Stolen and Contaminated Songs

Initially released in late 1992 as a limited edition and then rereleased the following year with different track names in response to a bootleg edition emerging, Stolen and Contaminated Songs served something of the same function to Love’s Secret Domain as Gold Is the Metal did for earlier Coil: a companion, a remix collection and a look forward to what the band was starting to pursue next. Beginning with “Furthur,” an alternate to Love’s Secret Domain “Further Back and Faster,” the group’s combination of curiosity about and subversion of the exploding UK house and techno scenes of the 1990s mixed with even more unusual sonic manipulations and treatments. The most notable song to emerge here first was “Nasa-Arab,” a strong slow burn of an eleven minute track that served as a culmination of their dance-leaning approach as a later single. But the full range of the release touched on everything from an early demo of the song “Love’s Secret Domain” itself, John Balance sounding even more fraught, to the sparkling and murmuring instrumental “Inkling” and the majestically giddy “The Original Wild Garlic Memory.”