SBD #1 – Recording download link (www.thighpaulsandra.co.uk).

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2020-03-29 DISCLAIMER: New information has been uncovered which renders much information in this review inaccurate, including the nature of John and Peter’s relationship before this and how John made it home from Greece. I have chosen to keep this review as is for the sake of historical preservation (much like this website), but just note that because it was written in 2019, it is now outdated.

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Coil
Copenhagen 2002 Review

It’s well-known by this point that Coil exhibited a “feed the demons” policy in their 90s-early 2000s work. During one psychotic episode at home involving John punching out a glass door and cutting his arms up with the chunks, Peter famously grabbed some blank record sleeves and collected some of his blood to make the special edition of Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2. Alcohol had been his recovery tool from ecstasy starting in the early 90s, but even after the clubbing craze died out, John stuck to the bottle. Fortunately, Coil knew when to rein the demons in, and based on a handful of fan reports, interviews, and fellow band member recollections, throughout most of 2001 and 2002, John did just that, staying completely sober. His prohibition gave him a new lease on life, and he came out of his hermitic shell to connect better with friends and fans through that year and a half. A suspected heart attack in October 2001 further steered John clear away from the drink (though it sadly compromised a proposed North American tour). Unfortunately, by October 6, 2002, the demons had returned, much stronger than before.

The morning after their show in Greece, John left the hotel Coil were staying at without telling anyone where he was going or what he was doing. Peter, Thighpaulsandra, and Ossian could not find him anywhere, leading to a tough decision to stick to their schedule and board the plane back home without him. Peter was nothing if not a professional, after all, but this call left him worried sick for days. Miraculously, John hitch-hiked his way back to Weston Super-Mare, returning quite out-of-it but still alive. The two had a tremendous argument that completely killed their romantic relationship, leading to their sour remoteness at Megalithomania (“Why are YOU here?!!”). With barely any time to sort out their personal and professional issues, Coil set out on their Northern European/Scandanavian tour, to last the rest of the month. Their first stop was at the Amager Bio in Copenhagen, Denmark for the 3rd Tsunami festival.

Up until July 28, 2019, this was one of the few Coil concerts we had no recordings of, making it a personal wish from me to some day see/hear. We only had one picture taken during “Ostia,” one during “Bang Bang,” a few posters, and a ticket scan. (Black Sun Productions once had pictures of the concert on their website, but tragically, these weren’t backed up on the Wayback Machine.) Incredibly, my prayers were answered, when out of nowhere, Thighpaulsandra very kindly released his 2019 mix of the multitracks recorded at the show for free on his website! What a wonderful, kind gesture to the Coil fanbase! In honor of the fact he posted it as a companion piece to “Live Five,” I publish this overview/review of the performance as a companion piece to my review of “Live Five.”

In his original post, Thighpaulsandra mentions that the most notable thing about the concert is the fact John consumed a substantial amount of alcohol right before they took to the stage. Having listened to it, that certainly isn’t the only interesting factor to the show, but you can tell it very much colors the proceedings – he really is absolutely trashed, here. In the liner notes to Colour Sound Oblivion, Peter remembers how difficult it could be to coax John onto the stage when he was drinking. Once he started performing, he was fine, but it’s depressing to imagine the rest of the group literally pushing their stumbling, slurring frontman onto the stage, here. Listening to this recording, you have to wonder just how close he was to teetering off the edge, both of the stage and himself. Simply put…this performance is genuinely terrifying and depressing. There are lighter moments, which I’ll get into, but it’s quite sad hearing John so completely fucked up.

Because Copenhagen has never surfaced before, I feel the need to go song-by-song with it. Having listened to all the other concerts ad infinitum (and at times, ad nauseum), I’m looking to see how these performances stack up compared to others – the more nuanced, the better. Thankfully, one doesn’t have to look very far, because this performance is much, MUCH different than almost all other “Live Four” shows.

1. “I Am Angie Bowie (Sine Waves)” – surprisingly unique and well-performed. I can only think of one rather mediocre performance of this song – Helsinki – but most of the later versions were hampered by the fact Thighpaulsandra and Ossian had to guide Massimo and Pierce to their places onstage because of their new costumes (introduced at Megalithomania and used at every “Live Four” show thereafter, likely including this one), thus couldn’t provide instrumentation for the first minute or two and we’d just be hearing the backing audio track. Here, however, the show begins with John talking to the audience and the other members jamming on their synths for about a minute before Peter commences the backing audio track, meaning they play through the whole song. John’s initial vocal loops overstay their welcome, but the synths make up for it, and his lyrical improvisations make the second half stellar (“Echo me…otherwise I’ll become Ian McCulloch, and that’s a fucking evil thing to be.”) One of the best performances of the song, on par with Greece, Lodz, and Prague.

2. “The Last Rites of Spring – really, really scary. This performance literally gave me chills on my first listen! In an incredible display of self-awareness, John introduces it by saying, “Oh, this is a WEIRD one…” which, to be fair, it totally is. I adore the improvised lyrics and the instrumentation is just incredible. Shortly before the ending of the song, the low synths start to build up and the intensity really begins to overwhelm the listener. On par with Gdansk and Lodz; with some further listening and contemplation, it might even be the best performance of the song ever, and I can’t believe I am saying that.

