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CURRENT 93, "THE COURTYARD/JERUSALEM"

Durtro/Jnana
Another of Durtro's limited edition goodies available at the recentToronto shows, this is a CDEP of David Tibet singing two of hisfavorite tracks from Simon Finn's Pass the Distance album, with Finnhimself on guitar and Joolie Wood on flute. While Tibet obviously hasaffection for this material, and he is careful not to trod upon itsmemory, he is perhaps a little too respectful with these coverversions. Rather than try to match or exceed Finn's soul-shatteringvocal climax on "Jerusalem," Tibet instead covers the song in hisfamiliar "speak-sing" style, barely cracking his voice for thepenultimate chorus. Also, for some reason known only to him, Tibet hasdecided to cut "The Courtyard" in half, singing only the first part ofthe song. The pretty acoustic backing and flourishes of flute are niceenough, but I don't think they work nearly as well for this material asthe kitchen-sink production of Finn's classic album. The only advantageof hearing Tibet tackle this material is the fact that it renders thelyrics much clearer and easier to decipher, as they are not coveredover by layers of reverb and detuned guitar acrobatics. Still, this EPhas the stink of a vanity project all over it, and while it's fun tolisten to the first few times, I'm not sure it's of any particular useto Current 93 fans or Simon Finn fans.

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