The Alternative White Album

 

The Post Romantic Empire Ensemble - The Post Romantic Empire Album [OSS001 ITA 2013 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC]

Maintaining our position among the darker edges of music, here is an album I last ripped back in 2016 and removed the link after two weeks. For you genre buffs, let's call this all neo-classical experimental post-punk which occasionally dips into neo-folk.

From one or the most beautifully package releases in modern times comes The Post Romantic Empire Album assembled in Italy from mostly British ingredients in hand-made sleeves, this collection of work is worth tracking down for any serious vinyl enthusiast. There are just 1001 copies circulating worldwide ...oddly some may still be available.

Whilst it could well be deemed quite pretentious in places, the assembled artists recreate the strange beautiful aura you only ever used to find on the works of This Mortal Coil and such like. There are many involved but Peter Hook, Dave Barbarossa, Annabella Lwin, David Tibet, Larry Cassidy and Annie Anxiety will be familiar to most, however it is the vision of our Italian hosts which has to be commended.

There are many highlights, including the twin drums of Vin Cassidy and Dave Barbarossa on the seventeen minute interpretation of Love Will Tear Us Apart, which also features a much revised Peter Hook bass line or it could be Christian Death's Gitane Demone performing an angelic version of New Order's Dreams Never End, or perhaps even Annie Anxiety's demonic re-work of The House Of The Rising Sun - but for this old boy, there is the moment at 11:52 into side D1 when Peter Hook's familiar six string opens for the ghostly poetic Lancastrian voice of the late Larry Cassidy reciting Love Will Tear Us Apart as a poem. It feels as if Cassidy is on the room standing right before you.

Any crackle you hear is just the dust in the air settling as the record spins.

The Story Of Shéhérazade Or/Ou Le Triomphe De L'Amour Sur La Haine (in three parts)

A1   Le Roi

A2   La Princesse

A3   Les Deux 

B1   The House Of The Rising Sun

C1   Love Will Tear Us Apart 

D1   Love Will Tear Us Apart (Elegy Version)

E1   Dreams Never End

F1   Annarella