Five hours of mood-lowering music & video from the foremost names in gloom.
CD Reviews
The humble opinion of a ex-Goth :-|
T. Dorman | South Africa | 09/20/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Well, No matter what the last person said ... I think it's a great compilation ... Great songs, great music vids. Could have had more Sisters on it though.... But over all there is nothing wrong with the selection. If you are new to Gothic music.... I mean REAL Gothic Rock... not NuGoth, Scary-Trans, Darkmetal, Black Polka, Doom-yodelling or any of the other weak spin-offs of the `90's and 2000's... than this Little Black box of "inner-morbid-heartaches and boo-hoo's" is as great a place to start as any.
5 skeletal thumbs up."
Turning on the light in a dark room
Stephanie Travitsky | brooklyn, new york United States | 10/17/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The liner for this compilation pretty much sums it up. Goth music was created in the UK by people who watched the late night creature feature and who read Shelly, Stoker,etc. Some of these artists were romantics and some wanted to be like Alice Cooper (Nik Fiend).
This is a great introduction to what truly defined the Goth music movement and how it intertwined with Punk, New Wave, and EBM. However, I must argue that AFI really is not goth and never will be. Plus, while Flesh for Lulu was technically concidered a Goth band, "Ï Go Crazy" is not a Goth song. I would have eliminated AFI and used "Reptile" by The Church."
So gothic it's undead
child of the cuckoo | Augusta, GA | 10/10/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I am completely pleased to see something like this come out in the year 2006. For those who are just discovering gothic rock, and for us seasoned veterans, this collection is exceptional. I do have some bones with it...AFI is a good band but hardly goth. And where are bands like Inkubus Sukkubus? Die Laughing? Switchblade Symphony? Big Electric Cat? The Shroud? Ofra Haza? And they certainly could have picked a better Neubauten song!! But I digress...this is a great collection. The DVD rocks, the music rocks. Check it out for yourself."
Gothic 101
John Bowman | San Francisco Bay Area | 01/16/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I really love this box set. I grew up in the age of goth was around for it's birth. Of course at the time I never considered myself a goth in anyway and I wouldn't have looked the part either. But the music is another thing altogether and I truly loved the music that became known as GOTH. This is great example of some great songs from the goth age and well represented across the genre and through time. Although I owned most of these songs already, either on CD or Vinyl, there were some gems in the mix that I didn't have. I also liked the DVD, which features some videos for songs that didn't make it onto the music CD's themselves. My friends and I had a great laugh as well when we read the instructions on how to dance goth. As funny as it read, it was dead on with my memory of how "goths" danced at the clubs I visited in my youth and maybe, just maybe, it rubbed off on how I danced at the time as well. All in all a Life Less Lived is a great box set for those who love goth or for those who wish to get a definitive initiation into the goth music genre."
A Night of Dark Wave
Dagoberto P. Patlan | San Antonio, Texas United States | 05/02/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Though this box set is called "Goth," it's no visit to the Batcave! It is however a nice compilation of the darker side of the 80's. From the more well known and popular artists like Joy Division, Siouxsie, Eho & the Bunnymen and Gene Loves Jezabel to the lesser well known acts like 45 Grave, Southern Death Cult (later became the Cult) and the Fields of Nephilim, this box set is more of a pop comp of great acts that can be classified as Goth but not solely such.
Make no mistake, the box set comes with a wonderful booklet about Goth culture and even in it's "Porducer's Notes", Liz Goodman tells you The Gothic Box is not meant to be any kind of quintessential but merely a general introduction.
You wont find rare b-sides or forgotten tracks from these "Goth" artists, but what you will find are the more popular faire--and that's OK! This Goth Box is really"Goth" for the non-Goth.
What is unique about this compilation is the included DVD. It contains live and produced music videos from Bauhaus, The Cure, Echo & The Bunnymen, the JAMC, Ministry, The Cult, Siouxsie, the Fields of Nephilim, the Mission UK, Nick Cave and even Love & Rockets. It's this DVD that makes this compilation worth the investment.
For people into this genre of music (however you classify it), most of us have to rely on highly compressed youtube videos or having to purchase several compilation DVDS to get all these artists. For the first time in a long time, you can listen and watch several of these lost bands all on one DVD.
And, when you're not watching the DVD and just listening to the music on the 3 CDs, why not open up the "Goth 101" handbook and read what authors Mick Mercer, Dave Thompson, Jason Pettigrew, Sue Lott, Phil Durr, Kia MacTane, Antigone and Scary Lady Sarah have to say about Goth culture. From Goth Matters and the Bands, to the Goth Tag and notes to "Goth" Clubs, it's a great insight into what was once counterculture...which has become pop culture. Hot Topic--need I say more?
To top it all off, the box set is bound in Vinyl which is a little gimmick-ish but what the heck, it makes for great conversation when the uninitiated come to visit.
For this author, it was a great addition to my darkwave compilation collection and yes, there are one or two gems to be found within...so what the heck, it's only money!"
Track Listings (17) - Disc #1