VA - Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box [3CD Remastered Edition] (2006)

In his insightful notes for Rhino's unprecedented new box, Goth expert Mick Mercer writes, Goth blossomed on the gritty soil of punk; forever indebted, essentially different. It has survived all manner of invective and unhealthy assumptions to become a shining example of music made because it needs to be, not because of anything the performers expect to get out of it. This is art which gets inside your heart. The artists featured on this 3CD & 1 DVD collection, the most comprehensive of its kind, indeed created affecting music about what passionately mattered to them, and what started as intense personal expression evolved into a 'lifestyle' for the core audience who most embraced its deep and dark ethos. Reveling in introspection and entranced with sex, death, the life of the mind, and musical poetry, Goth's power to fascinate has never waned, making it one of the most complex and enduring sub-sets of underground music ever.

Yes, I was one of those kids: big, messy hair; black clothes; makeup on the weekends; surly demeanor with everyone but my friends. But my friends were legion. And what bonded us all? Goth music--dark, arty, dramatic, epic, apocalyptic. It gave us focus and refuge during those formative years. Now, it appears some of those kids have grown up and started working for Rhino. A Life Less Lived: The Gothic Box hones in on the territory started by their expansive Left of the Dial box set and gives it a smear of red lipstick and a down-turned glance. And in usual Rhino fashion, it's lovingly designed (the slipcase is a faux-leather corset!), with an extensive booklet that will answer all of your questions about goth, and this box set in particular. It will be needed. One can already hear the cries of "What about...?," "Why that song?," and "Is that goth?" These questions are addressed and gotten out of the way in quick succession. Rhino has the cachet to pull together artists that wouldn't normally be part of such a box set, so they rightly concentrate on including the biggies (the Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy). Also present less well-known bands, such as Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, the March Violets, and the Virgin Prunes. What about the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Misfits, and Echo & the Bunnymen? Are they goth? Not strictly, but every goth I knew loved them. There's even an "instructional" essay for those new to the scene, and a cover of the Cure's "The Hanging Garden" by new-schoolers A.F.I. to bring in the uninitiated. Go on, break out those velvet vests and pointy boots and put this on--it's still amazingly vibrant stuff. --Robert Arambel