Favorite Current 93 Studio Album

[Karnos]

I forgot to mention that Soft Back Stars is also one of my favorite C93 albums; not just because of the obvious TL reference on the title, but because the music is very nice and has a special meaning for me, up there with Thunder Perfect Mind.

[Dr. Bantham]

Quote Originally Posted by Karnos";p=&quot

I forgot to mention that Soft Back Stars is also one of my favorite C93 albums; not just because of the obvious TL reference on the title, but because the music is very nice and has a special meaning for me, up there with Thunder Perfect Mind.

I cast the solitary vote for Soft Black Stars thus far. It is my favorite, to no end. It is one of the few albums that can still bring tears to my eyes. I drink it deep with wine and breathe in the rhythm of my lost child soul.

[SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe]

Can anyone say why we like this band when Tibet and his beliefs are quite the opposite of Tom Ligotti? Is it that we should like them, given the collaboration, so we gave them a chance? I'm beginning to like them less and less. More and more Tibet's vociferation of ever obscure subject matter and strictured dogma seem less enticing, more boring. I suspect he just tells people to come up with something resembling music and then fills in with his lyrics just waiting with bated breath.

Okay, I'm cynical, cruel...near-sighted? Well, maybe it helps that I used to be a born-again Christian. Enough of Christ and his precious sorrows -- and I still can't find the true significance of that most holy of descriptors, "patripassian," or why in the world anyone would want to profess that title so up-front. Tibet has had a place, but I think he's history and his latest album sucks.

[ventriloquist]

Well, I can say that most of C93's output from the past decade or so has been of little or no interest to me, not least because Tibet's lyrical/thematic obscurantism has effectively dulled whatever edge they once had. (Maybe "obscurantism" isn't the best word, but the newer stuff just seems rather muddled and irrelevant to me.)

I'm inclined to say my own beliefs are more in line with Tibet's than with Ligotti's, as far as the "metaphysics" apparent in their works go. If I had to devise a general rule for what attracts me to certain art, then it might be an aspiration to transcendence, and I detect that impulse in the best work of each of them.

[richardm123uk]

I have been listening to C93 since 1986 and have enjoyed listening and watching the band develop. That said, I have listened to very little since Soft Black Stars (the last great C93 album in my eyes).

Current have got more introspective in the lyric department and the music less innovative. They have produced an amazing body of work with Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre being my favourite.

[beakripped]

I wasn't aware that anyone was supposed to like one artist because they like another. On the opposite end, I don't see why one shouldn't enjoy one artist's works because they conflict with the viewpoints of another artist that one may also appreciate. If you don't like C93, so be it. There, I just saved you a bunch of money you can spend on Ligotti books and music you actually like!

[The Silent One]

Quote Originally Posted by SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe";p=&quot

Can anyone say why we like this band when Tibet and his beliefs are quite the opposite of Tom Ligotti? Is it that we should like them, given the collaboration, so we gave them a chance? I'm beginning to like them less and less. More and more Tibet's vociferation of ever obscure subject matter and strictured dogma seem less enticing, more boring. I suspect he just tells people to come up with something resembling music and then fills in with his lyrics just waiting with bated breath. Okay, I'm cynical, cruel...near-sighted? Well, maybe it helps that I used to be a born-again Christian. Enough of Christ and his precious sorrows -- and I still can't find the true significance of that most holy of descriptors, "patripassian," or why in the world anyone would want to profess that title so up-front. Tibet has had a place, but I think he's history and his latest album sucks.

Well, the man's said he writes about his obsessions, weird dreams, and so forth, so taking it like the lyrics are supposed to be looked at at face value is a tad stupid. Is it not true that he's mentioned the hallucinatory nature of his work on the very cover art of All the Pretty Little Horses.

To speak of religion, I don't think Tibet has ever said "You're going to hell if you don't agree with me". That is what makes so many zealots utterly intolerable. Not so much whatever odd viewpoint they hold, but the contempt for others, the feeling of superiority. And I really don't see that in David. I see a very unusual view of things, a preoccupation with the obscure and mildly absurd, but it's all in a very curious, only serious-but-not-quite way. Come on...

And now, patripassianism.

The whole idea behind this mediæval heresy is somewhat Ligottian in its perverse viewpoint. That is, that god is eternally in pain, feeling each cut inflicted, each act of cruelty. Then, if one combines that with Ligotti's ideal of an all-permeating, semi-intentionally sadistic deity, you've got one hell of a theology session.

[SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe]

Good. Some of this was what I was looking for.

[beakripped]

I change my vote - which I ddn't even submit yet 'cuz my browser's messed up.

Anyway my favorite C93 album is Black Ships EAT the Sky. At least a third of the remixed/alternate takes sound better than their ATE counterparts.

[Karnos]

Quote Originally Posted by SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe";p=&quot

Can anyone say why we like this band when Tibet and his beliefs are quite the opposite of Tom Ligotti? Is it that we should like them, given the collaboration, so we gave them a chance?

No, at least not with me. I discovered C93 early during my explorations of the industrial/folk/whatever European underground, via the Cold Meat Industry label. Any cursory glance at that "scene" will eventually come up with household names such as Nurse with Wound, C93, Death in June, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud, Lustmord, etc. I tried early C93 material (Nature Unveiled) before I knew of Tibet and TL's collaborations.

I knew about TL through an HPL mailing list, someone recommended him to me, I did some research and a couple of hours latter I was ordering my copy of TNF via amazon... the last one they ever sold. It wasn’t until latter when I discovered both men had engaged in a series of collaborations.

I really don't mind Tibet's views. Christ has been a constant presence in C93's work since the very beginning (Nature Unveiled, Imperium [more like Christ-Buddha] Christ and the Pale Queens Mighty in Sorrow) but it is no secret that early recordings were far more sinister. (How could no one enjoy music such as the evil children’s rhyme “Hey ho the Nodding Gods Comes!”)

It's the music what I like; Stapleton’s signature work with C93 is fantastic, and some of the lyrics are very nice, like those found in Soft Black Stars.

I admit, though, I really don't like "Black Ships Ate the Sky" that much...

	TNF The Nightmare Factory