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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Unreferenced|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Like a Corpse Standing in Desperation
| type       = box
| artist     = [[Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows]]
| cover      = Soporlikeacorpse.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = {{Start date|2005}}
| recorded   = 1989–2004
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Darkwave]]
| length     = {{Duration|m=199|s=26}}
| label      = Apocalyptic Vision
| producer   = Sopor Aeternus, John A. Rivers
| prev_title = [[La Chambre d'Echo]]
| prev_year  = 2004
| next_title = [[Les Fleurs du Mal (Sopor Æternus & the Ensemble of Shadows album)|Les Fleurs du Mal]]
| next_year  = 2007
}}

'''''Like a Corpse Standing in Desperation''''' is the title of a career-spanning rarities [[box set]] by [[darkwave]] band [[Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows]] that was released in 2005. The recordings span fifteen years of "original demos, rarities & documented failures." Re-issued for the first time are the out-of-print [[Extended play|EP]] ''[[Ehjeh Ascher Ehjeh]]'' and [[remix album]] ''[[Voyager - The Jugglers of Jusa]]'', along with the never before heard demo tape ''[[Es reiten die Toten so schnell...]]'' and the extensively bootlegged ''[[Flowers in Formaldehyde]]''.

==Overview==
''Like a Corpse...'' was created in response to the high prices fans would have to pay on [[eBay]] for [[Bootleg recording|bootlegged]] copies of out of print [[Extended play|EPs]] and albums. [[John A. Rivers]], who personally oversaw the remastering of the first six Sopor Aeternus albums, as well as the two to follow (2003's ''[[Es reiten die Toten so schnell|"Es reiten die Toten so schnell" (or: the Vampyre sucking at his own Vein)]]'' and 2004's ''[[La Chambre D'Echo - Where the dead Birds sing|"La Chambre D'Echo" - Where the dead Birds sing]]'') supervised and remastered the contents of this box set. The set also included the concurrently released single, ''[[The Goat / The Bells Have Stopped Ringing|"The Goat" / "The Bells have stopped ringing"]]''.

Barring the aforementioned single and demo tape, four previously unreleased songs were included: "White Body", "Watch your Step", "As Fire kissed the Echo Twins" and "The Widow's Dream"; the last of which is based on the [[Rozz Williams]] song "A Widow's Dream". "White Body" is sourced from one of the two still-unreleased demo tapes by Sopor Aeternus.

The box set contains three CDs, packaged in their own hardcover booklet; the book also includes liner notes by [[Anna-Varney Cantodea]] herself, as well as "the only interview/publication that I have kept over the years." Also included is a working facsimile of the original [[cassette tape]] for ''[[Es reiten die Toten so schnell...]]'', complete with both original and re-packaged artwork (on both sides); two [[DVD]]s (one in [[NTSC]] format, the other in [[PAL]]) containing five Sopor videos; a T-shirt, a poster, a sticker, patches, buttons, a decorative attachment for a funeral wreath and a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity.

Of interest to some listeners are the two different mixes of the demo tape material. The demo appears on the first disc of the collection in a remastered format, removing tape hiss but adding heavy reverb effects; the cassette included in the set contains the songs as originally mixed. The songs from ''Jekura - Deep the Eternal Forest'' and ''Ehjeh Ascher Ehjeh'' were also remastered in a similar fashion. Also of note are the two versions of the video for "Deep the eternal Forest"; one, with [[Anna-Varney Cantodea]] in black robes, is found on the NTSC DVD; while the other, with Cantodea in white robes, is found on the PAL DVD. The menus of each disc are different as well.

