Search - The Gathering :: Accessories: Rarities & B-Sides

The Gathering hands out their bag of goodies for Halloween t

M. B. Link | USA | 04/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Accessories: Rarities & B-Sides(2005). A double disc collection of unreleased B-sides, cover songs, and alternate outtakes of previously released songs.



I still remember picking up Mandylion(1995) two years ago and having it just absolutely floor me with its ethereal atmosphere, non-typical doom pace approach, and of course miss Anneke Van-Giersburgen's deliciously lovely vocals. It was a proto-goth metal album in the sense that they found a sound that many other bands have tried to copy and perfect since its release, long after The Gathering decided to progress into other areas. I can see them appealing to the goth crowd for its different shades of melancholy found in their style. The metalheads out there can also be drawn to Mandylion because of its heavier guitar-oriented approach. Then I bought Nighttime Birds(1997), which continued Mandylion's heavier sound, though while not as hard-hitting as Mandylion was, NB still delivered the goods quite nicely. I've slowly started collecting their other material lately, but my interest in getting everything they've released didn't peak until I recently picked up this collection.



Because it's been a few years since Souvenirs(2003), and also to tide people over until the new album Home(2006) arrives, Accessories offers the biggest fans of the band a ton of its unreleased (and released on singles) material, all crunched into a nicely packaged two discs, covering pretty much everything from their 1995-2000 era.



So what do we have exactly? For starters, disc one is sprinkled with several live versions of some Mandylion tracks, a couple of them performed with a small orchestra backing them. They make for some interesting takes on those particular songs. And of course there are a couple other live takes like 'Amity' off of If_Then_Else(2000) and 'Frail' from How to Measure A Planet(1999). 'Adrenaline' is a Mandylion B-side that got cut from the album because they wanted to maintain a constantly slow doomy pace, and this particular song is much more upbeat and foot-tapping. They still played it live though to make for a nice change of pace. Other reviewers have already stated this, but I'd also like to contribute to the fact that the Slowdrive and Dead Can Dance covers are both phenomenal. I'm usually not so hot on cover songs because they're always a hit-or-miss deal, but in this case The Gathering score big time. The Talk Talk cover is also a decent cover taken from the If_Then_Else sessions. Definitely a prime reason for anyone to consider buying this collection, if not for all the other stuff. 'Theme from The Cyclist' was an outtake written specifically for the short movie in the name.



The rest of the songs on disc one, and taking up all of disc two are alternate outtakes of many of the tracks found on both NB and HTMAP. 'Third Chance' is one of their best faster songs, and this alternate outtake smokes the other one found on NB out of the water. 'Diamond Box' and 'Hjelmar's' are both previously unreleased instrumentals that offer an interesting listen. I still have yet to hear the HTMAP album, so I can't really appreciate its alternate outtakes yet, but I'll make it a priority to find it. I won't go into detail about the differences between the NB song versions, but I will say that if you're a big fan of both NB and HTMAP, these tracks will provide a good look at what the band had to work with.



So is Accessories absolutely a mandatory addition to a new fan's growing collection? Not really, but is it still worth buying? You bet! I'm giving it an easy five stars because of the wide variety of material presented here, plus it succeeded in getting me to want to run out and buy their other releases. It resurged my keen interest, and cemented the fact that The Gathering are definitely within my top 10 favorite bands of all time, and certainly head of the pack when it comes to goth rock type of music. What pushes this band way ahead of its contemporaries is not just in Anneke's lovely voice, and not just because they are outstanding songwriters, but really it's the fact that The Gathering is never content to stay the same. By focusing on delivering unique atmosphere, their music gets them into their special "zone" of lofty heights that not Lacuna Coil, Evanescence, Theatre Of Tragedy, or even Within Temptation can ever seem to reach. (Of course, these bands have their own takes on the gothic rock style, but I'm just a bit more biased toward the Gathering!) They're always looking for new and challenging ways to push the envelope in their music, and so they only seem to be getting better with age. Not to say that Mandylion and NB are lesser than their newer stuff because those albums still absolutely rule, but in effect, each subsequent release succeeds the previous one and gives the discerning fan something new and exciting to chew on. Accessories is a testament showcase to this ability to evolve over time, and perhaps there is no easier way to view this process than with both Accessories and the semi-accoustic live performance Sleepy Buildings(2004). Buy the other albums first, and then pick up this collection. RECOMMENDED TO BIGGER FANS.



