Sisters of Mercy - Classic or Dud

Classic? Yes, natch, etc.

I too saw them on the aborted tour with Public Enemy & Gang of Four at NYC's Radio City Music Hall. Finest moment was when Andrew came back out for the encore wearing a Public Enemy baseball jersey.

The best gig I was never at was the one in the early 1980s where the Sisters of Mercy were supported by an up-and-coming Smiths.

nostalgia - classic, in hindsight - dud

when i wasnt sleeping through the 80s i avoided becoming a goth by whistling 'Delia Sands' by the Brilliant Corners and skipping in my Starbrite pyjamas.

NO NO I MUST BE HARD CHARVER OVERLORD RUFFNECK RIPPINITUP.......

Oh yes, I'll admit, VISION THING was pretty lame but FLOODLAND was epic at its best. Love the bass line from "Lucretia".

ALICE! Don't - give it away!"

I love this band.

xpost

OWNZ

I struggle to forgive Eldritch for three shows now (one with Depeche Mode in 91, Reading Festival with Tony James 92? and one a couple of years ago in Glasgow) for very nearly making me not care about this band any more.

Be honest Alex - if you could stand the best Wayne song against even the worst Benn Gunn era song, who would win? Exactly. (It's also worth noting at least a few of those songs existed as rough versions before Wayne turned up - see also some Mission and Ghost Dance {the only one of the lot to embrace their Glam roots properly} songs having turned up at Sisters soudchecks.)

http://www.denis.co.uk/acatalog/dor-mi-wh-uu-l-0001.jpg

If I posted a note transcription instead, most would shrug. ;-)

that said, they do have some classic jamz.

ihttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/aldo_cowpat/dalek.jpg

OTM re pre-Wayne era Sisters, though there are still a few good tracks to be found during and after Wayne. That version of 'Sugar Baby Love' I grabbed off your slsk roxorz, not so sure about 'He's got the whole world in his hands' though...

To be fair, Mr E does say before it that you'll all hate it.

OK, I may have overstated slightly the shiteness off the Wayne era and beyond, but decent tracks are few and far between. I've never rated Marian, btw.

Eldritch + Steinman should = genius, instead = quite good.

And is the SSV album that bad? I've never managed to find it anywhere.

http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/gen/ressv.htm

Yeah, I'm with Siegbran there -- there were a number of albums that Merciful Release put out in the early nineties that were non-SOM, but none of them seemed to be a guise for the man himself.

In regards to new material and you personally - the last thing I am aware of you ‘releasing’ was some remixes for Die Krupps in 1994. What are you up to lately? Anything new since then - or in the works? Rumour has it that you’ve produced a couple of techno albums under various pseudonyms - any truth to this?

You are very well-informed. That is a rumour I will not deny (although I prefer the description "ambient-pop-industrial-techno hybrid with tunes and intelligence"). Nor would I confirm it if it were true - because rumour has it that I actually performed the albums in question. My contract with East West prevents me from being a featured artist in any other arena, and East West are prepared to spend a lot of money in court to uphold their belief that the contract is still in force. Even if I had a pathological need to openly perform on records, I would need an awful lot of money to assert my freedom. I have neither, so it's not much of an issue.

Actually, East West are preparing to spend a lot of money in court to uphold their belief that I should be forced to make records for them. Most labels give up when the artist has been on strike for four years or so. East West are so desperate that they won't give up ...after seven years. That really is desperate.

That sounds like a "yes, it's true but I can't legally say so" to me.

I just can't get into any of the studio albums thereafter... although, yeah, I do like "This Corrosion" for its goth campiness, and can't get it out of my head, because it was my first exposure to the band, via that video...(oooh yeah, shore more pits, Patricia.. "Sing!", girl)

Unfortunately, the promoters pulled the entire tour -- probably due to poor ticket sales -- but I remember Eldritch saying something about how promoters were afraid to take risks on line-ups that would cross-pollinate audiences from very different musical territories, etc..

and then a year or so later, along came the first Lollapalooza.

(Not saying a Sisters/Public Enemy tour would be the first atypical tour, but I thought it was a cool gesture on both bands' parts to try it.)

...with Gang of Four as openers.I saw it roll through Radio City Music Hall. Andy came out for the encore wearing a PE baseball jersey, which was dead cool, i thought.

I just can't summon up a desire to listen to them now, although that Sisterhood record was extraordinary and I wouldn't mind hearing that again at all.

The Reptile House record was my favourite, if I recall correctly, although Temple of Love 12" really blew my mind when I first heard it.

DOMINION!

classic, obv

Does anyone remember James Ray & The Performance?

For me, when the Sisters ceased being a "band" per se and just became Andrew and whomever else he happened to have recently befriended, I sort've lost interest a bit. Once Wayne and Craig left, they took much of the mystique with them (only to squander it in a very silly fashion in the Mission who, I must confess, I was a rather large fan of for a while).

Most of what James Ray did was sub-Sisters piss but Texas is a fine single and is pretty much everything you should ever own by him (says the guy with Gangwar albums stagnating around here somewhere).

I went to see them a Bath Moles around 1991/2 just to convince myself James Ray wasn't just a guise under which Eldritch could release any crap he wanted. 16 people turned up, it was shite.

I stand by what I said upthread though, it was all downhill after Adrenochrome.

"For me, when the Sisters ceased being a "band" per se and just became Andrew and whomever else he happened to have recently befriended, I sort've lost interest a bit."

Actually, that's when I start loving them.

I the fake-rock Steinman stuff and only like the I'm-too-gloomy-for-my-leathers gothy stuff.

I didn't see the video until way after the fact.....and it's embarassing (though not as embarassing as the Mission's clip for "Stay with Me", which -- I believe -- was intended to be silly and over the top). Not sure if "This Corrosion" is supposed to be taken seriousy or not as a video, but it was dire.

Their version of "Gimme Shelter" is beyond outstanding.

"pass the salt."

"..AND I NEED ALL THE LOVE THAT I CAN'T GET TOO!"

"Good fries, these!"

That's all I need (oh-- and "MARIAN")...

a very drunk-at-5:30 a.m. CLASSIC

Although the Reading Festival appearance with Tony James that someone else alluded to above, when they came back out and did a camped up version of 'He's Got The Whole World In His Hands' was one the worst five minutes I've ever stood through at a live gig.

Call the press, Trayce doesn't like the Sisters OMG.

"Good fries, these!"

Hahaha, there were fries and everything! You're almost completelly OTM except replace "salt" with "ketchup".

Merciful release put out some pretty OK stuff, too...March Violets & the first Salvation 12" are real cool.

I'm going to transcribe that this weekend.

That would be awesome.

