Coil
Megalithomania!

July 2003

Cover Image

UK CD-R Threshold House

  1. Megalithomania! - [MP3]

Jhonn Balance
Peter Christopherson
Thighpaulsandra
Ossian Brown
Danny Hyde - sound

Included in the live box.

With each box set, Coil includes a CD-R of their performance at the Megalithomania! Festival. This disc cannot be purchased separately, and is available only as part of the limited edition box. It's a very nice bonus indeed, as this performance is unique among Coil's live history, and marks a sort of turning point for the group. Megalithomania! was a celebration of sacred sites and standing stones as expressed through history, folklore, art and sound. Basically, everything that Julian Cope was on about in his mammoth tome "The Modern Antiquarian." For this special event, Coil performed a long, drawn-out permutation on "The Universe is a Haunted House," turning the piece into a slowly evolving ambient sound sculpture involving the ghostly sound of water droplets, quietly droning synths, and a particularly spectral vocal improvisation from Balance. As reported by many people who attended the event, there seemed to be a strange rift between Balance and Sleazy, evidenced by John's agitated screaming: "Why are you here? Why are you here?" Balance's statement that "we are the alien" could be read as a tribute to the extra-terrestrial builders of Stonehenge, or as a further statement of his growing alienation from his long-time partner. A few days after this performance, Peter and John announced that while Coil would continue, they would no longer describe themselves as a couple. Sad, indeed, but these personal matters cannot overshadow a very unique and powerful performance. As the tension and mutation compounds over the 40-minute length, Balance's alien incantations fight for prominence with Thighpaulsandra's thick slabs of stoned-Druid synthesizer. The recording is spotless, highlighting all of the ghostly minutiae of this one-of-a-kind Coil show. - Jonathan Dean, Brainwashed