This is an unusual compilation, and it is one that guided my ears in the direction I took when exploring the genre. It’s an unofficial compilation and, like all good music, not available in the shops. More of a mix tape someone put out onto the wibbly wobbly web back in the nineties.
The first track is Hoquetus I-VII by an unknown composer and by the third track, a Saltarello also by an unknown composer, it starts to become clear that the compiler is trying to take the listener through their interpretation of goth music through the ages. Soon we hear Minstrel Hall by Blackmore’s Night. Not exactly goth but dabbling with medievalism, nicely leading us into track two, 18th Century Gypsy Music by Bubak and Hungaricus. Layers of folk influences building up. By the time we reach midway point, we are already being tricked into believing that Ataraxia’s Canzona is a faithful reproduction of a old classical piece.
Of course it’s not. But by this time you don’t care. Further tracks of the acoustic, goth, medieval theme float past including Eld’s interpretation of Death in June’s Death of the West, songs by Ordo Equitum Solis and Eden also don’t seem out of place. The cherry on the top being Bauhaus‘ King Volcano.
I’m still fond of this compilation, even though, in all honesty, I am missing a number of tracks from the original compilation. Moreover, this album also saw me eager to discover more about bands like Ordo Equitum Solis, Blackmore’s Night and Eden. Bands I would never have heard of if it had not been for illegal downloads of music from unregulated sources.
Of course, like home taping before it, downloading music illegally was the death of music and we know today how empty our lives have become because music was killed.
Stegzy's Music Project 