Other suggestions:

-Any other Gathering album with Anneke on vocals: 'Mandylion'(1995), 'Nighttime Birds'(1997), 'How To Measure A Planet?'(1999), 'If_Then_Else'(2000), 'Souvenirs'(2003), and 'Home'(2006).

-'Mother Earth'(2000) by Within Temptation

-'In A Reverie'(1998) and 'Unleashed Memories' by Lacuna Coil."

And again, The Gathering amazes me

incubus1 | 01/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Gathering, to me, has always been an escape from the everyday music you hear. So when I heard they were releasing a B-sides and rarities collection I was more than happy. Every expectation I had, they met. I'm dumbfounded as to how The Gathering can create such innovative and beautiful music, yet they're still somehow overlooked. From the epic orchestrations to Anneke's jawdropping voice, there's no reason that everyone shouldn't love this music. Needless to say, if you liked The Gathering before you got this CD, if anything you'll like them more coming out of listening to it.



Disc one acts as the B-sides. A lot of B-sides have horrible sound quality but the ones on this compilation sound as if they were on a CD but were taken off at the extreme last minute. There's a polished feel but not so polished that the music feels fabricated. The live versions featured on here are astounding. If you didn't look at the back cover to know they were live, you'd never guess it. Anneke's voice is gorgeous and the band is just simply amazing. How they don't miss a single beat I'll never know. The covers, Dead Can Dance's In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated, Slowdive's When The Sun Hits, and Talk Talk's Life's What You Make It are about the best covers I've ever heard. Quite often you hear a band just desecrate the original but with The Gathering, it feels like they took they're time while doing the originals justice.



Disc two serves as the rarities section. From the opening track, New Moon, Different Day, you know that The Gathering is eons better than almost any band playing music today. Anneke's vocals simply soar and will give you goosebumps, that I will guarantee. It doesn't end there though, each song is equally as good as the last. Even the demos have a sound quality that could rival a studio CD. The two previously unreleased instrumentals, Diamond Box and Hjelmar's stand true to the ones that are released. The beauty is palpable and shows tremendous skill, skill that no radio band will ever come close to. Travel from the CD How To Measure A Planet? has always been my favorite song by The Gathering. To hear the demo is really something though, it sounds completely different while still sounding exactly the same. My second favorite track of their's, Nighttime Birds, is the same case as Travel. I do think Anneke's vocals are stronger on Nighttime Birds though.



Overall my favorite songs are In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated, Frail, Life's What You Make It, New Moon Different Day, Nighttime Birds, and Travel. The Gathering is a band I've always found to be one that you have to experience rather than listen to. Yes, you can pick favorite songs but overall, each CD they released, and even this collection, seem to be made to go together. Each song seems to flow into the next seamlessly. In my opinion, no band does this genre more justice than The Gathering does."

Haunting and beautiful

Nathaniel C. Tolle | Portland, OR USA | 12/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All fans of The Gathering need to check this out, especially those in the States where the majority of these songs are nearly impossible to find anywhere else. This compilation is worth buying for "In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated" (Dead Can Dance cover) and "When the Sun Hits" (Slowdive cover) alone; both are heartbreakingly beautiful and feature some of Anneke's finest vocals.



Fans of The Gathering's albums Mandylion and Nighttime Birds will be delighted with "Adrenaline," a very catchy song that was written because the band needed another fast, simple, rocking song to play at concerts.



I think The Gathering's greatest album is How to Measure a Planet, and it is awesome to finally hear the demos for songs like "Travel," "My Electricity," and "Red is a Slow Colour." "Travel" especially went through a lot of transformations before its final version.



This double-CD has so much to offer. There are also detailed song descriptions written by the band and several photos on the inside booklet.



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