The Goth Bible

A massive four-disc box that screams of industrial overkill as only Cleopatra Records can, Black Bible actually starts out quite well, with period classics from Bauhaus, Legendary Pink Dots, Ministry, Fields of the Nephilim, Tones on Tail and 1000 Homo DJs. By the second disc things go downhill, with newer tracks from Spahn Ranch, Big Electric Cat, Genitorturers and Electric Hellfire Club. That still leaves more than 30 tracks of middling-to-downright-obnoxious industrial music; the label even dredged up a Marilyn Manson track, a remix of "Transylvanian Concubine" by Rasputina.

A provocative, irreverent biography of Anton Szandor LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, BORN WITH A TAIL chronicles a time when Americans welcomed a macabre showman into their living rooms via TheTonight Show, before a ginned-up hysteria known as the Satanic Panic would put a target on his shiny, shaven head.

3CD collection pre-queling NME’s huge selling C86 compilation. Featuring the best of the burgeoning indie scene from 1985.Including tracks from The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Stone Roses, That Petrol Emotion, The Woodentops, James, Del Amitri, The Housemartins and many more.Following the success of the three-disc compilation, ‘The Sun Shines Here’ (which documented the roots of Indie Pop from 1980-84), the prequel to C86, C85 combines “name” bands with many obscurities making their debut on CD. Several acts on C85 would eventually feature on that NME’s C86 collection: Primal Scream, The Wedding Present, the Mighty Lemon Drops, etc, who all had singles released in 1985.

3CD collection pre-queling NME’s huge selling C86 compilation. Featuring the best of the burgeoning indie scene from 1985.Including tracks from The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Stone Roses, That Petrol Emotion, The Woodentops, James, Del Amitri, The Housemartins and many more.Following the success of the three-disc compilation, ‘The Sun Shines Here’ (which documented the roots of Indie Pop from 1980-84), the prequel to C86, C85 combines “name” bands with many obscurities making their debut on CD. Several acts on C85 would eventually feature on that NME’s C86 collection: Primal Scream, The Wedding Present, the Mighty Lemon Drops, etc, who all had singles released in 1985.

3CD collection pre-queling NME’s huge selling C86 compilation. Featuring the best of the burgeoning indie scene from 1985.Including tracks from The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Stone Roses, That Petrol Emotion, The Woodentops, James, Del Amitri, The Housemartins and many more.Following the success of the three-disc compilation, ‘The Sun Shines Here’ (which documented the roots of Indie Pop from 1980-84), the prequel to C86, C85 combines “name” bands with many obscurities making their debut on CD. Several acts on C85 would eventually feature on that NME’s C86 collection: Primal Scream, The Wedding Present, the Mighty Lemon Drops, etc, who all had singles released in 1985.

The prolific Kraus (two dozen-plus recordings in numerous permutations/collaborations, including Rusalnaia, Tau Emerald, Espers, United Bible Studies, and The Big Eyes Family Players) points a yin/yang mirror at broken relationships and doomy/gloomy aftereffects on her latest solo album. Song titles address darkness, sorrow, death, and danger, so this is not exactly the party album you’ll want to toss on at the next backyard BBQ. No, this should be savoured in the comfort of your own bedsit, contemplating Kraus’s personal demons while you reflect back on your own disheartened past experiences. ‘Figs and Flowers’ flickering, countrified melody flows across your swaying body on the back of Nick Davis’s singing slide and angelic choral harmonies from Nancy Wallace and Jenny Bennett, with Oliver Parfitt’s bubbling synth and Bennett’s recorder adding an elegant sheen.