3. “Are You Shivering?” – sadly, probably John’s worst ever vocal for the song. The rest of the band do a fabulous job, but John doesn’t begin singing until the first choir section and frequently messes up the lyrics, bringing the whole quality of the song down. However, he almost saves it at the end, when he intones over the choir, creating a very beautiful close to the track which I desperately wish he replicated in other performances. A perfect version of the song would probably be mixed from the instrumentals of Greece, the vocals from either Royal Festival Hall or Vienna, and the ending moans from here.

4. “Amethyst Deceivers” – excellent version, not at all superfluous, like you might be inclined to assume, given the abundance of performances of this song. Thighpaulsandra’s piano is unparalleled, here – it makes the song feel regal, princely, and whimsical. I also like Ossian’s synthesizer, which has a different timbre here than usual. The mix is fairly unique as well, with little emphasis on the hurdy-gurdy audio track for a change. I will say this version fails to build much of a climax at the end, but I love the piano too much to really care. I think Gdansk is still the best “Live Four” performance, but this one is up there.

5. “A Warning from the Sun” – also excellent. Again, Coil rarely did a lame playthrough of this track, but you do notice after a while that they all start to sound same-y, largely because of Thighpaulsandra’s guitar-esque synthesizer which he rarely remixed. Greece always stood out in this regard and Vienna had enough other good things about it to make up for the relatively low-energy guitar synth, but I digress. This version, however, has a masterful synth riff. It sounds more like Thighpaulsandra is playing a real electric guitar with a slider! I’m sold on this uniqueness alone. John’s vocals are just average, though, which to his credit, he admits the song is a strain on him before it begins. On par with Greece, Gdansk, and Vienna.

6. “Lake View” – rather comical, I have to say! To begin with, at Megalithomania, Coil debuted an extended permutation of “Drip Drop.” A truncated version would go on to replace “Lake View” and then be spliced with “Windowpane” at later shows. Given Copenhagen followed Megalithomania, I always assumed Coil immediately swapped “Lake View” for “Drip Drop,” but as it turns out, that’s not the case, and the band give “Lake View” one final playthrough. This version, sadly, is worse than Konigsberg and Greece, and I owe that largely to John’s late-start on the improvised lyrics. “Agh, I have to make things up for this!” He seemingly asks audience members to help him come up with some sort of lyrical theme, then he utters some nonsense before finally launching into some mutated lines from “Fire of the Mind,” which although are a delight to hear take some patience to get to. I don’t love the mix on this song either, as John’s vocal loops somewhat bury the relatively more interesting instrumentation. With all that said, after a few more listens, I think I’ll warm up to it a little more. Even as far as songs carrying the “The Universe is a Haunted House” moniker go, this song manages to be completely different from all others, so it deserves a lot of credit.

7. “Ostia” – not bad. This track was usually pretty difficult for the band to nail live. John does space his lines out pretty well, not rushing into them like he would at shows like Fano and Oslo, but he does stumble a bit in the middle of the song. There is some unique instrumentation, and I love the middle of the track when Ossian’s synth comes in loud, but otherwise, this performance is nothing special. Not as good as Konigsberg, Greece, or Vienna, but this is passable all the same, like Royal Festival Hall and Prague.

8. “I Don’t Want to Be the One” – not good. John’s opening monologues to the song ranged from effectively disturbing and provocative to utter nonsense, whether he was intoxicated or not. As drunk as he was, I do enjoy this particularly monologue, as it’s relatively easy to follow (not to mention the callback to “Sick Mirrors”). Unfortunately, this is where some sound problems start to creep up. Right at 3:27, just as the song is about to climax, Thighpaulsandra’s synth cuts out, and it takes a few lines for it come back, by which point the build-up has passed, so he just plays some low, menacing notes. John starts screaming and wailing, as he usually did by this point in the song, but because of the loss of instrumental climax, it doesn’t have nearly the same punch as it really should. It’s nobody’s fault that this happened – it’s just a real shame. This performance is ultimately an interesting listen, and some might say it has an impact of its own, but it’s still disappointing, to me. At the very least, John’s vocal effects sound particularly akin to the “Astral Disaster” original, with it echoing and flying away at the end as it did on the album. Prague remains the best performance, with Greece and Lodz being close runner-ups.

9. “Bang Bang” – sadly, the worst performance of the song ever. Definitely the most interesting, but still pretty awful. There’s a false start, John barely keeps up with the piano, and when the piano dies, John lurches the song to a close in acapella. I do like his raspy breathing between lines, which enhances the emotional depth of the track, but there’s no fragility, no tenderness, no pointed relation to what’s being sung. Curiously, Peter also doesn’t play any synthesizer, like he normally would – no real complaints from me, on that point. Vienna and Jesi are still the two best versions.

