12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exhaustive. (almost), April 27, 2006
This review is from: Rare Cult (Ltd.Ed) (6CD) (Audio CD)
An exhaustive six disc (with first pressing containing a bonus disc) boxed set of rare and unreleased material by the Cult, "Rare Cult" is pretty much an extended love letter to the band's fans, collecting b-sides, radio sessions, leftovers and the "Peace" sessions. Organized chronologically, the set has a nice organic flow that follows the band's progress.
Being chronological, the set begins in the band's post-goth period, the "Dreamtime" and "Love" albums of the early '80s. A little over a disc of material is included, mostly drawn from radio sessions-- these tend to be pretty interesting and there's some great performances ("Spiritwalker") that capture the energy of the pieces better than the original studio performances did. A couple largely extraneous remixes are included and a few leftover tracks, in particular "Little Face" and "Judith", which were removed from "Love" when the band wanted to produce a harder edge to the album's sound. Both pieces are interesting (in particular "Judith", which is bizarre and atmospheric), but it's clear why "The Phoenix" and "Love" were substituted for them-- neither feel fully realized.
The next set of material is perhaps the most intriguing of the entire boxed set-- the Cult began working up material for an album tentatively titled "Peace" with the usual demos, radio session performances, and eventually recording an album. After hooking up with producer Rick Rubin, the band would re-record the material from these sessions as the "Electric" album, a record of stripped down rock music, so the opportunity to hear this material without Rubin's influence is intriguing, whether it be the sessions and promotion leading up to the album's recording or the album itself. Intriguingly enough, the best material on "Electric" seems to suffer pretty heavily ("Love Removal Machine" is just a mess), but the material I was less interested in on "Electric" ("King Contrary Man", "Peace Dog") seems to work out better here. I'm thinking it may be because not all this material was altogether suited for being stripped down rock, and it's nice to have the "Peace" album to compare (which I actually find to be superior to "Electric"). The real gem from these sessions is "Zap City"-- issued as a b-side, it's a fierce and explosive song that probably would have benefited from Rubin's production strategy, but even without, it's a fantastic piece. The set also includes a handful of tracks leftover from the Rubin sessions, some additional mixes but also a couple leftover tracks, many of which are worthwhile.
The set then turns to a series of demos cut during the "Sonic Temple" sessions-- it only includes pieces that were not included on "Sonic Temple". Some of these, remarkably, are of enormously high quality, but I suspect this is because of a sense of immediacy and urgency, building upon the heights of the stripped-back "Electric" approach ("Zodiac") rather than the somewhat overblown "Sonic Temple". Admittedly, some of hte pieces are a bit lacking in songwriting (notably "Yes Man", which is mind-numbingly irritating but also the rambling, endless "Lay Down Your Gun"), but these are demos and were wisely excluded from the album. Also of note from these sessions is "Star Child", the basis for "Star" on "The Cult" several years later.
"Ceremony", the much lamented follow-up to "Sonic Temple", is the next album and again, a series of demos are provided. The first two are most interesting in that they present the Cult with Billy Duffy on acoustic guitars and, while they feel like demos, both "Indian" and "Spanish Gold" get exciting and powerful readings in this fashion that really allows Astbury to shine. After these two, a few electric demos are provided-- similar to the material on "Ceremony", many of the pieces are intriguing but a bit overlong ("Host of Angels"). The most exciting piece on here is "Northern Man", an early version of fan favorite "The Witch", which even in this early stage was enormously powerful (although it definitely benefited from the lyrical rewrite). The set also includes a set of rerecordings that serbed as b-sides, including great acoustic versions of "Edie (Ciao Baby)" and "Heart and Soul" that really provide an opportunity for the pieces to breathe and fantastic "live in the studio" readings of "Love Removal Machine" and "Earth Mofo" (the latter in particular).
After "Ceremony", the band recorded "The Witch", presented here in an extended mix (that quite frankly, adds little to the piece), one of the best recordings of their career and then turned their attention to what would be their last album before breaking up, simply titled "The CUlt". This set provides an opportunity for long-time fans to reconsider the album, Billy Duffy states in the liner notes that he considers it the "great, undiscovered Cult album", an assertion I would support. A pair of remixes of album tracks (including a brilliantly fractured remix of "Gone") and a pile of fantastic unreleased tracks shed new light on just how good this record was.
The bonus remix CD that the first prints of this came with are kind of... well, it's mostly dance mixes and the like. I'm glad I got the disc, but it's not something I largely feel a great need to listen to.
The boxed set comes housed in a big cardboard box surrounding three double digipacks all in basic black and includes extensive liner notes (culled in part from interviews with Billy Duffy) discussing the band's history, the material on here.
If there's a complaint, it's that the set is not quite exhaustive-- five tracks are only included on "The Best of Rare Cult", a real point of irritation for someone who went out and bought this box.
Let's be straight, years on after the release, odds are anyone reading this already got this box, but if you're a diehard Cult fan and you don't have this, you're really missing out, this set is exhaustive, and while all the music is not essential, there's certainly enough great material on here to make it a fine investment. Recommended.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A maximum amount of Cult, June 10, 2001
This review is from: Rare Cult (Ltd.Ed) (6CD) (Audio CD)
Warning! This box set is not for the casual fan in the slightest! That said, let's get to it! At first glance of the song listings, you could almost become overwhelmed at the sheer amount of unreleased songs! Here is the states, Cult singles could be a hard thing to find, so many of the songs are new to me. Even with the odd remix or so, you find yourself almost listening to a whole new album each time! And as you listen, you begin to wonder why several are not on albums, as in my opinion some of these "throw away"songs outshine many of their record ready tunes. The discs(6 or 7) are done in order of release...almost, so if you find yourself drawn to Dreamtime or Love Cult, Discs 1&2 are for you, Electric, you get disc 3 (the lost peace album) and 4, which are my fav's personally, and disc 5 for Sonic Temple and Ceremony. 6 is historically important as you could see where the Cult MAY have gone after 1994, but as we now know-Beyond good and evil is where they went(YEAH!). The 7th disc is not important to the history of the Cult, but it does show the band sometimes playfully mixing songs. And for once, the remixes don't suck! All in all, the only reason I don't give this a 5 is because you find yourself with too much new stuff to deal with, like if you were a new fan and you bought all albums at once. Maybe releasing the seperatly would have been better, but I could be wrong. If you are hesitant (like I was when it first came out)I highly recommend the "Best of Rare Cult" first, as you get an idea of what your getting into.
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