Customer Reviews

Island

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

just a quick note: I love this cd and think it is one of the better (and more accessible) C93 releases. There are a few songs that use sythesizer sequences, which is a bit out of the norm for them (perhaps this is the HoH influence) but it really works quite well.

I also wanted to add (since i don't see it in the other reviews) that this cd was recorded in Iceland. Therefore, we are treated to a guest appearence (on at least one song) by a little known female vocalist from Iceland at the time known as Bjork. Now of course she is an international superstar. Don't buy the cd just for that though - she only appears as a back-up singer.

This album is also, along with Thunder Perfect Mind and All The Pretty Little Horses, one of their most accessible. Every song is dreamy, wispy, ethereal, like a touch of pale smoke. Organs, violins, icy, bleak vocals, twilight skies, tenebrae... this is an incredible album.

I can only describe this music as an elegant masterpiece who's sound carries perfectly the feeling Current 93 expresses. Tibet is as godly in ISLAND as he is in any other C93 album; spellbinding, gracefully capturing, darkly bright and beautiful; moving. 5 stars.
I recommend Thunder Perfect Mind; All the Pretty Little Horses too.

It's like a happier version of Sopor Aeternus, without the circus music. The lyrics are more thought provoking, and less depressing. The music reminds me of some of the older Coil stuff on their "Unnatural History" CD's. Buying a Current 93 CD is like gambling. Sometimes you get all aces, and sometimes your hand is a dud. With "Islands", it's all aces. The CD has great, ethereal music, and lyrics that I get something new out of each time I hear them!

This CD was a collaboration between Tibet and HOH, and HOH's influence shows in the instrumentation (electronic for the most part) and the song writing. This CD shows Tibet both in serious mode ("The Dream of a Shadow of Smoke") and silly mode ("Crowleymass" and "Paperback Honey"). Also included are alternative arrangements of C93 classics such as the ubiquitous "Fields of Rape." Bjork sings back up vocals on one track.

I remember listening to this alone in a huge old house on a mammoth sound system. It was....formative, okay? I swore never to listen to it again because it was transcendental (man!) And why ruin a perfect moment? It meanders at times but passing horses is awesome. Our lives are like vapour, apparently, drawn from celestial influence. Beats New Labour, I suppose. Great keyboard work. great everything. Yes, I broke the vow and regretted it.