “Anti-Social”
15. The March Violets, “Crow Baby”
16. All About Eve, “D for Desire”
17. Folk Devils, “Beautiful Monster”
CD2
1. Public Image Ltd., “Flowers of Romance”
2. Danielle Dax, “Bed Caves”
3. Southern Death Cult, “Moya”
4. 1919, “Caged”
5. The Cure, “The Hanging Garden”
6. S-Haters, “Solitary Habit”
7. Dead Can Dance, “The Arcane”
8. Years On Earth, “Saving Face”
9. In the Nursery, “Breach Birth”
10. Play Dead, “The Tenant”
11. Part 1, “Ghost”
12. 13th Chime, “Cuts of Love”
13. The Tempest, “Ice Cold in”
14. Screaming Dead, “Night Creatures”
15. Bushido, “Among the Ruins”
16. Portion Control, “Fiends”
17. Actifed, “Creation”
CD3
1. Adam and the Ants, “Tabletalk”
2. Balaam and the Angel, “The Darklands”
3. The Legendary Pink Dots, “Love Puppets”
4. Artery, “Into the Garden”
5. Salvation, “Girlsoul”
6. The Chameleons, “In Shreds”
7. Schleimer K, “Fugitive Kind”
8. The Bolshoi, “By the River”
9. Gene Loves Jezebel, “Screaming (For Emmalene)”
10. Lowlife, “Gallery of Shame”
11. And Also the Trees, “Out of the Moving Life of Circles”
12. Siiiii, “Is Still”
13. Tabathas Nightmare, “Heroin” (Live at the Batcave)
14. Brigandage, “Angel of Vengeance”
15. Penetration, “Stone Heroes”
16. The Rose of Avalanche, “LA Rain”
CD4
1. Furyo, “Legacy”
2. The Mission, “Stay With Me”
3. Nico, “Saeta”
4. In Camera, “Fragments of Fear”
5. Dance Chapter, “Anonymity”
6. Ausgang, “Sink Into You”
7. Cocteau Twins, “In Our Angelhood”
8. Sunglasses After Dark, “Morbid Silence”
9. Fields of the Nephilim, “Trees Come Down” (Original Version)
10. Anorexic Dread, “Tracey’s Burning”
11. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, “Take It All”
12. Tones On Tail, “Burning Skies”
13. Blood And Roses, “Spit Upon Your Grave”
14. Threat, “Lullaby In C”
15. I’m Dead, “Storm Pause”
16. Zero Le Creche, “Last Year’s Wife”
CD5
1. Bauhaus, “Stigmata Martyr”
2. The Wake, “Patrol”
3. Theatre of Hate, “Original Sin”
4. Attrition, “Birthrite”
5. Sad Lovers and Giants, “Things We Never Did”
6. The Damned, “Dr Jeckyl And Mr Hyde”
7. Gloria Mundi, “The Hill”
8. Dalis Car, “His Box”
9. Inca Babies, “The Diseased Stranger’s Waltz”
10. Death Cult, “Ghost Dance”
11. Modern Eon, “Euthenics”
12. Ritual, “Mind Disease”
13. Skeletal Family, “She Cries Alone”
14. Bone Orchard, “Jack”
15. Hula, “Ghost Rattle”
16. Rubella Ballet, “Twister”