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Critic's Review
Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
Burning out with a speed that astonished both bandmembers and supporters alike, the original Sex Gang Children issued just one studio album and a handful of genre-forging singles before disintegrating piecemeal during 1983-1984. That album, 1983's Song and Legend, is rightly regarded among the milestones as the post-punk melee morphed into goth; the one new single that followed it, "Maurita Mayer," was a sign that the Children had a lot more to offer than they ultimately were able. The Dark Archives is fascinating, then, in that it finally sheds light upon what would have been Sex Gang Children's sophomore effort. It is uncertain (and unlikely) that these versions would have survived to the finished thing -- produced by Tony James, the recording was to be spread over two separate sessions on either side of the band's fall 1983 American tour. But the collapse of the band at the end of that outing prevented the second batch of sessions from ever taking place, so the collection of certainly unfinished and surely unmixed recordings here offer, at best, a rough sketch of what the final item might have been. It's a tantalizing glimpse nevertheless. Several of the songs would subsequently be re-recorded for vocalist Andi Sex Gang's own Blind solo album; others may be familiar from the Children's posthumous Ecstasy & Vendetta live album. Formative though they are, the versions here easily outstrip their better-known counterparts, capturing all the tumultuous beauty and heart-pounding majesty that was the original band's calling card. There are a few weak moments -- "Something Smells Like Dead" is very much Batcave by numbers. But "Dead Metal," "Children's Prayer," and, of course, "Maurita Mayer" are classic Children, a point reinforced by the inclusion here of Naked, the 1982 live tape that became the group's first-ever release. The ideas and ambitions may have changed, but the sheer magnificence of this band remains unflawed. Disc two of The Dark Archives, subtitled "the ultimate collection," is a reasonably straightforward roundup of the remainder of the group's recorded legacy, including eight modern (but by no means obtrusive) remixes by guitarist Dave Roberts. Anybody looking for a one-stop introduction to this remarkable group's legacy would be well advised to investigate.
