COIL - 'A Guide For Beginners - The Voice Of Silver / A Guide For Finishers - A Hair Of Gold'



CSR288CD (23 October 2020)
Double CD in an 8-panel glossy digipak with spot matt-laminate varnish. Comes with 2 glossy artcards and sticker (direct from Cold Spring only).
Barcode: 0641871745609



Deluxe reissue of 2xCD 'Best Of' by the esoteric experimental pioneers. Comes with 2 glossy artcards and sticker (direct from Cold Spring only).

Out of print on CD for almost two decades, Cold Spring are proud to announce the official reissue of a much sought after 'Best Of' set by the acclaimed experimental group Coil, with 'A Guide For Beginners - The Voice Of Silver' and 'A Guide For Finishers - A Hair Of Gold' being made available together in one deluxe set.

Officially licensed from FEELEE, this edition spans Coil's entire career, featuring tracks from all their major albums. They were hand-picked by Coil to represent their best work and originally released to mark their first performance in Moscow in 2001.

The artwork (text in English and Russian Cyrillic) sympathetically features the rarest of the images previously used in the original Russian and English editions and is packaged in a deluxe, glossy 8-panel digipak with spot matt-laminate varnish.

The vinyl-only edition by FEELEE was released as two separate luxurious 2xLP editions in 2018. All artwork for the Cold Spring edition has been approved by FEELEE.

Track listing:

Disc 1 – A Guide For Beginners: The Voice Of Silver

1. Amethyst Deceivers (6:33)
2. The Lost Rivers Of London (7:41)
3. Are You Shivering? (9:38)
4. Ostia (The Death Of Pasolini) (6:21)
5. Where Are You? (7:51)
6. At The Heart Of It All (5:12)
7. A Cold Cell (5:58)
8. Batwings (A Limnal Hymn) (11:09)
9. Who’ll Fall? (5:15)
10. The Dreamer Is Still Asleep (9:41)

Disc 2 – A Guide For Finishers: A Hair Of Gold

1. Panic (4:18) 2. First Dark Ride (10:50)
3. Further Back And Faster (7:55)
4. The Anal Staircase (3:57)
5. Red Skeletons (7:32)
6. Scope (6:35)
7. Solar Lodge (5:36)
8. Blue Rats (3:08)
9. A.Y.O.R. (3:11)
10. The First Five Minutes After Violent Death (4:59)





Reviews:

"Coil's handpicked guides are a portal into a fascinating, unsettling and frequently transgressive duo working at the interface of industrial and ambient... ideal if you're seeking a chilling 'out of body' soundtrack" (MOJO)

"A welcome revisit to Balance / Sleazy world... Esoteric, experimental and always pushing the boundaries, Coil were pioneers of a specific style of 80s post-industrial electronica that welded avant-garde sensibilities with the heady themes of sexuality, alchemy and mysticism... the progressive output of John Balance and Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson continues to resonate with generations of fans discovering, or rediscovering, their work... out of circulation for some time, now is a timely and beautiful celebration of the entwinement of two lives' worth of groundbreaking work" (Electronic Sound)

"Der Vergriffen-Status des viel gefragten Coil-Best-Of auf CD endet nun nach etwa zwei Dekaden mit dieser Wiederveröffentlichug... Handverlesen von Coil erstrechkt sich die Auswahl der insgesamt 20 tracks uber ihre gesamte Karriere und bietet einen guten Einblick in das experimentelle und außergewöhnliche Schaffen der Künstler... faszinieren vielschichtige Arrangements, einladended wie beklemmende Atmosphären und ungewöhnlicht Klangerkundungen... Eine wilkommene Gelengenheit, die Erkundung des Coil-Sounds zu beginnen oder abzurunden" (Orkus)

"Probably the best introduction to the music of Coil... I can’t recommend this release enough... The combination of Peter Christopherson and John Balance was an almost perfect mix of ideas and influences, allowing for some truly astounding music... Coil always added enough of their own character and ideas to ensure that their music remained set apart from anyone else and, as such, it’s aged very well. It still sounds fresh and exciting... If your mind is open and adventurous, this double CD may well open your heart to a whole new world." (Fear And Loathing)

"These two albums make for a disturbing and trippy listen. Coil’s brand of ambient music has a rough edge, its outer fringes laced with dangerous temptations and a languid, savage latency which leaves you feeling ever so slightly unsettled. When in the mood, Christopherson and Balance could also produce sublime and beautiful music... As I turned the fold-out cardboard case in my hands, I slowly came to see this artefact as the precise embodiment of Coil: an elusive, unknowable proposition, where answers are fewer than questions" (429 Harrow Road)

"The thing that really comes across most powerfully from this compilation is that while so any ‘experimental’ and ‘industrial’ acts were – and are – pretty dull, Coil were consistently engaging, focuses on tone and resonance, and ever-evolving. It would be hard to improve on a selection picked by the artists in terms of what can be considered the best representation of their output... this is hard to fault by way of an introduction." (Aural Aggravation)

