Coil – Panic

Mine has a barcode and also an insert advertising Wax Trax releases.

I've got one copy of Panic on WT with a UPC barcode on the back cover, and one copy without the UPC.

this explores a side of coil that would not be explored greatly in the future, a side that draws heavily on punk and industrial music. yet, it is also an introduction to the kind of themes that coil would explore further in the future.

yes, the disc commits the error of covering a recently covered song, but any criticism of this should be muted by the fact that the disc was an aids fundraiser and the cover was actually done in co-ordination with soft cell. the cover is the reason this gets a 4 and not a 2. don't misunderstand me; it's by far the best version of the song i've heard, the problem is that the song itself is lame.

aqua regis is really just a lead-in to panic, so i'm going to treat the disc as a one track single. what can be said of this track, panic?

well, it's a fairly generic run through an industrial-punk track as written c. 1985, but it's constructed well. random observers may be forgiven for not knowing what makes an industrial track well constructed and what doesn't and may hear little more than random whirs and buzzes and irritating loops of unusual sounds. the first clue is that you've recognized that the loop is unusual. the idea of time repeating over and over again is jarring and disorienting; the unusual nature of the sound within the loop is supposed to exaggerate this effect. so, if the music disturbs you on this level, you've understood it. the next question to ask yourself is whether or not you enjoy that.

my response would be to say that the analogy is to the confused, insane nature in which our social system is constructed. our social reality is one where independent thought is often confused with insanity or an inability to understand how things "really are" to the point that logical thought is often labelled as irrational because it contradicts "common sense". any independent thinker would have grounds to deduce that this system seems constructed with a conscious aim to marginalize logic and other anti-authoritative modes of thought; it's conclusions are indeed often deeply illogical. how does a rational being stumble through this maze of absurdity? if illustrated musically, it may sound a little like this track.

now, the track is dedicated to a greek god, pan. the reality is that at this late a stage most greek gods represent just about every concept, even contradictory ones simultaneously. coil is invoking pan on this record as a god of mischief, one which suddenly appears out of nowhere and pushes fear upon those in it's path. yet, the argument is that this is beyond beneficial but actually natural, as fear brings us closer to our natural state of relying upon instinct. coil would continue to draw heavily on neo-pagan imagery throughout it's career.

so, coil seems to be presenting the exact opposite analogy; namely, they're trying to dissuade you from logic by glorifying the irrational and they've even resurrected pan from the dead in the liner notes of their first release in order to get that point across. it's interesting that the music simultaneously fits nearly absolutely into both of these contradictory approaches to logic.

today, just about any kid could construct something like this in an afternoon but it was a lot more difficult to do so at the time. could the track be described as intricate? using modern definitions, almost certainly not; using definitions from the early 80s, it's hard to argue against the label.

just download it and wait until you see it somewhere for cheap before you buy it, if you do.