All the Pretty Little Horses

Infobox Album |
Name = All The Pretty Little Horses
Type = Album
Artist = Current 93


Released = 1996
Recorded = 1995/6
Genre = Apocalyptic folk
Experimental music
Post-Industrial
Length = 55:30
Label = Durtro
Producer = Steven Stapleton, David Tibet, Michael Cashmore
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://wm07.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wcfrxquhldhe link]
Last album = "Where The Long Shadows Fall (Beforethe
inmostlight)"
(1995)
This album = "All The Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light"
(1996)
Next album = "The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlight
thirdandfinal)"
(1996)

"All The Pretty Little Horses: The Inmost Light" is an album by English band Current 93. It forms the second part of the Inmost Light trilogy; the first being 1995's "Where The Long Shadows Fall (Beforetheinmostlight)" and the last being 1996's "The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal)". Unlike its bookends, "All The Pretty Little Horses" is a full-length album. Like the earlier "Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre", "All The Pretty Little Horses" contains several songs based on repeating melodic themes. Lyrically, the album revolves around the ideas of pain and death, specifically as reflected in Patripassianist philosophy, along with the overarching concept of the "inmost light", or soul. In contrast, the music itself is some of Current 93's most traditional, relying heavily on acoustic guitar, and is often outright pretty. Exceptions appear in the form of two spoken-word tracks: the ominous, drone-based round "Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil", and "Patripassian", backed mainly by a heavily treated loop of a Gregorian chant. That said, it is hailed by many fans and critics as one of Current 93's masterpieces.

Track listing

#"The Long Shadow Falls" – 2:15
#"All the Pretty Little Horses" – 2:35
#"Calling for Vanished Faces I" – 1:50
#"The Inmost Night" – 2:16
#"The Carnival Is "Dead" And Gone" – 3:11
#"The Blood Bells Chime" – 3:00
#"Calling for Vanished Faces II" – 4:10
#"The Frolic" – 8:11
#"The Inmost Light" – 1:45
#"Twilight Twilight, Nihil Nihil" – 8:22
#"The Inmost Light Itself" – 9:29
#"All the Pretty Little Horses" – 2:34
#"Patripassian" – 5:49
#(hidden track - a reading by Thomas Ligotti)

Participants

All listings are given as per the accompanying booklet.

*David Tibet : vocals, drones, strings and bells
*John Balance: vocals on 1, 10 & 11
*Michael Cashmore: guitar, bass, glockenspiel and piano
*Steven Stapleton: strings 'n' stones, devices 'n' drones
*Timothy d'Arch Smith: vocals on 10
*Lilith: vocals on 5, 7, 8, 9 & 11
*Geoff Cox-Doreé: vocals on 10
*Nick Cave: vocals on 12 & 13
*Joolie Wood: violin, whistle and piano
*David Kenny: guitar and bass
*Salamah binti Isa: vocals on 10
*David Rowlnads: steel guitar

Additional information

* Photographs of all participants from their childhoods are included in the CD booklet.
* The album is dedicated by Tibet as follows: "A death and a birth: Dorothy Ann Collins (1933 - 1995) and Seth Joseph Burgess Cox-Doreé (born 1995). I dedicate this album to one past and one future, and to that place where both shall meet". The former is better known as Dolly Collins, sister of Shirley Collins.
* The credits advise that the title "The Frolic" is borrowed, with permission, from Thomas Ligotti. "Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil" is dedicated to him.
* "Lilith" is Lilith Stapleton, eldest daughter of Steven Stapleton and Diana Rogerson. She contributed the artwork to Current 93's "Horsey (album)" CD and inspired Nurse With Wound's "Soliloquy For Lilith".
* An alternative version of "The Frolic", entitled "Frolicking", was issued on the compilation album Terra Serpentes, released by World Serpent in 1997.

External links

* [http://brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/discog/durtro030.php?site=c93 "ATPLH" page at Brainwashed.com's Current 93 Archive]