"It’s easy to forget that beneath the constant bucking of convention there was a lot of talent. Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson’s musicianship and arrangements were brilliantly layered and often beautiful, John Balance’s vocals were wonderfully raw, while his lyrics transcended us to something that felt like another world. The result is a collection of music that feels both like the capturing of a very specific era and sound in the industrial genre, as well as something which has managed to transcend time and land in a category all its own... as close to a “greatest hits” as you’ll ever see... his feels like a fitting and long overdue tribute to their genius." (Altvenger)

"Si hay un disco imprescindible para poder conocer la mayor parte de la heterogénea y contrastada carrera de Coil, ese es sin lugar a dudas “A Guide For Beginners – The Voice Of Silver / A Guide For Finishers – A Hair Of Gold”... Lo que el sello británico Cold Spring ha hecho es rescatar este testimonio prontuarístico y masterizarlo de la mejor de las maneras posibles, consiguiendo a través de la restauración sonora de Martin Bowes un sonido realmente insuperable... un trabajo imprescindible tanto para todos los amantes del conjunto como para los que quieren introducirse por primera vez en el misterioso universo de una de las bandas más sorprendentes de las postrimerías de la música del siglo pasado...¡No pierdas la oportunidad de hacerte con él!" (5/5, Nomelody)

"Pour finir de vous convaincre de la nécessité de l’objet, ce double disque (surtout A Guide For Beginners…) illustrera à la perfection tous ébats sexuels et fera durer le plaisir encore et encore pour des orgasmes répétés et infinis. Véritable guide des plaisirs de la chair, la musique de Coil, pourtant ou parce que, on ne peut plus mélancolique, bouleverse le système endocrinien et crée vraisemblablement et mystérieusement des micro-marées internes qui ne demandent qu’à jaillir en cascades incontrôlables et délicieuses. C’est toute la magie de Coil, testée et approuvée" (90%, Obskure)

"Con esta excelsa re-edición vuelve a renacer el alma pionera y transgresora de los míticos artistas John Balance y Peter Christopherson, presentando esta impactante creatividad sonora de Coil que aún hoy día sigue impresionando y cautivando a los melómanos amantes de la cultura non-mainstream... destinado a convertirse en valorada pieza de coleccionista en muy poco tiempo. No demoren mucho su adquisición... escuchar atentamente esta compleja estructura musical como contundente demostración del talento de Coil a la hora de dar vida y sentido a sus obras sonoras, recreando ideas y conceptos de forma muy precisa en lenguaje musical. En este lenguaje directo al alma." (Lux Atenea)

"S'il y une compilation qui fait honneur à la discographie exemplaire de ce groupe hors du commun, c'est "A Guide for Beginners / A Guide for Finishers"... elle est à ce jour la seule à résumer en 20 titres clefs l'intégralité d'une oeuvre... Chaque période est représentée par une sélection pertinente , et chaque écoute procure la curieuse impression de rendre visite à un vieux copain que l’on ne voit qu’épisodiquement pour se remémorer les souvenirs d’une vie passée à se croiser. Indispensable." (17/20, Prémonition)

"‘A Guide For Beginners’ is meer de zachtere kant van Coil met tracks die een mengeling van electrofolk en ambient bevatten. ‘A Guide For Finishers’ belicht dan meer de hardere kant van de band met meer industrial invloeden in de songs. Feit blijft dat ze indertijd vooruitstrevend waren en klonken. Begrijpelijk dat veel bands goed naar hen hebben geluisterd. Zo weet je waar sommigen de mosterd hebben gehaald. Een heel mooie collectie songs die de heren indertijd in 2001 zelf hadden uitgekozen om mee naar de Russische markt te gaan." (8/10, Musiczine)

"...idealną wizytówką twórczości tego zasłużonego zespołu... dali nam z siebie muzykę, o jakiej nie śniło się nikomu na świecie. Ich trudny do jednoznacznego określenia styl to dziedzictwo industrialu... Oba krążki zostały osobiście ułożone przez zespół, ukazując dwa przenikające się oblicza Coila: to rytualne, alchemiczne, nocne i poetyckie, oraz to taneczne, eksperymentalne, abstrakcyjne... Coil chcieli się pochwalić światu, pokazać, na co ich stać. I 20 lat później, rola tej składanki pozostaje niezmienna. Teraz, jednakże, dochodzi jej misja niesienia ich słów post-mortem... Dorobek Coila najlepiej przetrwa w ‘eterze’ i ludzkich duszach, aniżeli w zamkniętych szufladach." (Cantara Music)

コイルの全キャリアを網羅しており、代表作からセレクトされた2枚組全20曲。ノイズ / インダストリアル勢は勿論、現代のエレクトロニック・アーティストまで影響を与え続けるレジェンドの魅力を凝縮した作品!" (Disk Union)