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June 1996, N.M.E.
IT'S IN French. It's based on a play by Jean-Paul Sartre. Have you stopped reading yet? The Cranes have always been a bit of a puzzle to the pop world at large, although 1994's 'Loved' saw them at least attempt to make an accessible album, a vague progression from the grating doomgoth of previous records. 'La Tragedie...', however, is back to the bizarre Cranes we've learned to love to hate. Having had a delayed release due to awaiting clearance from the Sartre estate, 'La Tragedie...' is the most shocking LP you'll hear for ages, if you make the mistake of listening to it.
Earning double artwank points by playing their Pretentious Joker, the Cranes 'interpret' Sartre's 1943 stage play, featuring Alison Shaw's whiny little helium voice babbling over appalling industrial clanging instrumentation, a bit like listening to Vanessa Paradis fronting Laibach.
Sartre maintained that the existence of man had no predetermined purpose and that man must create his own meaning for his existence. Hunt for the rest of your life and you'll never find a meaning for the existence of this near laughable album. Perhaps the Cranes should be applauded for being so wilfully obtuse, but what exactly are these arty sods up to?
Sartre once said, "I distrust the incommunicable, it is the source of all violence," and the Cranes are cruising for a bruising. (1/10)
Reviewed by Terry Staunton
© N.M.E. 1996
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