Search - Sex Gang Children :: Dark Archives

Interesting rarities and adequate re-mixes

Dean Dirge | 07/22/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Dark Archives brings together rarities and re-mixes.



Tracks two through nine are rough recordings by the same lineup of Sex Gang Children that recorded the memorable, full-length version of Mauritia Mayer. I don't know whether these tracks are demos or simply unfinished, but they provide an interesting snap-shot of a band in transition and a record of the creative process that spawned the better-known versions of these pieces. Most of these tracks are available on Demonstration, another collection of oddities and rarities.



Tracks one and ten are industrial noise pieces.



Tracks eleven through twenty-one represent Naked, the band's early live album. Also available on the bonus disc that comes with Fall (the singles collection), Naked will be of some historical interest to SGC fans.



On the second disc, tracks one through seven and track seventeen are classic SGC tracks freshly re-mixed by latter-day drummer Kevin Matthews. While Matthews does a fine job of clarifying Andi's vocals and diminishing some of the mushiness of the original mixes, the remixes lack the lush ambiance that is a signiature of the SGC sound. Personally, I prefer the reverb-drenched quality of the original mixes.



Tracks eight through sixteen and tracks eighteen and nineteen are hits and highlights from the brief career of the original lineup of Sex Gang Children, including the version of Into the Abyss with the bizarre, polyrhythmic coda.



Dark Archives may be of interest to the serious SGC fan, but I would point newcomers elsewhere. The Hungry Years is a fairly comprehensive collection, and a combination of Song and Legend, Deiche and Re-enter the Abyss also covers most of the original SGC lineup's output. I also recommend these works by Andi Sexgang: Blind (later marketed as a SGC album), God on a Rope and Last of England."