STOLEN AND CONTAMINATED SONGS

You've no idea how much I looked forward to hearing this in '92. Six months after posting a cheque for 13 quid to Coil themselves it finally arrived.

Without a linear word, letter or goddamn hieroglyph in the packaging, I'd no idea what I was going to hear. All I got was just a bunch of vibrant paint, splattered on the sleeve with no information whatsoever. I once thought I was one of only 1000 people who'd ever heard this limited recording before it was given an official release date years later.

A Patrick Troughton 'Cyberman' introduces the album with the line 'This is the Dark age of Love' - which was supposedly the original title of 'Love's Secret Domain'.

The intro 'Further' is a far more bombastic version of 'Further Back and Faster' from the preceding album. 'Original Chaostrophy' is stripped back to beautiful horns and strings in its brief two minute duration. 'Who'll Tell' has a rather 90's sounding looped bongo drum where spoken bass like vocals are slowed down and sneakily sped up forging an uncanny amalgamation of electronic sound.

In contrast to 'Gold is the Metal' which was a an out-take demo version of the mighty 'Horse Rotorvator' this succeeds immensely better despite being tunes lifted directly from its predecessor. Some folk actually prefer this version and I can understand why. It's more electronica and instrumental than 'Love's Secret Domain'.

The highlight on'Stolen and Contminated' comes next with the splendid 'Omlagus Garfungiloops' - a sexually bass laden dirty lounge track, where clicking fingers are amplified as sleazy, dirty horns blow quietly. Car horns bleep and honk as the never forgettable vocal line emerges with 'Have you been exploding frogs again'. It's very David Lynch 'Twin Peaks' in style. A stand alone track that is equal to what follows.

The superb 'Nasa Arab' is next in this litany of oddness. A 10 minute wobbly masterpiece that throbs and glides with superb structure, intricacy, sensitivity and dark provocation amongst it's heavy beats and thumping percussion. A masterwork amongst many in the Coil discography. It's such a pity it remains hidden on a relatively unheard recording. Honestly, I could listen to this all day. It continually morphs and has some of the most beautiful chords I've ever heard. Not only that - it's upbeat! - can you believe it? - an upbeat Coil song!

If it weren't for the fact that this was a collection of re-worked material I'd happily have given this 5 stars. It's a thing of beauty.

I'm brought right back down to Earth with 'Who'll Fall'. This is an answer machine recording left on Peter Christopherson's phone. Some poor guy appeals to Christopherson to help him understand his best pals suicide after jumping off a cliff. This is all the more chilling and moving when you consider lead vocalist and main man of Coil John Balance fell from a stair-top balcony to his death in 2004. What makes this particularly sad is the gorgeous guitar which thrums throughout in a ghostly manner.

'Stolen and Contaminated' is an excellent action packed album, that would normally gain five stars but is unfortunately stunted due to the simple fact that most of the material was lifted from 'Love's Secret Domain'.

COIL lets it "guard" down!

The metamorphical prog/electronic "obscure" band par excellence, presents in this the first (there are 2) "Stolen And Contaminated Songs", 1992, recording, outtakes and unreleased songs from their previous CD, the quiet extraordinary and intense "Love's Secret Domain"(which is featured among the 100 best prog/electronic records here in PA).

Very relaxed in its songwriting, it is shinier than most of COIL's "abstract and obscure" preferences. In fact, it is even playful and danceable at times. But do not worry COIL followers, this "Love's Secret Domain" kind of sequel, is still as "dark" and "humorous" as it is usually expected.

Although its "friendly" and "lighter" moods, some of the songs, do repeat each other's structures. Nevertheless the highlights do match any of the best parts of "Love's Secret Domain", and the unrelated directly to this previous project songs, are full of new lines and songwriting proposals.

Being one of COIL's followers, I need to be impartial as a "judge/reviewer", therefore an excellent addition for a COIL's audiophile and collector, and a very good introduction into COIL's ever expanding/changing, prog/Avant Garde/ Electronics, for those, yet to come, "COILERS".

