Released in time to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of enigmatic artist Rozz Williams. His legacy is many things to many people. On one hand he is an icon of the Goth scene, something he wished to avoid like the plague. On the other hand, touring the world playing those old songs put money in his pocket to produce other projects including art, performance pieces and film. Many have said that he wanted to break free of the image he had created as a teenager and wanted to be looked upon as an artist rather than an image on a black tee-shirt.
After they had both left the post-OTOP version of Christian Death, singers Rozz Williams and Gitane Demone worked together on and off on stage and in the studio. This double disc set is made up of live recordings from England, France and Mexico. Gitane provides vocals and atmospheric keyboards and the duo are backed by touring musicians. While they lack the finesse of the players from the landmark Christian Death releases, it’s a pretty tall order to replicate those records. That being said the band does just fine although when it is just Rozz and Gitane it is pure magic.
The majority of songs on disc one come from the three groundbreaking Christian Death albums OTOP, Catastrophe Ballet and Ashes. Rozz gives animated renditions of the songs from OTOP just as on the studio re-recordings since his voice went hoarse during the original recording session. Gitane provides the keyboards and back-up vocals and the bare bones version of The Luxury Of Tears represented here is astounding.
Songs from their Dream Home Heartache collaboration figure on disc two. The sound is more cohesive here and the performances sound as good as studio recordings. While still in the realm of the dark, Rozz sounds focused and committed to this direction without a hint of the cheekiness on the first disc. His smooth vocals sound like some kind of angry angel as he did have a beautiful voice that could also be very forceful. Sharing the gift of voice is Gitane who provides lovely vocal styling that harkens back to the decadent Weimar culture of 1920’s Berlin. The chemical reaction of her and Rozz together is one of those special things that don’t occur too often. In a way, disc two is the most satisfying. It captures both performers stripping themselves naked and putting everything they have into their performance, a performance more like a confession.
