Hey ho, falling back in fields of POLL: CURRENT 93!

Ooh good poll. I am certainly one of those half-dozen and would also be interested to see what others think. Voted Thunder Perfect Mind as my favourite but I suspect most people will go for Swastikas for Noddy which is usually taken as the definitive C93 album.

Personally I think it's all great from the early black mass industrial style through to Sleep Has His House or thereabouts but I kind of feel Tibet lost his way after that.

Pretty sure Thunder or Horses will win this but i'll probably vote for either 'Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre' (completely overlooked classic) or 'Island' (wait a minute that album ain't even on my list which I c/p from wikipedia - wtf)

Island isn't really a proper C93 album, it's a collaboration with Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson which is why it's not on the main list.

I've been around some obsessive C93 fans without ever hearing praise for Swastikas for Noddy. Granted, I'm talking about a handful of people, but they all seemed to prefer the mid- to late-period stuff from Thunder Perfect Mind onwards.

Not being much of an obsessive myself, I've heard maybe eight of these. My vote goes to Sleep Has His House, which remains one of my favourite records. I guess it's unique in their catalogue, hence my non-obsession.

at this point in life i'd probly vote for the one with the least amount of Tibet's voice on it

voting for black ships because i like them best when tibet is unhinged lyricially but not musically

Yeah, Ships gets my vote, but expecting the also great Thunder to win.

I've heard multiple C93 tracks but I'm not sure I've ever heard an entire album

I'm not a fan of Black Ships. Someone, I can't remember who, described it as sounding like a post-industrial variety performance and I think that pretty much nails it. Unlike NV I'd be a lot happier with Tibet on vocals rather than all these special guests he wheels on.

i think i'd vote for Lucifer Over London if it was an option tbh

Voted for Aleph, love this last noisy psych phase

I haven't heard a lot of these, but of the ones I've heard/that I have, it's a tough call between Black Ships and Aleph. One has Shirley Collins on it, and the other has Not Because the Fox Barks. Sleep Has His House is good too.

Hmmm...

In Menstrual Night is my favorite, another unique one in their catalog with the drumming of Fritz Haaman (sp?). If all of Dogs's Blood was like Falling Back In Fields Of Rape I would go for that. I always found Swastikas to be pretty uneven. TPM is pretty damn undeniable though. I guess I'l think on this a bit, but I doubt that will change my mind.

Shirley Collins also sings on The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home which you can find on the reissue of All the Pretty Little Horses.

Anyone been paying attention to the Myrninerest stuff he's been putting out recently? It's Tibet's duo with James Blackshaw. What's with the different versions of the album?

oooOOOooo -- did not know! i'll have to check that out.

It's all up on Spotify if that helps. The album is some sort of tribute to Jhonn Balance, but the band name is taken from the name of the entity who guided the drawings of Madge Gill. I like the feel of the music - it's not dissimilar to Soft Black Stars etc, but I vastly prefer the sound of Blackshaw's guitar playing to the piano on those older records (pianos played that way always make me think of being shut-up indoors like some sickly Victorian child).

All The Pretty Little Horses by faaaaar. then Black ships.

genuinely surprised to find this poll and this many responses this morning - c93 discussion being very rare in ilx. went through a big phase when i discovered them a few years ago. i'll be voting thunder, which i thought was considered the definite album. i think the trilogy of thunder-ruine-horses towers above all else, many of the other albums seeming minor in comparison. i've lost track lately and not heard anything since black ships.

I would also like to give some love to Imperium. I guess it's one of those records you need to be in a certain mood for (and probably a kind of mood you don't wanna be in too often) but its pretty killer

Imperium is one i'd consider a vote for

yeah imperium is good.

i have no idea which to pick really, its hard to think of any of them as bad though, which is a rare commodity in a discography really.

this also reminds me that i havent picked up the most recent 2

lol this thread title made me think of the my dick version of "fields of gold" by sting

Thunder Perfect My Dick

we're sick sick sick / of my dick my dick my dick

the seven seals are revealed at the end of time as seven dicks

at this point in life i'd probly vote for the one with the least amount of Tibet's voice on it

^^^^

That'd be Nature Unveiled then

James Blackshaw is probs my favourite Tibet collaborator and I love the half of Black Ships he plays on

Of course I was thinking of Ben Chasny when I typed James Blackshaw just now

i think tibets voice works for him the creepier the song is - its sort of the legendary pink dots effect

A C93 poll AND a Fall poll at the same time? This is really too much for me wtf!

It's an imponderable tossup between Of Ruine... and All the Pretty... for me. I flipped a coin and voted for Ruine. Already feel bad bc "The Frolic" is my single favorite C93 track.

Agree about the towering supremacy of the Inmost Light Trilogy but I don't think he's lost it by any means. Honeysuckle Aeons was fucking fantastic, eg.

Were I to do a POV including live releases and comps, it'd look like:

1(tie) - Of Ruine.../...Pretty Little Horses
3 - Six Sic Sick (or whatever that amazing singles comp is called)
4 - Halo (live)
5 - Honeysuckle Aeons

Dont know that singles comp but I played the hell out of the Calling for Vanished Faces comp (the one with the awesome "Diana" on it)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I think All The Pretty Little Horses is probably considered his most classic album, but my vote goes to Sleep Has His House, for it's harmonium/acoustic guitar instrumentation, it's beautiful Renaissance Faire processional feeling, and it's subdued vocals

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

full marks to whoever voted great in the small.

haha well it is everything at once, right?

I must have forgotten to vote, one write-in for "In Menstrual Night".

Sleep... IS really good, I gotta admit.

Anybody able to identify who's who on the sleeve of "earth covers earth"?

Depends which cover you're talking about as there are different ones for the original and subsequent reissues. But if you mean this one:

http://brainwashed.com/common/images/covers/durtro012cd.jpg

Douglas P kneeling, Ian Read and Rose McDowall. I think that's John Balance lurking at the back. Not sure who the young guy is but he wasn't a member of C93. Obv there are more ppl on the back cover (can't find a scan of that atm)

hmm let me think abt this, I am at work but can probably chime in later - I used to know who all of them were, but it's been years.

the young guy with the bowl cut is "Lu", the flute player - I think.

Original issue:

http://brainwashed.com/common/images/covers/ud029.jpg

l-r: Tony Wakeford, ?, Tibet, Douglas P, John Balance.

I always wondered if the "Dik" on these records was the guy from Virgin Prunes - anybody know? I think he might be on the back cover.

For reference:

http://www.discogs.com/Current-93-Earth-Covers-Earth/release/230510

Back cover:

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-230510-1198790887.jpeg

Diana Rogerson, Steven Stapleton and their two children, Wakeford, Balance, Tibet, Lu (?), Rose, Pearce, Read.

Correction, the girl on the left is Ruby Wallis who was Diana Rogerson's daughter from her previous marriage.

Dik on these records was a member of anarcho-punk band No Defences - Tibet was close to them (as well as Crass + Flux), their singer Igs did some vox on 'Dogs Bood Rising' as well.

nice, thanks for the answer!

you're most welcome!

the long-unreleased No Defences album recorded for Crass was finally released in 2019, it's pretty good gothy postpunk.
https://demotapesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/released

More unmentioned anarcho connections... Lu Bell who worked with C93, Sol Invictus et.al. is Louise Bell aka Tinkerbell, formerly of Dirt and Flux.