GIFT by the Sisterhood -- Classic or Dud

As started by Alex in NYC

I honestly did not know this was possible!

I'd also forgotten that "Torch" is fucking fantastic.

great musical mistakes: buying a Ghostdance album because it had former members of the Sisters of Mercy playing on it.

Yeah, Gary Marx's band. No good? Never got around to hearing it.

Presence.

...and didn't Simon Gallup have a band too?

Dance Fools Dance.

Hey DAN, did you go to the vision thing tour w/me? I can't remember...Danielle Dax opened, which was odd. The best part of the show was when she was completely obscured on stage by the mighty fog machines of SOM coming to life towards the end of her set.

Did anyone catch Black Strobe dropping in the bassline from "Lucretia My Reflection" during their Radio 1 Essential Mix last Fall? Brought a wide smile to my face....

Listening to Lucretia My Reflection now, awesome track.

It's but a small part (ahem!) of a much larger feature!

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/england-fades-away-stylus-magazines-guide-to-goth.htm

The splashpage is pretty tight, too, and Sisters related.

(AHEM!)

"a mate of mine was once
sharing his bag of whizz with Eldritch at Reading when the convo turned to
football, and Red chancer Eldritch revealed that he'd been at the Euro Cup
Winners Final when Man Yoo turned over Barca. The sudden image of a sea of
red with one black clad doom monger breaking up the symmetry was too much,
and he had to leave the dark lord suddenly before he burst out laughing."

---

"A
few labels have expressed an interest in signing the Sisters but his
demand for four million plus the A&R person having to be dressed as a
clown during all and any meetings with the band has tended to put them
off."

I love it!

Reissue one:

1. Black Planet
2. Walk Away
3. No Time To Cry
4. A Rock And A Hard Place
5. Marian (Version)
6. First And Last And Always
7. Possession
8. Nine While Nine
9. Amphetamine Logic
10. Some Kind Of Stranger

Bonus Tracks
11. Poison Door
12. On The Wire
13. Blood Money
14. Bury Me Deep
15. Long Train
16. Some Kind Of Stranger (Early)

Number two

1. Dominion/Mother Russia
2. Flood I
3. Lucretia My Reflection
4. 1959
5. This Corrosion
6. Flood II
7. Driven Like The Snow
8. Never Land (A Fragment)

Bonus Tracks
9. Torch
10. Colours
11. Never Land [Full Length] [Previously Unreleased Outtake]
12. Emma

And last

1. Vision Thing
2. Ribbons
3. Detonation Boulevard
4. Something Fast
5. When You Don't See Me
6. Doctor Jeep
7. More
8. I Was Wrong

Bonus Tracks
9. You Could Be The One
10. More [Extended Version]
11. Doctor Jeep [Extended Version]
12. Ribbons [Live]
13. Something Fast [Live]

The last, I think, I can live without.

What label is doing these, by the way?

http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=17959_0_2_0_C

YES I DID. Awesome awesome show.

F&L&A appears to be essential.

these two and the other 12" b-sides are the only reasons to get these post-shark-jumping discs...every year I get a little more pissed off at how this band went from rule to suck in such a short period of time

http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=18248_0_2_0_C

You've gone deaf.

Very nicely reissued, cardboard foldy things with booklets, two nice articles by Michael Bonner (Uncut Magazine) - there's some stuff in there I didn't know (and I've been quite a sisters freak way back when, so I'm impressed), lyrics to Floodland, not to F&L&A.

How do they sound?
Well, F&L&A is the vinyl mix that was on the original LP, nice & clear mix, and Floodland, well, I don't know, Baaderonix was right, there isn't much they can do with this. It sounds a little louder in places, perhaps (the choir intro to This Corrosion?), but it's not very clear what happened.

Listen for yourself:
http://rapidshare.com/files/1842737/blackplanet_dominion_comparisons.zip.html

This is a zip file with 4 256kbps (LAME CBR) mp3 files. They are:
blackplanet_original.mp3 = the first minute of the 1988 CD edition
blackplanet_remastered.mp3 = the first minute of the 2006 reissue
dominion_original.mp3 = the first minute of the 1987 CD edition
dominion_remastered.mp3 = the first minute of the 2006 reissue

Ripped with EAC, no normalization or anything else.

Oh, the bonus tracks rule. I always forget how much I like the full Never Land because it's on a shitty old tape somewhere and I hardly listen to tapes anymore.

(it's for educational purposes and it's only the first minute - if this is still illegal, please delete & accept my apologies)

I think Neverland is my fave SoM tune, despite its throwaway-ness. The image of Eldritch with his ticket to Syria, getting ready for a life on the run, is so vivid...

20 seconds of Blood Money and 40 seconds of Emma (sounds amazing)

http://rapidshare.com/files/1855615/em_bm.zip.html

also, whichever "flood"--1 or 2, can't remember--precedes "lucretia" on floodland doesn't get nearly enough love. sets "lucretia" up as well as "shooby-do" sets up "candy-o" ... as i make this association i suddenly apprehend that it's far from coincidental.

Haha, yes. There's just this endless series of killer bridges...

The whole remixed album is *interesting*.. Absolutely no mids - was it supposed to sound that way originally?? The "Black Planet" intro sounds as if coming out of a cheap car radio...

I always thought that was a wonderfully bitter and spiteful way to end it.

DOMINION

Absolute, undeniable classic.

I feel like a bad goth for skipping over "This Corrosion" when I listen to Floodland

Listening to your show right now, Curtis - "Dark Entries" is a great name for it/opener. Makes the hair on my arms stand on end, that song.

please excuse my fucked-up-ness on the mic, I was completely out of it

Oh who cares man, to have someone play ME an old Red Lorry Yellow Lorry track is enough. I'm just humbled about that. Makes me feel like I did when I heard some college radio station in St. Louis played an old Fall track, and it just made me feel like royalty, so privileged. Not me playing it someone ELSE but someone actually playing it to ME. No, this is fantastic, Curtis, please don't apologize.

Ah, and old Sisters of Mercy is next! Why this is just fine, fine stuff, I say.

I can't remember which (witch) Sisters song this is, but it's definitely one of my favourites from their early material. "In the violent house/in the violent sound/going round and around and around..." "slow...slow...quick quick slow...see those babies go go go go go!"
Yeah I'll have to figure out which one that is later.

Now you're playing Siouxsie. There's a Siouxsie song I've been thinking of lately that I've been trying to identify. I must write that down. It's something off Join Hands. Not Hong Kong Garden, something else.

it's really, really fun to try to sing like andrew eldritch, in case anyone didn't already know.