10. “An Unearthly Red” – awe-inspiring. Fucking hell, I LOVE this song! “If you let George Bush do any more in this world, you’ll fucking get it, so stop him, now! Yes! George Bush, fucking stop him now! Assassinate him! Whatever it takes, just do it!” I haven’t heard him put it any more bluntly anywhere else (not counting his elongated speech at Fano), and his words frame a stellar version. I could be wrong but I think this is the final performance where John implemented vocal loops on this song, making it even more of a treasure. John has a vocal effect on his mic that makes me think of an airplane pilot. How appropriate – imagine him flying that plane! Sums up Coil’s sheer contempt for one of America’s worst presidents ever quite nicely. The instrumentation is spectacular. That middle “Ask him!” section where John shouts reminds me so much of Genesis P-Orridge screaming into the mic in Throbbing Gristle’s glory days. I fucking love the ending, too. Wow. What a surprisingly fabulous version. I’d still take Lodz over it, for the emphasis on percussion and John’s even more unhinged vocals, but this is probably the second best version…unless a high quality audio recording of Vienna’s “An Unearthly Red” surfaces, in which case, it might be 3rd.

Thighpaulsandra’s mix of Copenhagen initially reminded me a lot of his SBD mix of Greece, which he did back in 2010 for the release of Colour Sound Oblivion. I’m not sure if I should chalk that up more to his mixing, or more to how Copenhagen was recorded, but you can hear the similarities in how Peter’s backing audio tracks are mixed on songs like “Amethyst Deceivers” and “Lake View.” Of course, I’d be remissed if I didn’t mention Thighpaulsandra’s clearly gotten better at mixing over the past 9 years, as both the SBDs for Copenhagen and Gdansk overall sound much deeper/fuller/clearer and have much greater stereo-mixing than the Greece SBD. For the most part, Copenhagen sounds just about perfect. I still have mixed feelings on what I suspect to be overdubbing (primarily John’s vocal loops), but without any other sources of this gig to reference, for all I know, this could be exactly how the gig sounded live. Furthermore, parts of John’s vocals are a little buried in the instrumentation, whereas he consistently sang at the forefront on the Gdansk SBD. I can imagine sometimes he didn’t sing directly into the mic, on account of his drunkenness, though, so this aspect gets a pass. In particular, “I Am Angie Bowie (Sine Waves),” “The Last Rites of Spring,” “Are You Shivering?” and “An Unearthly Red” are mixed exceptionally well.

The fact John was so drunk at this performance puts a lot of things into perspective. The following gig took place in Oslo the next day, one of the more forgettable from the “Live Four” era, in part because we now know John must have been terribly hungover. The rest of the band had a tendency to match John’s energy, thus they turned in a relatively low-energy show. While under the influence, John usually alternated between giving the performance of his life and stumbling terribly, sometimes from song to song at the same performance. Supposedly at Dour and Lodz, he was tripping on psylocybin mushrooms. Tripping out tended to make him much more aggressive and angry. Dour is an excellent performance throughout but Lodz is very much hit-and-miss because of this. At Prague, he was reportedly drunk on absinthe – another hit-and-miss show. At Vienna, he was apparently hungover with several new cuts on his arms, although thankfully, unlike at Oslo, he still managed to turn in one of the best Coil performances ever, there. We don’t currently have any such data on any other show from this tour, but I would be willing to guess he was also hungover at Helsinki, and I doubt he was under the influence at every show; for example, he seems pretty lucid at Gdansk.

My point is that it’s fascinating to track John’s progress throughout this tour because it almost consistently determines the quality of each performance…as well as explains why Coil almost broke up at the end of the month. Following Copenhagen, Coil finished out the rest of the month, and by all accounts from the band members, it was a rather miserable affair. Tales of John flying into psychotic rages, trashing hotel rooms and blowing through the band’s tour money on mini-bars, leading to some members never being paid their due, slowly dripped into the fanbase. Two gigs in Italy were supposed to follow Vienna, but they were unfortunately canceled because John became so uncontrollable. While the others were doing interviews and other PR, John usually snuck off to do what he would. It wasn’t fun for anyone, including the fans, to watch this enigmatic, shamanic, beloved musician spiral out of control. To his credit, though, in his more lucid moments, John very much acknowledged the harm his addiction caused to those he loved, especially to Peter, who looked on as over the next six months, John would become romantically involved with artist Ian Johnstone. This self-awareness unfortunately did little to get him to stop drinking, and he went on to spend most of the last two years of his life in a hermitic stupor.

Copenhagen was not the beginning of the end, as you can really point to Greece or Megalithomania over it, but it was the first stop on the long downward spiral. Incredibly, however, despite all the personal and professional problems plaguing the band, the music was left almost entirely uncompromised. Somehow, Coil turned in some impeccable, gutwrenching, and arresting concerts during 2002-2004 (this one, Gdansk, Vienna, ATP, Paris, Ocean, Dublin…). It’s unbelievable how they were able to channel all of the negativity and sadness into their art as they did, or at least create such wonderful art in spite of this negativity and sadness.

Thank you again to Thighpaulsandra for making this concert available to all. It’s a must-listen. Now all that’s left is Tochka and Stockholm (possibly also Gdansk October 24). 🙂