Cats Drunk on Copper

Durtro 056CD, 2001, Running time: 77:48

Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil - 05:04
Calling for Vanished Faces I - 01:34
Death of the Corn - 05:47
Horsey - 08:48
The Descent of Long Satan and Babylon - 03:15
In the Heart of the Woods and What I Found There - 02:46
Be - 00:48
Black Flowers Please - 04:20
Mary Waits in Silence - 03:03
Calling for Vanished Faces II - 04:14
Since Yesterday - 03:20
At the Blue Gates of Death - 04:16
The Bloodbells Chime - 03:46
All the World Makes Great Blood - 03:40
The Great, Bloody and Bruised Veil of the World - 04:49
Dormition and Dominion / So: This Empire is Nothing / This Shining Shining World - 09:23
A Sadness Song - 04:30
Happy Birthday - 04:24

Released to commemorate Current 93’s April 2001 shows at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, this CD is a live recording of another c93 performance at London’s Union Chapel in 1997. It’s well-recorded and features a reasonably wide range of material, though the overlap with another live album, All Dolled Up Like Christ, is fairly significant. Generally, I don’t find live albums to be very interesting, but if you do, then you’ll probably like this one, as the sound quality and the energy of the performers are both high. No lyrics are included in this digipak, and no track listing either.

Originally from All The Pretty Little Horses, I find this first song a surprise, as I’d never expected it to be played live. TWILIGHT TWILIGHT NIHIL NIHIL features the infamous “inmost light” loop while John Balance and other unidentified male voices recite the text, mostly “nihil nihil,” over it.

Tibet introduces CALLING FOR VANISHED FACES I with “To the sacred heart of Christ, the Patripassionist Pantocrator.” The song is from All The Pretty Little Horses.

THE DEATH OF THE CORN originally appeared on Horsey.

Also from Horsey, the song HORSEY is one of the most passionate pieces on this CD, as it frequently seems to be whenever Tibet performs it live. I still feel that their most effective version of the piece is on the compilation Emblems: The Mentsrual Years, but this is a nice recording as well.

THE DESCENT OF LONG SATAN AND BABYLON is from Thunder Perfect Mind.

Another passionate track, IN THE HEART OF THE WOODS AND WHAT I FOUND THERE also appeared on Thunder Perfect Mind.

For some reason, the short and seemingly-pointless song BE (from Imperium) always turns up on these live albums.

From Swastikas for Goddy, the amusingly discordant BLACK FLOWERS PLEASE is joyfully performed by Tibet and Rose McDowall. It’s actually one of my favorite pieces on this recording, as the band obviously had a lot of fun with it.

Again from Thunder Perfect Mind, MARY WAITS IN SILENCE.

The beautiful CALLING FOR VANISHED FACES II appeared previously on All The Pretty Little Horses.

SINCE YESTERDAY was originally a piece by Strawberry Switchblade, Rose McDowall’s earlier band. On Swastikas for Goddy, Tibet sang the piece; on this album, however, we’re treated to Rose’s sweetly wonderful rendition of the song.

Tibet performs AT THE BLUE GATES OF DEATH (from Earth Covers Earth), with Rose providing backing vocals.

One of my favorite songs ever, THE BLOODBELLS CHIME is from All The Pretty Little Horses.

ALL THE WORLD MAKES GREAT BLOOD is from Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre.

THE GREAT, BLOODY AND BRUISED VEIL OF THE WORLD, too, previously appeared on Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre.

Track sixteen is actually three separate songs (in fact, the final three songs) from Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre. Which is appropriate, as that album was originally intended as a single long piece. It occurs to me that, what an amazing concert it would be if Current 93 were to perform that album from start-to-finish. This is probably about as close as we’ll ever get, however.

From Thunder Perfect Mind, A SADNESS SONG.

Finally, an energetic and fun rendition of HAPPY BIRTHDAY (from Looney Runes) finishes off the album. Tibet ends with “Thank you very much; that’s all we know.”

No epilogue.