Bimble:

That song is "Floorshow". It's on "Some Girls Wander by Mistake"

And I think it's actually "See those <B>pagans</b> go go go go go!"... which makes it even better in my opinion.

Oh yeah, and Sisters of Mercy = total classic. Even "Vision Thing" has got some great material on it, despite being the weakest of their main albums.

Yes! Even better if the lyric is "see those Pagans go go go go go!"

Yr goth show was totally awesome Curtis :D I hope you do end up getting the regular slot!

That song is "Floorshow". It's on "Some Girls Wander by Mistake"

showing my age... I think of it as being on the 12" of 'Alice'.

Well, yeah.

Yeah, Curtis - do you need me to bombard the powers at be with emails or something? I could pretend to be different people by switching email addresses. Or I'd even call them on the phone. Let me know what I need to do.

I used to have all the old Sisters records, but haven't had them in a long time now. Don't feel a need to have them again, but it's nice to hear something from those every once in a while.

Will they release an album before GnR?

Anyone else heard "You Could Be the One?" One of my favorite b-sides of all time. Just a hilarious kiss off, and catchy to boot.

Yea, "You Could be the One" is great. It actually sounds like a GnR tune.

Anyone like the new (well, once new) material played live but never released? "Crash and Burn", "We are the Same Suzanne" and "War on Drugs" are favourites of mine.

I actually kind of liked that "Screw Shareholder Value..." album that he "released" on the internet a few years ago to get out of his record contract.

There's something vaguely threatening about Andrew Eldritch reciting in monotone the dimensions of an aircraft over bland techno music with the drum tracks removed.

Agreed on "You Could Be the One" -- it wouldn't have fit in on Vision Thing but it's a fine little one-off.

"Flower children never bore me..."

There's something vaguely threatening about Andrew Eldritch reciting in monotone the dimensions of an aircraft over bland techno music with the drum tracks removed.

Overall length eight hundred and seventy millimetres,
Length of barrel four hundred and fifteen millimetres,
Length of sighting line three-hundred and seventy-eight millimetres.

<i>There's something vaguely threatening about Andrew Eldritch reciting in monotone the dimensions of an aircraft over bland techno music with the drum tracks removed.</i>

it's actually taken from an ak-47 manual and it's lucas fox, not eldritch reciting.

bugger. keep forgetting about the html thing.

come to think of it, i don't think eldritch's vocals appear on 'gift' at all.

indeed. Listen to Colours from Gift and Colours from the Floodland CD: one is Fox, the other one is Eldritch.

"Colours" is Alan Vega no?

nb I prefer the Sisterhood version of "Colours" by a mile

also I'm fairly certain novaheat wasn't referring to "Finland Red, Egypt White" (which definitely has drums), I was just posting the lyrics for no particular reason

Confused! Fox is a drummer. James Ray is the main vocalist on Gift. (is Colours Vega? Could be, I don't know)

(even more confused! Fox does read the AK47 manual)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sisterhood

:-/

Colours = Vega
Giving Ground = Ray
I think Rain From Heaven is Vega/Ray/Morrison together

(and Fox doing the spoken part)

I'm still not convinced that it's Vega singing on Gift's Colours.

I've never heard Ray sing like that.

I picked up Gift for 13 bucks at a record store, because it was a Sisters of Mercy thing that I had never seen/heard before (they're one of the few bands where I'll grab singles or random crap from because there's bound to be something awesome on everything they put out). Man, that is a weird little artifact.

I put it on in the car once when I was driving with friends, and they were really confused. The AK-47 song is definitely the winner. Gift is up there with 25... Tab as far as weird contract fillers go.

Gift is fucking awesome and I will hear nothing else. Best Sisters album of them all (if we're not counting the comp of the Merciful release stuff).

Big problem with Gift is the absence of Eldritch on vocals. His delivery is a large part of the reason I love the band so much.

Yeah I was going to say, I just don't think Eldritch sings on Gift at all. I don't think that's actually a problem, though.

This thing with trying to pinpoint Vega on Gift drove me crazy before, though and I'm not about to pull that out and try to figure it out again. I give up.

I think Eldritch didn't want to sing on the album so as not to cause any legal problems with the name dispute or something. That's what he claims, anyway.

Okay, I've listened to Colours again now and I just do not think it's Vega. It's too freaking subtle for him. He's supposed to be doing an Elvis thing, you know. Tone of voice is lower/different, too. Nah, I don't buy it. Not Vega.

Rain From Heaven might be a different story, though. He could be in there somewhere.

Yea, "You Could be the One" is great. It actually sounds like a GnR tune.

I've been arguing for years that Andy should cover "You Could Be Mine".

There's something vaguely threatening about Andrew Eldritch reciting in monotone the dimensions of an aircraft over bland techno music with the drum tracks removed.

OMG I have never heard this, it sounds kind of freaking awesome! Is it?

OMG I have never heard this, it sounds kind of freaking awesome! Is it?

Um. Kind of. The "Screw Shareholder Value" album doesn't sound like a Sisters of Mercy album at all... basically it was some piece of garbage he put out to get out of his record deal. Info here. More <a href="http://www.sisterswiki.org/index.php/Go_Figure_%28album%29";>here</a>. The "Sisters Wiki" page has lyrics for most of the SSV songs, so you can see that the songs "Two in the Nose" and "Bad Vultee" are definitely about airplance, not AK-47's.

Also, his "vocal delivery", if it can be counted as anything more than a disinterested murmur, kind of adds to the overall creepiness value.

That being said, the album does have a weird ambiance about it. It doesn't sound like a Sisters record, it's not that good... but there's something about it I like.

Ah, shit. The proper link is this.

I really want to know who does sing "Colours."

http://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=171447#171447
Q).re. "Colours" -what did you think of the Floodland version compared to the Gift version? I prefer the Bunnymen's Colours.
were you narked that Von re-recorded the vocal or pleased when it wasn't as good as the original?
A)It's of no interest to me as I didn't do the vocals on the original

Well it's 1969 okay
got a war across the USA

There's nothing here for me and you
just sitting here with nothing to do

Ha! So I was the last one to post on this thread. How amusing. I find myself listening to and enjoying the material on Some Girls Wander By Mistake now and this is stuff I never really expected to be into anymore since I was a teenager. Not sure why but my forays into Sisterdom since then bore no fruit. I'm rather intrigued with the "Phantom" instrumental for example - and I can't understand why I don't remember that one since I certainly had the vinyl it was on.

Also - I could never quite accept that "Gimme Shelter" was really a Rolling Stones song.

Run around in the radiation

Burn Out In The Acid Rain.

