Mute Records | UK | 6xCD+2xDVD | 2013

Cabaret Voltaire: #8385 Collected Works UK 6xCD+2xDVD [2013]

Disc 1 – Micro-Phonies

1. Do Right
2. The Operative
3. Digital Rasta
4. Spies In The Wires
5. Theme From Earthshaker
6. James Brown
7. Slammer
8. Blue Heat
9. Sensoria

Disc 2 – Drinking Gasoline

1. Kino
2. Sleepwalking
3. Big Funk
4. Ghost Talk

Disc 3 – The Crackdown + EP

1. 24-24
2. In The Shadows
3. Talking Time
4. Animation
5. Over And Over
6. Just Fascination
7. Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself)
8. Haiti
9. Crackdown
10. Diskono 
11. Theme From Doublevision 
12. Moscow 
13. Badge Of Evil

Disc 4 – The Covenant, The Sword And The Arm Of The Lord

1. L21ST
2. I Want You
3. Hells Home
4. Kickback
5. The Arm Of The Lord
6. Warm
7. Golden Halos
8. Motion Rotation
9. Whip Blow
10. The Web

Disc 5 – Cabaret Voltaire 83-85 12″ As and Bs

1. Just Fascination (12” Version)
2. Crackdown (12)
3. The Dream Ticket (12” Version)
4. Sensoria (12” Version)
5. James Brown (12” Version)
6. I Want You (12” Version)
7. Safety Zone (12” Version)
8. Cut The Damn Camera (12” Version)
9. Bad Self Pt.1 (12” Version)
10. Drink Your Poison (12” Version)
11. COMA (12” Version)

Disc 6 – Earthshaker

1. Earthshaker 5
2. Earthshaker 1
3. Theme From Earthshaker (Sheffield Mix)
4. Digital Rasta (Dub Version)
5. Earthshaker 3
6. Whip Blow (Instrumental Dub)
7. James Brown (Instrumental)
8. Golden Halos (Instrumental Dub)
9. Earthshaker 2
10. Cut The Damn Camera (Sheffield Mix)
11. Do Right (Cut Up Mix)
12. Earthshaker 4

DVD 1 – Bedford Boys Club 18.08.84 [1-9]/Hammersmith Palais 02.12.84 [10-19]

1. Intro
2. Crackdown
3. Sensoria
4. Just Fascination
5. Safety Zone
6. Ghost Talk
7. Digital Rasta
8. Kino
9. Do Right
10. Mao Intro
11. Animation
12. Big Funk
13. Sensoria
14. Digital Rasta
15. Japno
16. Ghost Talk
17. Sleepwalking
18. Kino
19. Do Right

DVD 2 – Gasoline In Your Eye + Extras

1. Introduction
2. Crackdown
3. Diffusion
4. Sleepwalking
5. Slow Boat To Thassos
6. Sensoria
7. Automotivation
8. Big Funk
9. Kino
10. Ghostalk
11. Fadeout
12. Just Fascination 7” Mix
13. Sensoria 7” Mix
14. I Want You 7” Mix
15. I Want You 12” Mix

Phew! I first caught wind of this on The Quietus a month or two ago and at the time my buy-in was very strong. Let it not be said that I have anything but the highest esteem for the fertile, mid-period, industrial/dub/funk phase of Cab Volt. Anything they released from ’83 to ’86 is in the Record Cell. I have bought the original CDs, the videos, the sets and boxes of rarities and unreleased material in more recent years and boy howdy, all of that material in the vaults for 20 years was nothing to sneeze at! I marveled at the quality of the material that didn’t make the cut. I simply can’t have enough of material from this period.

Then they threw not one but two DVDs into the mix. My much-hoped-for comprehensive full-career video album will probably never exist, due to licensing issues, but this box will carry a live DVD with two concerts. That’s inessential for me as Cab Volt were all about studio manipulation, personally. The hot-button issue for most will be the inclusion of the seminal “Gasoline In Your Eye” video album on a second DVD. This hypnotic 80 minutes of cut-up and trance-inducing Super 8 footage is ultra-compelling watching; abetted by the inclusion of two videos from the camera of Peter Care for the singles “Crackdown” and “Sensoria;” both in their 12″ mixes. But I have long committed my Japanese βeta cassette [purchased at great cost in 1985] to DVD, so this is perhaps not the pull that it otherwise would be.

Where the second DVD gains cachet with me is in its bonus materials. They included the “Just Fascination” clip, which usually gets lost in the shuffle, but it’s another great Peter Care clip, though not the tour-de-forces that would come later. The “Sensoria” 7″ edit clip shows attention to detail, but it’s the inclusion of “I Want You” in 7″/12″ versions that is the bait, for me. This is my favorite music video of all time. Hands down. And I’ve never seen the 12″ version.

But wait! There’s more! Along with the albums and EPs that comprise the run of CDs in the title, there are two extra discs. One is a mix of 12″ As/Bs that are all present and accounted for on CD already in the Record Cell. Ostensibly, the “Earthshaker” CD is the point of buy-in for me here. It’s a full CD of mixes that were previously unreleased. Much of this seems to be variants on the [magnificent] “Theme From Earthshaker” cut from “Micro-Phonies.”  Now how much would you pay?

According to the email I received from Cab Volt on Monday, I’d pay £79.99… a not insubstantial $129.66 at today’s exchange rate! But that’s just the pre-order price until October 7th. In five days the price jumps to £99.99, or $162.08! Mama mia! That’s a lot o’clams! Right here, right now, I have to take a pass. It’s not as though I don’t already own 75%-80% of this already. I have all of the original CDs of this period. I have all of the 12″ A/B discs [and more] on the earlier “Conform To Deform” box [among others]. I have a handmade stroboscopic DVD of “Gasoline In Your Eye” that has served me well for eight years now. I don’t have the “Just Fascination” or “I Want You” clips on DVD, and the disc of instro dub mixes would be in my Record Cell if not for the hi-cost buy-in for this set.

I’m not going to say that it’s not worth it. Listen to those clips above! If you do not have this material already on CD, this is a definitive packaging of it that almost attains bargain status, given how crucial their achievements at this period were. Their “The Covenant, The Sword, And The Arm Of The Lord” CD has been OOP and three figures for way too long now. The music on it is more scarily relevant now than at any time in its 28 year lifespan. You younger kids should definitely hear where much of alternative music in the 90s and beyond copped its licks from. For those motivated to click the button, you can [and should] do so here. It’s just that right now my money is all tied up in travel and concerts. Maybe I can find it used for less than $150 going forward. We shall see.

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