TONY WAKEFORD
Paris
2002
CD
Tursa Archive 002
Tony Wakeford's Paris features an accoustic concert of Sol Invictus songs recorded at the Theatre Dubois in November 1994.
Accompanied by Nathalie Van Keymeulen and Céline Marleix-Bardeau, the unplugged Wakeford is not entirely solo, but this is a minimalist performance relying on the inherent strength of Tony's songs and his appeal as a 'singer-songwriter' (although that appelation usually conjures up a rather different image).
The French audience is respectful rather than ecstatic, but this makes for a very clear recording that might have been made in a studio were it not for the polite applause at the end of each song.
The material is from Tony's established repertoire, so is this collection worth getting? I think so, especially if you value the folk in neofolk. Here is someone singing his own songs and playing the guitar in front of a live audience and without benefit of loops, samples or programming. It's available directly from Tursa. Go on, you know you want it.
Rik - 18 December 2002 Fluxeuropa
Bio
Sol Invictus projects the dark obsessions of its founder, Tony Wakeford. Tony's career began in the punk group, Crisis, before progressing through Death In June to the formation of Sol in 1987.
Tony's dark-side vision of humanity and inhumanity is a very singular one, and he has maintained its purity by remaining the only permanent member of Sol, bringing in combinations of other musicians as required for each album or performance.
The first Sol release was the vinyl mini-album, "Against The Modern World" (1987), and this was followed by the live album, "In The Jaws Of The Serpent" (1989).
These early albums established the themes and motifs which have haunted the work of Sol Invictus ever since, though the musical style has developed through various stages. These references have included cosmic symbols like sun and moon; the passage of the seasons; the heroic warrior imagery of swords, flags and drums; the specifically nordic imagery of runes, wolves and ravens; and the apocalyptic language of burning cities, falling skies and crashing waves.
It is an essentially pagan view of existence, heroic and tragic but preserving a Nietzschean 'optimism of the spirit', for out of the flames arises the phoenix of rebirth. And yet, while capturing the spirit of the heroic ethos, there is also the sorrow and the pity, examined with the pathos and irony of a twentieth-century perspective. Wakeford tries to have it both ways and succeeds.
Besides confronting the big and eternal issue of man's dark soul, the problems that characterise the late twentieth century are also addressed: the trivialisation of life though mass commercial culture and the death of the West.
The next release was "Lex Talionis" (1989 LP) which was part of a 3-record vinyl box set, with Current 93 and Nurse With Wound. A remixed version, which omitted some earlier material, was later issued on CD (1990 TURSA 001 CD).
This was followed by "Sol Veritas Lux" (1990 SVL 002 CD), which combined the first two vinyl albums, and "Trees In Winter" (1990 TURSA 002 CD/LP), which was the first album to be released simultaneously on CD and vinyl.
"The Killing Tide" (1991 TURSA 003 CD/LP) was the second and last album to be issued simultaneously on CD and vinyl. All subsequent albums have been issued on CD only. TKT was also the first album on which Tony took over the vocals completely.
"Revenge of The Selfish Shellfish" (1992 TURSA 004 CD) was a side-project collaboration with Steve Stapleton of Nurse With Wound. This has so far been Tony's most industrial involvement, if it is appropriate to apply that term to underwater noises.
"Let Us Prey" (1992 TURSA 005 CD) was recorded at an acoustic concert in London on 4 April 1992. Live concerts in England are a fairly rare event in the Sol calendar. The audience was very polite and attentive - in fact you can hear them clapping politely - so the sound quality is very good!
"King & Queen" (1992 TURA 006 CD) marked a steady increase in orchestration and demonstrated a certain maturity of style that essentially characterises Sol today.
In 1993 Tony produced his first 'solo' album since the foundation of Sol, "La Croix" (1993 TURSA 007 CD). The solo appellation has often puzzled people and is really just a convenient label for pursuing new directions. La Croix featured a string quartet and was an indication of a more neo-classical approach which would ultimately result in the foundation of the neo-classical/ambient group, L'Orchestre Noir for which FluxEuropa has a separate entry.
This was followed by another Sol release, "The Death Of The West" (1994 TURSA 008 CD) which finally committed to plastic as its title track a song long in the repertoire.
The next enterprise was the publication/release of the lyric book and CD, "Above Us The Sun" (1994 TURSA 009). This was followed by the Sol album, "In The Rain" (1995 010 CD), another solo album, "Cupid & Death" (1996 TURSA 011 CD), and the Orchestre Noir release, "Cantos" (1997 TURSA 013 CD).
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