It isn't.

After listening to many of the snippets offered by Amazon (of which I must have picked the only good ones), I thought to give this set a go. Disappointment soon followed.

One of the first, and most obnoxious, issues is that many of the tracks are mislabeled. For instance, Track 4 on CD 4 is the same as Track 9 on CD 1; others are simply wrong, such as being the wrong band.

Following this, is the music itself. It is not Erotica, nor is most of it Gothic either. Granted, there are a few good tracks, but it is mostly a compilation of a wide group of musics, which DO NOT share a common theme. I would swear that some of the tracks are more pop than goth.

Looking at the work as a whole, its like a bunch of record marketing blokes decided they needed more revenue. So, they slapped a bunch of music together under a title they felt would sell. After all, associate something with sex or erotica and it'll sell, despite its quality.

The only thing that will keep this in my collection is my being something of a pack rat for music. If I weren't, it'd go in the trash (then again, who's to say it will not end up so later).

Save your money.


Old School Goth   January 7, 2001
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I see a lot of people in the reviews complaining that these bands aren't goth, but what they don't understand is that almost all of these bands are old school goth/deathrock. Today it seems like if it isn't gothic disco(darkwave/techogoth) or if it isn't a Sisters of Mercy clone band, it just isn't goth.

This compilation is actually rather spiffy. It has lots of out of print and VERY hard to find tracks as well as some interesting covers. So if you aren't afraid of distorted guitars and are willing to step away from the Clove Cigarettes, velvet cloak, Crow comics and autographed Trent Resnore picture, pick this up. It's only 19 dollars for 6CDs, how cheap can you be?

-Tommy Demise


It's 80 goth and Cleopatra bands...but a decent deal   March 31, 2005
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

It is funny how people are recommending Cleopatra comps like the Black Bible when Cleopatra has reissued these Dressed To Kill releases.

I am an old school goth and many of these bands were dark and gothy in the 80's. Like another reviewer said, they are way out of print, so it would be a good start for someone trying to get pass EBM and ethereal trip-hop and into what gothic music used to be.

Sure, not all tracks on here are winners, but there are so many of them that I cannot complain about the price. Nice to have some of these on CD instead of record. All the little gothlings out there should know there are more gothic bands out there other than The Cure and NIN and they should educate themselves, because goth music isn't the same now, in fact, it was more fun and better...then again I love deathrock and batcave! :)


Doesn't keep its promise   February 15, 2000
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Most of the songs included in this box are, in my opinion, neither goth nor erotic. Moreover, the songs seem to be put in random order, making this collection sound incoherent. Some of the songs I enjoyed, but I don't think I would have bought this box set if I had listened to it before.