BLACK

SOMEDAY SOMEDAY SOMEDAY DOMINION
SOME SAY PRAYERS SOME SAY PRAYERS

AND I SAY MINE

THERE'S A WHITE HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF RUSSIA

I'M LIVING IN FILMS FOR THE SAKE OF RUSSIA
A KINO RUNNER FOR THE DEE DEE ERR

Much as I like songs like "Body Electric" and "Anaconda" and all, I do like being able to audibly hear the Sisters suddenly and totally jell with "Alice."

they never gelled as well as they did on "The Damage Done"

"Home of the Hit Men" or nothing. Okay maybe "Kiss the Carpet (Reprise)"

SEE THOSE BABIES GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!!

No seriously though, it's really "Watch" that kills me the most off this CD because that is some SERIOUSLY BADASS PIL-ish Metal Box era BASS. That is about as good as post-punk EVER gets.

Just happy to see the Sisters continue to bask in ILM love.

(Grammatically, that was shite.)

I preferred my mis-hearing of the Floorshow punchline when I was in high school: "see those pagans go go go go go"

I thought that's what it was!

Yeah, me too.

oh, well it's "babies"

my then-girlfriend and I used to discuss the relative merits of what we wished he'd been saying vs. what we were pretty sure he was actually saying

I feel I should quote the entire lyrics of 'You Could be the One'

All God's children give good phone
I called Jesus, he's not home
So I'm so pleased to talk to you
Trees and walks I love them too
Threatened species, they adore me
Flower children never bore me
But all the things you share are
Better left unsaid
When you can give me head
And run your fingers through my hair
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, we can meditate
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, let's call it fate
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, to get your flowers pressed
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, just get undressed
Ahhh I'm so glad to find you here
Mystic people, they're so dear
I don't like the rest
Your sign's the best
Whatever it is, I'm most impressed
IIIII don't need to understand
The laying on of hands
I'm in a hurry to get my collar straight
Cause life is short, and I can't wait
So don't worry about the state of this pretty little thing in the armour plate
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, we can meditate
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, let's call it fate
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, to get your flowers pressed
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, just get undressed
I'm so pleased that you believe
Now open up a little let the good times in
Mmm we're going for a ride
Destiny can't be denied
But all those precious things are better left unsaid
When you can give me head and run your fingers through my hair
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, we can meditate
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, let's call it fate
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, to get your flowers pressed
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you could be the one, just get undressed
Love...
Is all you need.

Julian M in the Quietus on the early Sisters

while any band that held its guitars below their nipples was immediately decried and denounced as “rockist” by the sad fools too afraid of the ‘gain’ setting on their amps.

umm was rockist term really in use back in the early 80s ?

Very much so. (The whole revival of it as a critical term this decade -- which I think was partially started here, really -- was referring back to its original use then.)

Was it used solely to gauge the relative distance of items to nipples?

The early eighties were a strange time.

How rockist are instruments perpendicular to nips?

http://www.sixtiescity.com/Media/merseybeat.jpg

Best piece of writing on the Sisters I've ever seen, and I can totally endorse the comments on 'anti-rockism' in the early eighties.

Thanks for posting - a pint of snakebite and black for Mr. M!

it's a great piece but doesn't alice/floorshow actually come after the reptile house ep?

According to this, no:

3. Alice b/w Floorshow
a. 7" Merciful Release MR 015 Nov 1982
ROGI:"kenny giles walks on water" "for spiggy-flash that ash"
COVER ART SOURCE:
Henri Matisse's Nude Blue in gold on black.
NOTES:
Produced by John Ashton of the Psychedelic Furs. Entered the
Independent Chart at #26.
PERSONNEL: SIS 1

4. Anaconda b/w Phantom
a. 7" Merciful Release MR 019 Mar 1983
ROGI: "nothing" "spiggy rides again"
COVER ART SOURCE:
Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies in silver on black.
NOTES:
Produced by Andrew Eldritch. Single of the Week in Sounds.
PERSONNEL: SIS 1

5. Alice/Floorshow b/w Phantom/1969
a. 12" Merciful Release MR 021 Mar 1983
ROGI: "im westen nichts neues-jesus loves the sisters" "for
spiggy(foreign field)" "mein irisch kind. wo weilest du?"
COVER ART SOURCE:
Same as the 7".
NOTES:
Alice, Floorshow and 1969 produced by John Ashton. Phantom
produced by Andrew Eldritch. 1969 originally by the Stooges.
Released in response to import copies of the American 12"
showing up in the UK at greatly inflated prices. First part of
the ROGI is the German title of Erich Maria Remarque's 'All
Quiet on the Western Front'. Fourth part is lines 33-34 of T. S.
Eliot's poem, 'the Wasteland'.
PERSONNEL: SIS 1

6. the Reptile House E.P.
Kiss the Carpet/Lights/Valentine/Fix/Burn
a. 12"EP Merciful Release MR 023 May 1983
ROGI: "for spiggy-paint it black"
COVER ART SOURCE:
Taken from a National Geographic magazine.
NOTES:
Produced by Andrew Eldritch. First 5,000 came with a lyric
sheet. Single of the Week in Sounds. Some copies are violet on
crimson instead of pink on black. Not listed is Kiss the Carpet
(reprise), which is the same as the drum intro to Kiss the
Carpet that opens the ep. Original pressings have MR023 on the
spine where 'made in england' is on the repressings.
PERSONNEL: SIS 1

man back in the day we always thought - my girlfriend and I, the secret SoM fanclub of Claremont - that Reptile House sounded so much cruder & earlier than the more accomplished-sounding Alice/Floorshow EP. weird.

Reptile House was one of my first "what the fuck's wrong with my turntable?" records.

The Michigan militia Hutaree, whose members have been charged for an alleged plot to attack police, burns a U.N. flag in a video posted on the group's YouTube page.

The clip dated June 30, 2009, and described as "UN in America," shows flames engulfing a U.N. flag in slow motion, over the sound of "First and Last and Always," by the 80s goth-rock band Sisters of Mercy.

Hutaree members wielding assault rifles then hoist the group's own flag, emblazoned with a dagger and two pillars forming an "H," a pair of red spears, and "CCR," the acronym for Colonial Christian Republic.

Like I said on ILE, a following lost and blind indeed.

should have used Vision Thing instead

Eldritch will be stoked - he used to opine in interviews that Detroit was the best town in America because it most closely resembled Leeds

Something like this was linked on Gawker or Wonkette recently. But the song in question was Marianne. I thought it was rather a strange choice.

should have used Vision Thing instead

Let us attempt an exegesis:

"twenty-five whores in the room next door" = Steele and his creative use of RNC funds

But the song in question was Marianne. I thought it was rather a strange choice.

"No no, we meant the OTHER version."

