Current Ninety Three / Antony and the Johnsons "Cripple
and the Starfish / Immortal Bird"
Durtro / World Serpent Distribution Durtro 049CD 2000
(10:52)
Antony and the Johnsons "Cripple and the Starfish" (4:11)
Current Ninety Three "Immortal Bird" (6:41)
Antony and the Johnsons: Antony - voice and piano, Todd Cohen - drums, François Gehin - bass, Baby Dee - harp, Cady Finlayson - violin, Liz Maranville - violin, Vicky Leavitt - cello, Barb Morrison - clarinet and saxophone. Current Ninety Three: David Tibet - voice, Michael Cashmore - instruments, Steven Stapleton - drums.
This cd single couples a new Current 93 track (from the forthcoming album "Sleep Has His House") with a track by New York based singer/song-writer Antony and his ensemble the Johnsons. David Tibet was introduced to Antony at the NYC C93 shows in 1999 where he received a now beloved copy of Antony's "Blue Angel" album. The result: this single and the self titled Antony and the Johnsons album are now available on Tibet's Durtro label distributed via World Serpent. I'm sure most people who bought this disc were like me ... they got it for the Current 93 having never heard (of) Antony. And I'm also sure many people had the same reaction as me ... 'wow, the Antony and the Johnsons track blows the C93 track away'. "Cripple and the Starfish" is a redemptive love song, Antony creating a metaphor for the pain of love with the repeated lyric "I grow back like a starfish". His rather unique voice, poetic lyrics and piano are accentuated with a rich orchestral arrangement of strings, winds and drums ... moody and beautiful in a very effeminate and dramatic way. It's easy to see why Tibet is taken with their work. "Immortal Bird" repeats a gentle harmonium(?)/drone motif for it's duration, Tibet speaking lyrics for the first 2 and 1/2 of it's nearly 7 minutes. It's a decent track, but a bit of a let down after the much more dynamic "Cripple..". My recommendation: don't get this single unless you're a completist. Instead, get the Antony album (out now) and new C93 album (due later this year) seeing as both of these tracks are culled from the albums ...
Antony
and the Johnsons
Current 93
Where did I get this cd? - mail order via Riouxs Records.