Anna Domino - East and West + North and South - Crepuscule - 2xCD
Originally issued in 1984, East and West was initially a five-song EP presented as a taster for new cool singer on the European block, Anna Domino. By way of Canada, New York and finally Brussels, Domino became attached to the Stateside bright lights for long enough to observe enough human drama to fill a box-set, let alone a mini-album. But it was an admirable start.
After meeting Crepuscule founder Michel Duval in New York, she was invited to translate her experiences into recordings - East and West was finally born. With a crack band of musicians, including Tuxedomoon's Blaine L.Reininger and pastoral composer Virginia Astley, Domino crafted an admirable set of reflective songs driven by neat guitar hooks, drum machines and some terrific brass. Some 30+ years later, opener With The Day Comes The Dawn remains a hypnotic druggy drunk-as-a-hedonist ballad, Aretha cover Land Of My Dreams a sorrowful paean to lost love and the somewhat sparkier Review a single that should have been (rather than the somewhat lengthy Trust In Love).
Previous reissues of this album have sported a set of live recordings from Japan - all present and correct here - but this edition offers an interesting second (North and South) disc of collaborations and appearances with a list of musical luminaries that makes an absorbing insightful assemblage in itself. It's difficult to choose between songs recorded with The The, Ultramarine, Stephen Merritt, Buscemi, Stanton Miranda, Kid Montana and Luc Van Acker - they're all worthy of inclusion - but the most interesting include Pome on Doctor Sax with Jack Kerouac and the rare-as-hen's-teeth The Light Downtown (with New York City), taken from the sadly-ignored After Twilight compilation (featuring other Domino gems, doncha know).
The two The The songs will probably help steer some reviewers in the direction of this fine reissue (and December Sunlight is admittedly terrific). But it's East and West that still shimmers in the dusky heat like Manhattan's skyline and Brussel's Grand Place.