==Track listing==
{{tracklist
| all_writing     = [[Anna-Varney Cantodea]]
| headline        = Disc 1: ''Original DEMO Recordings''
| title1          = Omen Sinsitrum (original demo)
| note1           = "Inauspicious omen"; Sopor Aeternus
| length1         = 2:15
| title2          = Dead Souls (original demo)
| note2           = Sopor Aeternus
| length2         = 6:41
| title3          = Stake of my Soul (original demo)
| note3           = Sopor Aeternus
| length3         = 1:14
| title4          = Beautiful Thorn (original demo)
| note4           = Sopor Aeternus
| length4         = 5:09
| title5          = Baptisma (original demo)
| note5           = Sopor Aeternus
| length5         = 5:01
| title6          = The Feast of Blood (original demo)
| note6           = Sopor Aeternus
| length6         = 4:07
| title7          = Sopor Fratrem Mortis Est (original demo)
| note7           = "Sleep is the brother of Death"; Sopor Aeternus
| length7         = 4:55
| title8          = Reprise (original demo)
| note8           = Sopor Aeternus
| length8         = 0:16
| title9          = White Body (previously unreleased demo, 1992
| length9         = 3:13
| title10         = [[Paranoid (Black Sabbath song)|Diô N'arâp]] (The unability within Time)
| note10          = [[Ozzy Osbourne]], [[Tony Iommi]], [[Geezer Butler]], [[Bill Ward (musician)|Bill Ward]]
| length10        = 3:10
| title11         = [[A National Acrobat|Tabor C'âlan O'itanâ]] (My Womb is barren, but I can conceive)
| note11          = [[Ozzy Osbourne]], [[Tony Iommi]], [[Geezer Butler]], [[Bill Ward (musician)|Bill Ward]]
| length11        = 7:10
| title12         = Deep the eternal Forest
| length12        = 1:46
| title13         = Watch your Step (previously unreleased demo, 1994.)
| length13        = 3:37
| title14         = Introduction - The Termite People
| length14        = 6:45
| title15          = [[Anima and animus|Anima]] I
| length15         = 0:50
| title16          = Shadowsphere II
| length16         = 2:31
| title17          = Saltatio Crudelitatis
| note17           = "Dance of cruelty"
| length17         = 5:37
| title18          = Freitod-Phantasien
| note18           = "Suicide-Fantasies"
| length18         = 3:33
| title19          = Anima II
| length19         = 3:05
| title20          = Tanz der Grausamkeit (recorded on 28 October 1993.)
| note20           = "Dance of cruelty"
| length20         = 5:27
| title21          = As Fire kissed the Echo Twins (previously unreleased demo, 1994.)
| length21         = 1:49
}}

Tracks 1-8 comprise the demo cassette ''[[Es reiten die Toten so schnell...]]''. Tracks 10-12 and 14 are taken from the compilation ''[[Jekura - Deep the Eternal Forest]]''. Tracks 15-20 form the complete ''[[Ehjeh Ascher Ehjeh]]'' EP.

{{tracklist
| headline        = Disc 2: ''"Voyager - The Jugglers of Jusa"''
| title1          = The inexperienced Spiral Traveller: * a fragment * II
| length1         = 5:07
| title2          = Ein freundliches Wort... (...hat meine Seele berührt.) (defined and fragile)
| note2           = "A kind word... (...has touched my soul.)"
| length2         = 5:10
| title3          = Memalon II
| length3         = 7:25
| title4          = The Innocence of Devils: "[[Poems by Edgar Allan Poe#Alone (1829)|Alone]]" ([[Edgar Allan Poe|E. A. Poe]])
| length4         = 6:27
| title5          = [[Das Model|Modela est]]
| note5           = "The Model"; [[Ralf Hütter]], [[Karl Bartos]], [[Emil Schult]]
| length5         = 4:35
| title6          = Birth (instr.)
| length6         = 2:49
| title7          = [[Feralia]] Genitalia (Arrival of the Jugglers)
| length7         = 6:30
| title8          = [[Menuetto]]
| length8         = 1:26
| title9          = Saturn-Impressionen (Jusa, Jusa)
| note9           = "Saturn-Impressions (Jusa, Jusa)"
| length9         = 2:48
| title10         = May I kiss your Wound ? (Saturn:Orion)
| length10        = 6:05
| title11         = "Alone" II
| length11        = 6:55
| title12         = The inexperienced Spiral Traveller: * a fragment * II (instr.)
| length12        = 5:08
| title13         = The Widow's Dream - fragment (Outtake from ''[[Dead Lovers' Sarabande (Face One)|"Dead Lovers' Sarabande" (Face One)]]'', 1999. Previously unreleased demo.)
| length13        = 1:48
| title14         = The Goat (Based on the music of [[Frédéric Chopin]]'s "[[Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin)|Marche Funèbre, OP 35]]". Outtake from ''"[[Songs from the inverted Womb]]"'', 2000. Previously unreleased.)
| length14        = 4:11
| title15         = The Bells have stopped ringing (previously unreleased, 2000)
| length15        = 5:05
}}

Tracks 1-12 form the ''Voyager'' album proper. Tracks 13-15 are bonus tracks, with the latter two forming the ''[[The Goat / The Bells Have Stopped Ringing|Goat / The Bells have stopped ringing]]'' single.

