Then And Again - Dark Publications

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•	Almost Human
•	Boo Hoo
•	Ooky Spooky
•	The Devil's Bris
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Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Then and again October 30, 2004
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I have been a big fan of Voltaire's music for four years since I have first discovered him through his second album "Almost Human". Voltaire has a wicked, dry sense of humor with an amazing voice. He is one of my favorite goth artists although his music is atypically goth like say The Sisters of Mercy. I was excited when I found out that Voltaire had a new cd coming out. I recently found out that his new cd "Then and Again" was a departure from his last three albums which were filled with biting humor. "Then and Again" drops the sarcasm and takes a serious tone. I bought the cd today. Lyrically the songs on this cd is not filled with the wit and sarcasm that I had come to know and love from Voltaire but nevertheless the songs are still a real joy to listen to. According to the liner notes, Voltaire had recorded these songs a long time ago but decided to resurrect them and put them on one cd because he felt that it would break up his next offering "Ookie Spookie" and thought that these songs deserved their own cd. Normally I don't like it when people cover songs by The Cure for the most part but Voltaire does a really great interpretation of The Cure classic "Lovesong". Unlike 311 (who does nothing with the song but literally copy the song note by note for a horrible Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie), Voltaire reinterprets the song with his brand of music which is heavily influenced by medieval and folk music. "Believe" is a gorgeous ballad, definitely my favorite track on this entire album. All the songs on this 38 minute cd is excellent. It is quite interesting to hear Voltaire take a serious turn on his songwriting. "Then and Again" is a good appetizer to hold this fan over until his next album which he guarantess to be chockfull of his traditional sarcasm.

5 out of 5 stars

Definitely Then Again- To My Relief October 31, 2004
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

I've been an avid Voltaire fan for the past few years now. My favorite album by far is Almost Human, which I feel combines the best of his sarcasm and the best of his band, while not feeling as "rough" as Devil's Bris does in places. If you are like me, then you where watching anxiously for the release of this album, and were probably quite nervous when the description revealed that this was going to be a tangent in his style. No witty, dark cynicism. Descriptions that "this is the Voltaire you parents will like!" I don't _want_ the elderly to love my Voltaire!

Well, having listened to the album, I feel it's my duty to do my best to alleviate your fears! Yes, there are no great one-liners in the lyrics, or delightful trips into the mind of a great dark cynic, but the lyrics are quite lovely on their own. I was also afraid this was going to be a sickeningly happy album, and this simply isn't it. Most of the songs are still in a minor (sad-sounding) key, his wonderfully weepy vocals are still a main feature, and best of all his band is back in full swing. I hadn't liked the more "electronic" sound of Boo-Hoo- in my opinion the gypsy-style violin and cello employed in his first two albums are the pinnacle of great accompianment. If you felt the same way I did about Boo-Hoo, you'll probably weep with joy when you listen to Then and Again.

So while a lot of my review was my opinions on what makes Voltaire great, I hope that at least my words have shown you that while the descriptions of the album might make you afraid, this is Voltaire being Voltaire, sans the piles of corpses.

5 out of 5 stars

...and again and again and again... November 16, 2004
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I fell in love with this album as soon as I heard it. I bought it off of Voltaire at a show in Portland two days ago and been listing to it over and over ever since. I had been a huge Voltaire fan for years now and have been as much if not more of a fan of his serious songs than his sarcastic ones. I am not goth by any means and neither is my friend who introduced me to Voltaire, so this is truly music that can be enjoyed by anyone.

4 out of 5 stars

Voltaire, Goth? March 6, 2005
4 out of 28 found this review helpful

Alright this is not necicarirly a review of the album, but more a review of Voltaire and his band as musiccians and artists. First of all, I have to say I love these guys, but there is nothing deeply deeply deppresing or dark or "gothic" about them. It seems to me to be more of an explosive emotional and witty energy and a positive and joyful release of the sadness that all humans can feel at any point in their lives, not the sadness those condescending goth kinds feel.
Secondly as you may have already realized, as much as I enjoy this music, I am not a gothic scenester. I do listen to bands that some may consider goth such as Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Cure, and Siouxsie & the Banshees, to name a few. However I believe the gothic tag only hinders the creativity and acceptability of these bands. They where staple of the what was the current post-punk sound, an ambient and tribal implosion of what used to be punk and what one sees when they look at a painting by Salvador Dhali or Andy Warhaul. Their potential to evolve to greatness was so immense in there time, and while some have achieved that greatness (Joy Division, in only two albums I might add, and Siouxsie & the Banshees, as cheese as there lyrics where) and some have not (The Cure, take a look at there self titled and see what I mean) that they could have been so much better had this gothic stamp not been plastered all over there collective faces.
Now all or the aforementioned bands began as they logical offspring of a scene that was splitting at the seams. The punk scene. After punk died, and it did die, there came hardcore and post-punk or what is more often than not reified to as the original goth. Now while the hardcore punk scene began to evolve and take in a great amount of tough guys, who where more than likely more scared and angry than actually tough, the post-punk scene attracted along with punks who could not let go and did not accept hardcore and artsy types, punks who where a cross between the dance floor types of new wave, David Bowie, the 18th century, and Andy Warhaul. Thus the goth scene began. Not as a type of music but as a following.
Now, Voltaire clearly loves the goth scene with all his heart, and is argot a true goth. However nothing about his music either represents the music that sprung the scene or the scene in its current state nor dose it express the deep loathing or depressions that so many goths now inject into the scene. Instead his bands music is a fusion of pop music, in a U2 sense, and Gypsy style violins and melodies. Imagine essentially what would be the equivalent of Indie if this where the 18th century. The result is a masterful beauty expressed in a poppy and jammable package.
Now Voltaire's love of the gothic scene and his band's music acceptance by it; it now being a pretentious confused jumble of stolen genres, dance floors, and moody adolescents unable to grow from their preoccupation with them selves and how bad the feel because they cant seem to grasp the concept of what life is all about that is only trying to prolong it now dyeing and stagnant body until it finds the next art form to latch one to and claim like a parasite; only hurts his evolution as an artist. Now he may be a cynic but where he to step out side himself as he has done many times, and those results where nothing but astounding, he may be able to change the way people listen to music and on a grand scale those people themselves for the better. Where his music to have an even more positive message and scrape the goth tag imagine what he could do.
Now I dont hate the goth scene, as it started off as what most scenes start off as. That being a positive social group, often fueled by music or other art forms, that offers a place for people to fit in and mature and maintain good social health. However the goth scene, next to the hardcore and metal scenes in music, is a showcase for what happens to scenes if they refuse to die of change for the better. They become stagnant environments where vial villains and rapists of souls lurk along side the vain and damaged. They become place where one is praised for prolonging a lie instead of creating great meaningful things and growing to maturity. Now does that really sound like a healthy environment, and that is exactly what the goth scene has become. This is why Voltaire classification under this scene and it's "genre" only serve to damage the band.
That having been said this album itself dose offer a great amount of maturity from the bands previous releases. I urge you to pick it up weather a goth or not as you may be pleasantly surprised. Other bands that i would urge you to listen to, where the goth tag only hurts them are Bauhaus, Fields of the Nephilim, The Cure, Joy Division, Siouxsie & the Banshees.

5 out of 5 stars

Loved it !! June 15, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

The first time I listened to this cd I knew that I would be listening to it more times then the number of "dark & deep" poems goths write every year. I couldn't get over the how wonderful The Cure's Love Song was done. I myself like it more then The Cure ( don't hurt me). I think that this cd is all around the coolest thing ever. Buy it. or be miserable. FOREVER!!!

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