This is the Marianne one. First and Last and Always is on the same channel. And, uh, Poker Face.
http://www.youtube.com/user/hutaree#p/u/3/Apmn9xMxiZ4

are flames eating the UN flag the new crying eagle? can we get a youtube of it set to the benny hill theme?

Oh dear.

man I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is a band who should have taken the advance for their first album, squirreled it away in offshore banks, fled the pursuing tentacles of their creditors without making FALAA, & gone down in history as a band with a 100% perfect track record

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4403460336_894957a38c.jpg

assault rifle just out of frame

I thought it was the Joanna Newsom album that one was supposed to hug.

man I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is a band who should have taken the advance for their first album, squirreled it away in offshore banks, fled the pursuing tentacles of their creditors without making FALAA, & gone down in history as a band with a 100% perfect track record

But then you'd be missing out on some great material. Besides the heroic failures of this band and the various offshoots are part of their greatness. Maybe you needed to experience them doing "He's Got The Whole World in His Hands" with the Patricia Morrison/Tony James line-up to appreciate that fully.

lol andrew

I still think Vision Thing is one of the greatest metal albums of all time.

Yeah, "1959" is a real `banger.

man I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is a band who should have taken the advance for their first album, squirreled it away in offshore banks, fled the pursuing tentacles of their creditors without making FALAA, & gone down in history as a band with a 100% perfect track record

the thing that is totally 100% wrong about this stance is that we never would have gotten "This Corrosion"

Yeah, "1959" is a real `banger.

...except that's on Floodland.

But then you'd be missing out on some great material. Besides the heroic failures of this band and the various offshoots are part of their greatness.

there's good stuff on both FALAA & Vision Thing for sure, but they were ironclad prior to that. Where are the weak tracks prior to that? the EP run is seamless, even the super-primitive "Adrenochrome" is pretty great. the albums bloats & they never tighten their game back up. they are sort of exhibit A if you want to make the case that success is dangerous. for a band who never quite achieves the greatness of their debut but keeps not-quite-living-up in ever more interesting ways, gimme the Gun Club every time.

and yeah I partied hard when "this corrosion" hit no doubt, it's a great jam, but I'd give it up to have a band who was perfect for two years and then stopped

I wouldn't, because if the band is enjoying themselves and making money, that is more important than preserving my nostalgia

even the super-primitive "Adrenochrome" is pretty great.

Hah that's probably my favourite early Sisters track! Pretty great, tsk.

like, I wish The Cure had never recorded Wild Mood Swings but I would never, ever say I wish they just stopped recording, period

ditto with Prince and MPLSound/whatever the fuck that other terrible album was called

naw I wouldn't say that with the Cure at all though! with the SoM it's not nostalgia, it's how it kinda sucked to keep pretending they were still as good as they'd been just a year before - loved having such kickin good songs here & there, hated hearing a band that was filler-free have album filler and then play it live I'm lookin at you "a rock and a hard place"

actually tho from a more mature standpoint yeah I agree with "you guys are getting paid? go get yours, short man in sunglasses"

There was really nothing more disheartening than seeing The Cure play in 1997 and dancing half-heartedly to "Club America" and "Strange Attraction" and thinking, "wait, these are wretched, terrible songs and I'm only putting in effort to like them because Robert Smith wrote them".

Although I think that was the tour where they played "Like Cockatoos"? Which was fucking awesome so that made up for subjecting the audience to "Mint Car".

*MUST* you mention "Mint Car"

^_^

Hahahah

OTM although the 1996 tour was one of their best tours - with some really wtf setlists.

This is true, great set design as well.

anyway, I'm really not buying J0hn D's argument - but maybe that's because I came to them later in the game. I guess there's a whoel thread's worth of discussion on this point, but not sure why I'd want a fantastic band stop before they turning just very good (and that's not at all how feel about the Sisters). I guess for my generation a band like Curve would be a pretty good analogy.

in the sense that they could have stopped after a run of flawless EPs, but for what exactly? some abstract track record?

...except that's on Floodland.

GAH! You're right. I will wear all white today in penance.

even the super-primitive "Adrenochrome" is pretty great.

Hah that's probably my favourite early Sisters track! Pretty great, tsk.

Agreed, it's arguably their finest hour, for my money.

I will wear all white today in penance.

Tones on Alex.

"Adrenochrome" is so not my favorite Sisters song

like, I'd ride for "Doctor Jeep" first

now, "Kiss the Carpet" OTOH is fucking choice slowburning menace from start to finish

Although I think that was the tour where they played "Like Cockatoos"?

Saw this played live in 2004 and didn't have to sit/dance through a single Wild Mood Swings track to get there. ;-)

Adrenochrome>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Dr. Jeep

I thought they played "Want" in 2004? (which is okay as it's one of the three/four songs on WMS that don't make me want to stab kittens)

also guys I'm not trying to say "Doctor Jeep" is an essential part of the Sisters discography for me with that statement

Miss you
Hiss you
STABCATS

Dr. Jeep is probably the only track on Vision Thing I can stand to listen to in the least bit

xp - Swing Tour, I remember a pretty wtf transition from 'Strange Attraction' right into 'Cold' - wild swings indeed

I thought they played "Want" in 2004?

Don't recall seeing it in the Curiosa setlists. Anyway, this was Houston:

plainsong, shake dog shake, the figurehead, alt.end, a night like this, the end of the world, charlotte sometimes, lovesong, us or them, siamese twins, closedown, like cockatoos, before three, from the edge of the deep green sea, one hundred years, disintegration,
E1: pictures of you, lullaby, inbetween days, just like heaven, boys don't cry

Not bad, huh?

Dallas was nice, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND-f7OGrahw

^^ still amazing

wtf Curtis, "More" and "Ribbons" are both great (especially "Ribbons")

also "Lights" > "Kiss the Carpet" and maybe I should have voted for it on that poll we just had

yeah Curt1s - I think I feel the exact opposite about Dr Jeep. And "Ribbons" is easily in my top 5 Sisters songs

I guess "Ribbons" is fine. "More" is good until the choir comes in.

haha relistening to Some Girls Wander By Mistake is giving me some sympathy towards J0hn's original statement because for at least the first half it starts out awesome and just gets progressively awesomer up through at least "Valentine"

no one ask for my opinions on "This Corrosion" because they will only make you hate me

I listen to "Phantom" on the regular tbh

oh wow I'm listening to "burn" for the first time this century...I fucking love this jam

yeah so basically I think my issue with "early Sisters work is unimpeachable" is that, going through Some Girls..., you have a bunch of fucking amazing bomb-ass tracks right up to "The Damage Done", at which point the momentum grinds to a screeching halt and never comes back

like it says a lot for how strong "Heartland" and "Gimme Shelter" are that they can follow the monster behemoth that is the 12" of "Temple of Love" and still come across as strong and awesome

Yeah but "The Damage Done" is from their first ever single -- Some Girls is not chronologically ordered.

