Livin' Fear Of James Last (The Best Of Nurse With Wound)

he "sister" compilation to Current 93's Judas as Black Moth, Nurse With Wound's 2CD Livin' Fear of James Last attempts the impossible: It tries to capture the essence of the unclassifiable act in a mere 2CD set. The collection skips the early years and picks-up in the early '80s. Along with ignoring albums like Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion, a hilarious spoof of 1950s easy listening, and Soliloquy for Lilith, a melancholy classic, Livin' Fear of James Last doesn't represent every avenue the Nurse travels, but a newbie will get a fairly good picture of the sometimes dark and droning, sometimes quirky and knotty language this creak and squeak, one-man outfit favors. Chosen by that man, Steven Stapleton, Livin' Fear of James Last is smart enough to hint at the humor the tape-cutting, avant gardist is prone to drop, while the more organic and vocals-curious side of the man is represented by "The Strange Play of the Mouth," where a beautifully delivered siren song is slowly deconstructed by harsh edits. Enough is pulled from rare, hard-to-find albums to make this necessary for the fan, and the way Stapleton has edited and sequenced the tracks to make this a unique experience on its own deserves the fanatic's attention. Newcomers might still be thrown for a loop, depending on purchase number two, but a better, 2CD introduction to the strange world of Nurse With Wound is hard to imagine. ~ David Jeffries|