{{tracklist
| headline        = Disc 3: ''"Flowers in Formaldehyde"''
| title1          = In an Hour Darkly
| length1         = 4:58
| title2          = [[The Conqueror Worm]] (by [[Edgar Allan Poe]])
| length2         = 3:28
| title3          = [[Minnesang]]
| length3         = 3:36
| title4          = Von der Einfalt
| note4           = Of naivety
| length4         = 1:40
| title5          = Hearse-shaped Basins of Darkest Matter (instrumental)
| length5         = 3:39
| title6          = Leeches & Deception (instrumental)
| length6         = 6:59
| title7          = Extract from: The Voices of the Dead
| length7         = 0:58
| title8          = Do you know my Name ? / What has happened while we slept ?
| length8         = 5:06
| title9          = "La Chambre D'Echo" album trailer
| note9           = enhanced track
| length9         = 0:42
}}

=== Additional material===

{{tracklist
| all_writing     = Sopor Aeternus. Both sides contain the same songs
| headline        = Cassette: ''Es reiten die Toten so schnell...'', sides A & B
| title1          = Omen Sinsitrum
| note1           = "Inauspicious omen"
| length1         = 2:15
| title2          = Dead Souls
| length2         = 6:41
| title3          = Stake of my Soul
| length3         = 1:14
| title4          = Beautiful Thorn
| length4         = 5:09
| title5          = Baptisma
| length5         = 5:01
| title6          = The Feast of Blood
| length6         = 4:07
| title7          = Sopor Fratrem Mortis Est
| note7           = "Sleep is the brother of Death"
| length7         = 4:55
| title8          = Reprise
| note8           = ''unlisted track''
| length8         = 0:16
}}

{{tracklist
| headline        = DVD: ''SOPOR''
| title1          = The Goat
| length1         = 4:11
| title2          = ...And Bringer of Sadness
| length2         = 6:45
| title3          = Deep the eternal Forest
| length3         = 1:46
| title4          = The Dog Burial
| length4         = 1:15
| title5          = The Bells have stopped ringing
| length5         = 5:05
}}

==Personnel==
'''''Es reiten die Toten so schnell...'''''
* [[Anna-Varney Cantodea|Varney]]: vocals and instruments
* Holger: instruments

'''''Ehjeh Ascher Ehjeh, Jekura - Deep the Eternal Forest'' and all outtakes'''
* [[Anna-Varney Cantodea|Varney]]: All vocals, instruments and programming

''"'''Voyager - The Jugglers of Jusa'''"''
* Una Fallada: [[Violin]]
* Matthias Eder: [[Cello]]
* Gerrit Fischer: [[Guitar]]
* Constanze Spengler: [[Lute]]
* [[Anna-Varney Cantodea]]: Vocals, all other instruments and programming

'''''Flowers in Formaldehyde'''''
* Susannah Simmons: [[Violin]]
* Elizabeth Tollington: [[Cello]]
* Miriam Hughes: [[Flute]]
* Tonia Price: [[Clarinet]]
* Andrew Pettitt: [[Oboe]]
* Doreena Gor: [[Bassoon]]
* Tim Barber: Trumpet
* Julian Turner: [[Trombone]]
* Anthony Bartley: [[Tuba]]
* Paul Brook: [[Drums]]
* [[Anna-Varney Cantodea]]: Vocals, all other instruments and programming

{{Sopor Æternus & the Ensemble of Shadows}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Like A Corpse Standing In Desperation}}
[[Category:Sopor Aeternus and The Ensemble of Shadows albums]]
[[Category:2005 compilation albums]]