Sure, but that doesn't impact my general point, which is "you can't say their catalog is unimpeachable up until First and Last and Always because one of the first songs they ever released is actually fucking terrible"

The Damage Done is good!

Hey now

sure, ok - stumbled out the gate. but look at this. from "Anaconda" through "Walk Away," 2 & 1/2 years of singles without real b-sides: singles that stood on their own as complete works, mindblowing from-nowhere things with shitty promotional budgets so they'd just pop up, boom, there's another record by these guys, wow, what the fuck, love all these songs.

man to get (more) nostalgic we used to sit around and wonder what "Home of the Hitmen" sounded like because there was zero chance of ever hearing it.

oh man, I'd forgotten about "Detonation Boulevard" actually

I think this is a "Smiths first album" problem for me, where the manner in which the first album/single was recorded completely turns me off to the songs therein and I might like it a lot more if there were recordings that didn't sound like they were captured in the echo chamber created by sealing a gigantic ass to a screaming toilet

sealing a gigantic ass to a screaming toilet

I thought you liked Broken.

Broken had more feedback

You heard of Hatful of Hollow?

"More" is good until the choir comes in.

^^gospel

Adrenochrome>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Dr. Jeep

Strenuously understated.

You heard of Hatful of Hollow?

Yes, and all of those (Peel session?) versions of the songs are much much much MUCH better.

they'd crop up on Peel between King Sunny Ade and Champion Doug Veitch or something, and it was like they had come to FUCKING KILL YOUR KIDS AND BURN YOUR FUCKING HOUSE DOWN. Those early EPs sounded terrifying at the time.

btw "The Body Electric" does kill so my characterization of SGWBM wasn't entirely accurate

loving the scope of this thread

haha okay I can't really back up my hyperbolic "Doctor Jeep" comment so I will rescind that

it was fun while it lasted, though

RIP dr. jeep

I trust you all are familiar with the companion rarities compilation, "Some Boys Wander By Mistake"?

http://plan-9fromouterspace.blogspot.com/2009/08/sisters-of-mercy-some-boys-wander-by.html

Most of that ended up on the reissues I think...

I'm browsing Dime and apparently there was a show the other night in the UK? Is Eldritch ever actually going to release anything?

No. He did an interview recently(? or maybe I just read it recently) where he basically said there was no point and they were quite happy to not do very much other than the odd tour. He gets enough money* from his back catalogue and a couple of festivals a year to pretty much sit around reading the rest of the time.

(*am I making it up or is he from a moneyed family and therefore has very little motivation to make any more? I'm sure I read or heard that somewhere but it might be nonsense)

yes, seems to be a small 30th anniversary tour.

the website has the dates.

...and is still bright orange. reptile house and merciful release websites still hilariously "under construction".

a while back i was listening to ~college radio~ and heard a version of Temple of Love that sounded like a studio outtake, where the singer bro chanted 'GOTH GOTH GOTH GOTH GOTH' instead of the actual lyrics to the song - does anyone know about this/where its from

Oh god, I know this. It's a cover version by... gah!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXViPACn0Z4

...CREAMING JESUS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoHR7m2eiDU

They also did a thrash metal version of 'A Forest' too btw

haha thats it man! thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!

I love the artwork for "A Forest" -- cartoon drawing of the band sitting on Robert Smith and beating him up.

it pisses me off so much that Some Girls Wander By Mistake isn't on US Spotify, I need to hear some "Heartland"/"Alice"/orig "Temple of Love" right now

comforting myself with some "First and Last and Always"

Lucretia, my reflection, dance the ghost with me

we need a new sisters album now that MVB is out

question :

does anyone know if the cheapo boxset thats available of this bands catalogue uses the old masters, or the rhino remasters as their source ?

i.e

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Album-Sisters-Mercy/dp/B0030HG3K6/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1403601856&sr=1-3&keywords=sisters+of+mercy

User reviews seem to indicate old masters were used

yeah .. thats what i thought, but wanted to see if anyone knew for definite.

suspect i will be tracking down the remasters.

there isn't anything really taht wrong with the original masters of these albums on cd from what I remember. first last and always was kind of murky but I suspect that's just the mix

only ever had that on cassette and that really sounded super swampy

having recently picked up the bauhaus/fields of nephilm remastered editions, i kind of want to complete the set.

i have one of the SOM compilations, so will be checking it tonight, as i have not heard it in years.

just to follow up on my own question.
i picked up the remasters yesterday as fopp had'em relatively cheap (a fiver each).
they sound fantastic.
when played against tracks off the comp, there is a noticeable sonic difference as you'd expect with remasters i.e. more bass, clearer etc.
yes, its clear there were budget limitations on the debut so that still sounds relatively thin/murky as mentioned above, as the jump in production between that and floodland is immense.
but it matters not as all three albums are hitting the spot perfectly.

Which are these remasters? Sorry if that's a silly question - I've not really paid any attention to the Sisters for years now. But I'd be interested in upgrading my dodgy, scratchy old vinyl editions.

the 2006 rhino remasters.
came out a few years ago ..
albums + b-sides.
not the compilations.

OMG there was an MFSL vinyl version of First/Last that came out in 2009

http://www.discogs.com/Sisters-Of-Mercy-First-And-Last-And-Always/release/2871095

so weird that none of the early EPs got the rhino treatment

licensing issues ?

andrew is a f&cker.

literally.

and no, i do not mean figuratively.

i lived in ls6 87-91 and had a somewhat unexpected insight into the world of andrew and wayne that i would never have expected.

hence the reason i avoided the music for many years.

well, more fool me.

this stuff is f*cking brilliant.

You have to spill now, don't be a tease.

sorry. i cant.

I don't think anybody would be shocked if they found out the band had a lot of/various kinds of sex and drugs.

or were generally less than kind toward their fellow humans

sorry. i cant.

sure you can

^^^

I need to echo this.

shouts INCOMING! during, don't he

lol

omg

ok.
it's a long time gone ..
back in the early 90s i used to rent a room from a friend ..
for a while he had a full on goth girlfriend who had two kids.
young kids.
one was fathered by andrew.
the other wayne.
apparently xmas was not an easy situation.

mercy!

!

"Wayne."

"Andrew."

*silence, as dim Xmas carols play in another room*

"...so what are you calling the new album?"

"Children."

"Mmm."

