To me, the live albums always seemed like filler in the Current 93 catalog, frequent stopgaps between studio material, meant to please hardcore fans and completists. The problem plaguing much of the past material, in my opinion, is that Current 93 just weren't a very good live act until very recently. Though they have performed many live shows since their earliest incarnation, David Late Tibet and his merry band of apocalyptic folksters have frequently given new meaning to the term amateur. Just listen to the Hitler as Kalki material with Douglas P. senselessly pounding away on the same chord he's been playing for twenty years, John Balance "playing" stick guitar and Tibet and Rose McDowall shrieking out of key, taking a massive shit all over songs that sounded powerful and hypnotic on the proper studio album. Adding to the problem were bad PA systems and bad recording equipment. So, with all this in mind, I found myself pleasantly surprised by How I Devoured Apocalypse Balloon, a new double-disc live album featuring two full sets from last year's two dates at Toronto's St. George-the-Martyr Church on June 18th and 19th. (By the way, I can't stop singing the title of this album to the tune of The Fall's "How I Wrote Elastic Man.") This is probably Current 93's best live album, at least the best one that I've ever heard, as I admit to having skipped a few. Though the ensemble featured here is not quite as large and spectacular as that which was featured during this year's three-night run, the players still do a wonderful job of creating a fine musical accompaniment for Tibet's intense, crepuscular, poetic speak-singing. Though there are no liner notes which would indicate the personnel that performed at these concerts (and also, alas, no track listing), I think that I can hear and identify Maja Elliott on piano, Joolie Wood on violin, and perhaps also Simon Finn and Ben Chasny on acoustic guitar at various times. The recording quality is sparklingly clear, and the setlist chosen for both nights features of some of Current 93's best and best-loved material, drawn from as far back as Island and Imperium, all the way through Thunder Perfect Mind, Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre, All the Pretty Little Horses, Soft Black Stars, Sleep Has His House and even a cut off of Bright Yellow Moon. Along the way are some surprising wild cards from the back catalog that I've never heard performed live - including the haunting and powerful "They Return to Their Earth," "A Sadness Song" and "The Blue Gates of Death (Before and Beyond Them)," each faithfully rendered within a more limited instrumental palette. The second features very effective usage of noise loops and live electronic voice manipulations, which I can't recall hearing since the earliest phases of Current 93 live shows. I still don't think I'll listen to this much beyond the few spins I gave it before writing this review, but as Current 93 live albums go, this one is truly definitive.

Jonathan Dean
Sunday, 12 June 2005