***3.5 PA stars.

STOLEN AND CONTAMINATED SONGS is the second album from COIL in 1992 and is in reality a collection of alternate versions of tracks that appeared on "Love's Secret Domain," various outtakes and other unreleased tracks that didn't make the final cut on that one, however it took me the longest time to even realize that that was the case as even the tracks that are supposed to be related seem totally different and a million miles away in terms of sound and mood. So in effect this bizarre and wild electronic album sounds quite unique in the COIL universe and one which i find to be even better than the original track releases on "Love's Secret Domain."

It all starts off with one of my all time favorite COIL tracks, the mondo-bizarre "Further" which begins with a processed Stephen Hawking type vocal effect and then slinks and slithers through very strange electronically processed sound dynamics with a cricket- like sounding percussive accompaniment. This track should be played on a high quality stereo that can distinguish subtle sounds and will startle and invade the listener's soul as this music is literally unlike anything ever created even amongst the vast circulating library of Jon Balance and Peter Christopherson, themselves. The mood drastically changes as "Original Chaostrophy" comes off like a stab in the heart and the seeming soundtrack to a mortally wounded soul as lugubrious string sections (all electronic i presume) pull all the proper heart strings and yank them until the listener feels like a total mental collapse. The symphonic type construction is mercifully short and to the point. Next up "Who'll Tell?" returns to a more familiar type of COIL sound with recurring spoken narrations, tribal percussion and strangely woven electronic riffs that create separate but dynamic parts. Then appears the original mix of "Love's Secret Domain" which probably stands out the least with more spoken word narration and a darkened synth pop type of style that appeared on their earliest releases. Sort of a industrial goth type of sound.

"Omlagus Garfungiloops" begins with a strange vocal reading of the title track and then breaks into some kind of back alley jazzy night club sound that makes me think of some speakeasy dive in a strange parallel universe that includes as much electronica as super sexy swinging melodies. "Inkling" is just plain freaky. It sounds like a harp sweep of some sort with gurgling electronics sputtering out. As bizarre as it it is, still manages to conjure up an addictive ear worm of a melody. One of my faves of the COIL- sters. "Nasa-Arab" is yet another stand out and a near 11 minute spaced out trip into a very bizarre sonicscape that captures wild undulating electronic noises, tribal like drumming and a recurring hypno-groovy bass line that recurs pulling the listener into an ever deepening trance. "Who'll Fall?" is yet another wild melancholic concoction with heart wrenching undulating strings, clicking static sounds and spoken word narration. "Who'll Fall?" is a narrated tale about a friend committing suicide with melancholic freakiness. "The Original Wild Garlic Memory" continues the "Who'll Tell?" type sound only in a different way with the same groove but with a lot more chaos and noisy effects.

"Wrim Wram Wrom" has an industrial sounding machine repetition and a jarring hum and unrelenting synthesized keyboard keeping the beat while a cello dances around in the background while strange noises pop in and out. "Corybantic Ennui" sounds more like a folk track with flute sounds and is very short. "Her Friends The Wolves" is another near 11 minute track that jumps back into extremely dark and foreboding industrial sound effects without any melody or beat, simply imposing growling muffled noises that make me think of being drowned in the digestive track of a monster and the ensuing noises are my body being digested alive! Once the electronic beats begin it induces a frenetic sense of dread. Cool stuff! "Light Shining Darkly" is more like a swirling space journey where the synth sounds are ethereal and feel like the whizzing plunge into a worm hole in hyperdrive with a slightly catchy accompanying melody trying to catch up. It ends with even more strangely processed vocals that sound like entities trying to cross over into our dimension but due to interference keep vibrating back and forth between from whence they come and our world. Very strange stuff!

This is actually one of my favorite COIL releases. I tend to like these compilations of unrelated weirdness that didn't fit in on any proper album. This one is very eclectic in every way and takes the listener through one extended torturous experience to the next. These guys were simply whacked out beyond belief for i can't imagine what it takes to come up with this kind of experimental alchemy that it requires to create such unique soundscapes. COIL's output has been nothing less than remarkable in their ability to continuously deliver otherworldly "musical" expressions and on STOLEN AND CONTAMINATED SONGS they unleash some of their harshest and most demanding bouts with the electronic avant-garde of their career, yet most of these tracks manage to muster up at least one element that keeps it somewhat catchy and accessible from the get go. This is a brilliant album with only the spoken word segments a little lackluster.

4.5 rounded down