*more silence*

were they...sisters?

xp

told you it was a good'un.

and genuine.

amazing

Mark can remember the free concert in Leeds city centre in '87 or possibly '88? I was just a nipper at the time it was a counter-event to the national front rally that used to go through the city centre every St Georges day. All I can remember is that New Model Army were playing there. It was the last time I can remember seeing an ocean of old school goths/punks as far as the eye can see in my memory.

Mark can remember the free concert in Leeds city centre in '87 or possibly '88?

new model army.

f*ck yes.

human pyramid.

immense.

human pyramid.

It is so long ago I had forgotten about that, the memory has only just come back to me. jesus!

Well I can't get you that show but speaking of them and Leeds (and approaching Christmas)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5kHAU_rMNA

get the new model army off this oustanding sisters of mercy thread. THIS IS A GOTH SAFE SPACE

Been rocking "Lucretia" quite a lot lately.

been on a sisters o' mercy kick lately. adrenochrome is the best damn thing ever.

Alice don't give it away...No

Of the really early stuff I think I probably play "Good Things" the most. They need to release those BBC sessions officially.

This is making me want to break my EWF mondo listening session and throw on Some Girls Wander By Mistake

I never leave the Sisters for long. Recently been revisiting the Reptile House EP and the Aloce 12".

Someone shared this on Facebook recently:

http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/misc/deardok.htm

Enemies of the Sisters: journalists, record companies, goths, Hussey :)

Yawn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk7F07Q4EiA

whenever I see this revive I expect it to be because Eldritch is dead

Was just reading this interview with Jon Langford on his brief time in the band: http://clrvynt.com/jon-langford-interview/

I thought Eldritch was a pretty clean living dude? Like running marathons and eating kale and all.

kale is the fruit of satan

that interview is great!

Andrew Eldritch is Moving Back to Leeds

like

dud

Okay so last year there was this excellent, really great piece by Mark Andrews on the first years of the band, up to the release of "Alice," featuring interviews with Mr. Eldritch, Jon Langford, etc. Lengthy, detailed, essential

http://thequietus.com/articles/21215-sisters-of-mercy-leeds-andrew-eldritch-interview

The sequel just ran today -- interviews with Gary Marx, Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams, covering "Alice" up through "Temple of Love."

http://thequietus.com/articles/23082-sisters-of-mercy-interview-wayne-hussey-craig-adams-gary-marx

I loved the first part and enjoyed this part even more; gripped from start to finish. 1983 was also my entry point to the world of The Sisters.

Awesome!!!

Enjoyed these. Now I'm reading interviews and came across this:

One time someone came to me and said there is a major scene in a film with these guys in a car driving down a boulevard with them singing one of your songs whilst that happens and I was, ‘well ok’ and I asked for the script and I thought that this is a fucking terrible film. It turned out that is was the scene in Wayne’s World where they are singing Bohemian Rhapsody and originally they wanted This Corrosion!
But for me a bunch of American morons singing my song in a Japanese car is not an exact reflection of what the song was about!

lol, is this common knowledge?

Ha, that's new to me.

i hit leeds in oct'86, so this era was over - sort of.
the hangover from the band loomed heavy where ever you went.
their influence over the city was palpable.
hence why at the time AOC for me felt fresh and new with their go-go styled covers and hip hop/noise collision.
however, both of these articles have been absolutely brilliant and kickstarted a revisit of their early days releases.
'some girls wander by mistake' compiles a lot of the music mentioned - if only we could have a remastered edition.

There is no way that Wayne's World story is accurate.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-oral-history-of-the-wayne-s-world-bohemian-rhapsody-scene-20151130

chatted to geoff t/aoc re the article as he clearly knew a lot of this gang.

i asked if he had ever visted the house :

"Nah, would never have dreamt of going to The House tbh...sounds all mythological in that piece (as does all of it) but it was in reality a 2-up 2 down back-to-back behind the Co-Op on Cardigan Road - both inhabitants were signing-on...it wasn't that enticing tbh.

I recall the era well though...I met Neil & Steve in 82....we played a debut gig in 83, so all the way along the early days the Sisters were the Leeds Indie band who'd been wherever before we had...paying live say, or getting a single paid for, studio sessions etc etc. It was a useful guide to have tbh...it indicated what was immediately possible.
"

There is no way that Wayne's World story is accurate.

Seemed far-fetched, it's funny that he would say it though.

http://media.rhino.com/press-release/sisters-mercy-some-girls-wander-mistake-boxed-set-available-september-1

(expanded but not remastered?)

!!!

going to have to buy this to finally have a high quality adrenochrome on vinyl. what is "Alice" - 1993 Version like?

i am just going to pretend that wayne's world story is fact from now on. too good.

Alice 1993 is slicker and also quite unnecessary imho.

https://youtu.be/_WqThVvWcsk

i don't have any way to listen just now but will take your word for it.

And then there's

http://thequietus.com/articles/23123-nurse-with-wound-sisters-of-mercy-this-corrosion

Haven't heard it, but there's also this: https://www.discogs.com/Andrew-Liles-First-Monster-Last-Monster-Always-Monster/release/6769332

Amazing how an article still gets written every time someone puts a song through Paulstretch.

otm

there's a normal speed part in there too, so it's not just Paulstretch

FM&LM&AM: it's wrong but it's not bad either:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzt6DVW5pEM

listened to 'temple of love' three times before breakfast this morning. did we ever sort out whether the 1983 or the 1992 version was best?

I prefer the later version. I'm amazed how many people seem to prefer early Sisters in general but I don't know what the consensus is. If someone had described me both eras I'd think the earlier stuff would be better but after experiencing it all I think from Floodlands onward they are superior in every way. "Under The Gun" is fucking fantastic.

Agree. Album-era Sisters > EP-era Sisters.

Thirded, but I can totally see how early Sisters had more of an impact on the scene.

can't imagine anyone rating Vision Thing THAT highly. But sure, First Last and Floodland are amazing.

I vastly prefer Vision Thing to First Last but Floodlands is their best by miles.

Some Girls comp >>> Vision Thing

Gift by The Sisterhood is great too btw (other singer but most people don't notice)

A Slight Case of Overbombing is my favorite Sisters release tbh.

Vision Thing is awful

INCOMING

Some Girls Wander By Mistake > Floodland >>> FALAA = Vision Thing is how I break it down to an extent

I can't remember what the Sisterhood sounds like tbh

The first SoM I bought was the Temple of Love 1992 CD single when it came out (I was 15 then) and I still love it, unnecessary remix or not.

Funny, mine’s the complete opposite:
FALAA >>Floodland>Vision Thing=Some Girls

Crazy. Colonel Poo OTM

Yeah I'm with the good Col on this one although I'd put at least one arrow between some girls and floodland.

