In his liner notes to this unprecedented boxed set, Goth expert Mick Mercer writes, "Goth blossomed on the gritty soil of punk; forever indebted, essentially different. It has survived all manner of invective and unhealthy assumptions to become a shining example of music made because it needs to be, not because of anything the performers expect to get out of it. This is art which gets inside your heart." 

The artists featured on this 3-CD + 1-DVD collection, the most comprehensive of its kind, indeed created affecting music about what mattered to them, and what started as intense personal expression evolved into a "lifestyle" for the core audience that most embraced its dark ethos. Reveling in introspection and entranced with sex, death, poetry, and the life of the mind, Goth has a power to fascinate that has never waned. 

A Life Less Lived's three audio CDs contain 53 essential Goth tracks, including Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Sisters Of Mercy's "Temple Of Love," Virgin Prunes' "Pagan Love Song," AFI's "The Hanging Garden," and many more. The DVD features 12 music videos from the likes of The Cure, The Jesus And Mary Chain, The Mission UK, Echo & The Bunnymen, and Siouxsie & The Banshees. Packaged with an extensive book in a faux leather lace-up slipcase.