Artist: Various Artists
Title: A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box
Year Of Release: 2006
Label: Rhino Records [R2 73374]
Genre: Alternative Rock, New Wave, Industrial, Indie, Psychedelic, Goth, Post-Punk
Audio codec: Mp3 @320 kbps
Total Time: 3:55:20

In his insightful notes for Rhino's unprecedented new box, Goth expert Mick Mercer writes, Goth blossomed on the gritty soil of punk; forever indebted, essentially different. It has survived all manner of invective and unhealthy assumptions to become a shining example of music made because it needs to be, not because of anything the performers expect to get out of it. This is art which gets inside your heart. The artists featured on this 3CD & 1 DVD collection, the most comprehensive of its kind, indeed created affecting music about what passionately mattered to them, and what started as intense personal expression evolved into a 'lifestyle' for the core audience who most embraced its deep and dark ethos. Reveling in introspection and entranced with sex, death, the life of the mind, and musical poetry, Goth's power to fascinate has never waned, making it one of the most complex and enduring sub-sets of underground music ever.

Yes, I was one of those kids: big, messy hair; black clothes; makeup on the weekends; surly demeanor with everyone but my friends. But my friends were legion. And what bonded us all? Goth music--dark, arty, dramatic, epic, apocalyptic. It gave us focus and refuge during those formative years. Now, it appears some of those kids have grown up and started working for Rhino. A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box hones in on the territory started by their expansive Left of the Dial box set and gives it a smear of red lipstick and a down-turned glance. And in usual Rhino fashion, it's lovingly designed (the slipcase is a faux-leather corset!), with an extensive booklet that will answer all of your questions about goth, and this box set in particular. It will be needed. One can already hear the cries of "What about...?," "Why that song?," and "Is that goth?" These questions are addressed and gotten out of the way in quick succession. Rhino has the cachet to pull together artists that wouldn't normally be part of such a box set, so they rightly concentrate on including the biggies (the Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy). Also present less well-known bands, such as Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, the March Violets, and the Virgin Prunes. What about the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Misfits, and Echo & the Bunnymen? Are they goth? Not strictly, but every goth I knew loved them. There's even an "instructional" essay for those new to the scene, and a cover of the Cure's "The Hanging Garden" by new-schoolers A.F.I. to bring in the uninitiated. Go on, break out those velvet vests and pointy boots and put this on--it's still amazingly vibrant stuff. --Robert Arambel

Tracklist:
Disc: 1
1. Dead Souls - Joy Division
2. Charlotte Sometimes - The Cure
3. She's In Parties - Bauhaus
4. Temple Of Love - The Sisters Of Mercy
5. Christian Says - Tones On Tail
6. Mutiny In Heaven - The Birthday Party
7. Spellbound - Siouxie & the Banshees
8. Fatman - The Southern Death Cult
9. Mirror People - Love And Rockets
10. Power - Fields Of The Nephilim
11. Now I'm Feeling Zombified - Alien Sex Fiend
12. Snake Dance - The March Violets
13. Walking On Your Hands - Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
14. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Specimen
15. Wasteland - The Mission UK
16. The Grip Of Love - Ghost Dance
17. His Box - Dali's Car

Disc: 2
1. The Weeping Song - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2. Exterminating Angel - The Creatures
3. God's Zoo - Death Cult
4. Heartache - Gene Loves Jezebel
5. I Go Crazy - Flesh For Lulu
6. Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy
7. Open Your Eyes - The Lords Of The New Church
8. Heaven Is Waiting - The Danse Society
9. All My Colours - Echo & The Bunnymen
10. Don't Fall - The Chameleons UK
11. Dreamland - The Rose Of Avalanche
12. Fall - The Jesus And Mary Chain
13. Coming Down Fast - Daniel Ash
14. Muscoviet Mosquito - Clan Of Xymox
15. Incubus Succubus II - Xmal Deutshland
16. Starblood - Cranes
17. Ardera Sempre - Miranda Sex Garden
18. Blood Bitch -- Cocteau Twins
19. The Arcane - Dead Can Dance
20. Rain - The Cult

Disc: 3
1. Away - The Bolshol
2. Watch Without Pain - Rubicon
3. Pagan Lovesong - Virgin Prunes
4. Morning Dew - Einsturzende Neubauten
5. Hamburger Lady - Throbbing Gristle
6. To Blame - Kommunity FK
7. Melody Lee - The Damned
8. Romeo's Distress - Christian Death
9. Party Time - 45 Grave
10. Kiss - London After Midnight
11. Dieche - Sex Gang Children
12. Assimilate - Skinny Puppy
13. Halloween - Misfits
14. Tomorrow's World - Killing Joke
15. So What - Ministry
16. The Hanging Garden - AFI