V/A - Dressed In Black: Goth Divas From The Dark Side 2xLP

“Dressed In Black” was curated and annotated by Cathi Unsworth, author of the book Season Of The Witch: The Book of Goth – a woman who considers herself fortunate to have had Siouxsie Sioux, Lydia Lunch and Diamanda Galàs for role models while she was growing up. For further illumination in Cathi’s own words, read on.

“The music gathered here is an aural manifestation of turbulent times, made by women possessed of supernatural abilities. The music I fell in love with emerged from the dark end of the 1970s: The Winter of Discontent of 1978-79, when intractable industrial action left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish in the streets. All the promise of punk came to a brutal end with the deaths of Sid and Nancy in New York; IRA bombs exploded in central London and a seemingly uncatchable ripper roamed West Yorkshire with 13 murders under his belt. Ill omens that augured badly for the events of 3 May 1979, when Margaret Thatcher became our first woman prime minister. Dressed in blue and ready to whip the country to her heel.

“But at night, malcontent youth were united by forces of opposition, whose dissenting voices were aired across the land on John Peel’s Radio 1 show, set to the sound of slasher guitars, swirling fairground keyboards, loping basslines and percussion that recalled the echo of jackhammers or the march of insect feet. Here, punk’s unruly offspring distilled the dissonance of the times into a new kind of music. Flirting with the fetishist and taboo, drawing upon horror and science fiction imagery, they were the outlaw leaders of the greatest style tribe of the decade: the goths. Dressed in black, these kohl-eyed women voiced the alienation of their generation during the decade of the Cold War, the Miners’ Strike, privatisation and AIDS.
(Ace/ 2026)

Tracklist:
A1 Diamanda Galás With John Paul Jones – Do You Take This Man?    
A2 Siouxsie & The Banshees – Night Shift    
A3 Danielle Dax – Cat-House    
A4 Anita Lane With Die Haut – Subterranean World (How Long...?)
B1 Lydia Lunch With Rowland S. Howard – Cisco Sunset    
B2 Annie Hogan – Wasting Time    
B3 The Cramps – Garbageman    
B4 Judy Henske – Road To Nowhere    
B5 Bobbie Gentry – Ode To Billie Joe    
C1 Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity – Season Of The Witch
C2 Anna Calvi – Ain't No Grave
C3 Shirley Collins – Death and the Lady
C4 M U M M Y – Idiot Milk
C5 Cocteau Twins – Iceblink Luck
D1 The Velvet Underground & Nico – All Tomorrow's Parties
D2 The Shangri-Las – Dressed in Black
D3 Billie Holiday – Gloomy Sunday
D4 Karen Dalton – Katie Cruel
D5 Nina Simone – I Put a Spell on You
D6 Juliette Gréco – Ça Va “Le Diable”