Gift probably between those two, although maybe equal with floodland - less identifiably 'songs' but bangers nonetheless.

Body Electric/Adrenochrome is still the most I've spent on a single record (inflation adjusted, and maybe even not).

vision thing is dumb. has one good song. still wish they'd put out a new album.

I like pre-Album Sisters & Vision Thing better than the first two albums, which is like goth challops in extremis

fwiw the first summer I had a driver's license & car I drove around my stupid town blasting Vision Thing on cassette so

it was a 15 yr old Mazda 626 and the opposite of "Something Fast"

I like FALAA & Vision Thing, just not as much as Floodland & EP era

There were 3 remixed Vision Thing songs on the Temple of Love 1992 EP so I used to listen to those a lot as a teenager. Mostly Vision Thing (the song) iirc.

I remember being so disappointed and embarrassed when Vision Thing came out.

it doesn't sound like the previous 2 albums, so I can get why someone who loved those would be disappointed. Vision Thing definitely had the ... i don't know what to call it but a lot of albums had it in the late 80s aesthetic ... like it's definitely "of its time"

Definitely of its time, but it still *sounds* great. The problem is that the songs are not really there (Doctor Jeep, Detonation Bd) or not as great as Andy seems to think they are (More). Still, Ribbons and I Was Wrong are classics.

EP-era* > Ribbons > Floodland > FALAA > Rest of Vision Thing

Vision Thing reminds me of the Mission frankly, or the Cult. Too rock and roll for me, not enough goth.

Goth bands get worse and worse is a p good rule of thumb.

at least Go Away White wasn't some butt rock album

turning and turning in a widening gyre
the cape dancer cannot hear the drum machine
goth falls apart; the center cannot hold
mere guitar wankery is loosed upon the world
Wayne Hussey is newly sober, touring everywhere
Pulled over in a Subaru in Glendale
The Murph gets a conviction, while the worst
do remixes for Cleopatra Records

"25 whores in the room next door
25 floors and I need more"

Cringe from the very beginning

Shouldn’t there be a new record by now? Eldritch claimed he’d make one if Trump got elected.

I think he's proud enough of the catalog that he wouldn't want to fuck it up by making a new record. He's a smart enough guy to know the only way to make a new SoM record would be to figure out how to express the same sort of mood using more current sounds; to just fire up Doktor Avalanche and put the bass through the Boss chorus etc would sound pretty sad, there are hosts of nostalgic goth acts doing decent enough versions of that sound. But anything but "this sounds just like the Sisters of Mercy" would cause much of the old guard to wail and gnash its teeth. The omen of Chinese Democracy looms large for the geezers

Lasy time I saw them, Eldritch was wearing a white ice hockey jersey, he does not seem to care much what old goths think, and he’s clearly a lot more self-aware of his strengths and weaknesses than Axl.

yeah and half of his setlists is made up of unrecorded "new" material. I think he just feels there's no financial incentive to go and make a record (when the tours apparently are enough to make a living)

I read an interview where he said he was never convinced that a song was completely finished. In the 80s the limitations in resources and tools meant he'd eventually put out something that was just good enough even though he wasn't completely satisfied.

Modern sound production means he can fuck around with new songs forever without releasing them and he intends to do just that.

Lasy time I saw them, Eldritch was wearing a white ice hockey jersey, he does not seem to care much what old goths think, and he’s clearly a lot more self-aware of his strengths and weaknesses than Axl.

true true.

yeah and half of his setlists is made up of unrecorded "new" material. I think he just feels there's no financial incentive to go and make a record (when the tours apparently are enough to make a living)

yeah but your quotes around "new" are otm - I went to setlist.fm and had a look at the '17 tour -- there was "Arms," and "Summer," and "Crash and Burn" - and none of these are really new, some have been kicking around since '97. I'd bet a dollar he's not really writing stuff except maybe as a lark now and again. I do bring my own baggage to the table here because it's difficult for me to understand people who don't wanna finish their stuff, even though I know a couple of people like that, but it's utterly mystifying to me. I mean everybody knows that work is never finished, just abandoned, but still.

I guess it's procrastination yeah - I mean even a fullblown fiasco like Chinese Democracy can't be that much of a deterrent, Guns 'n Roses are still raking it in with their tours, it hasn't damaged their reputation at all.

Agreed. Pretty hard to fathom how one could "give up" like that on the most tangible aspect of an artistic career. But then again I suspect the main reasons are prosaically linked to business issues (eg paranoid distrust of labels, complications on songwriting credits for sacked band members). Shame cuz what I heard of the "new" songs seemed better than the stuff on Vision Thing.
Also a shame that Eldritch, like Robert Smith, the proud luddite that he is, can't see the possibilities of independent digital music distribution.

look, he does: their "upcoming gigs" page is some lyrics, digitally distributed http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/news/livenews.shtml

their t-shirt game is on point, anyway

INCOMING
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, October 15, 2018 12:30 AM

It's my ambition to post this with the news of a new album before anyone else catches it. I will surely lose this contest.

Floodland> Vision Thing > First Last > Some Girls.

I understand some disappointment but I think Vision Thing is awesome. "Something Fast" is one of their best songs. "Ribbons" is great too but there's not a song I don't like on it.

man that is madness.

Some Girls contains the following songs:

Temple of Love
Alice
Floorshow
Heartland
Body Electric
Lights

culling just my faves from it to assert that neither Floodland, nor Vision Thing, nor FALAA have that many songs of such high quality. Like, FALAA may have 6 real good songs and a couple great ones but six as good as those six? nah man

There are a few great songs on Some Girls but sorry to say I found it a chore sometimes, despite being stylistically closer to things I normally like than the 2nd and 3rd studio albums.

Maybe they should just release a compilation of the newer songs in their live performances but given that Eldritch was afraid of being tied down to definitive versions, those probably would become the definitive versions.

Does blow my mind that much of Floodland was recorded in Stockport.

xxpost OTM

getting into the sisters of mercy at the late age of 33

You'll never catch up with the onslaught of new product.

lol

one thing i've discovered is that i think i enjoy the eps and the albums on completely different wavelengths. which is why it's easy for me to say that floodland registered pretty immediately as a favorite even though when you hold it up against the reptile house ep, floodland seems to cower before its rotted shroud

my fave sisters tracks so far are "on the wire" and "bury me deep"

I absolutely adored Floodland and "Ribbons" but my obsession with this band didn't crystalize until I heard "Alice" and their cover of "Gimme Shelter"

my fave sisters tracks so far are "on the wire" and "bury me deep"

So many great Sisters B-sides. "Afterhours" is another B-side fave.

The EPs and First and Last and Always are the best for me. Floodland is good but uneven and Vision Thing is... ehhh.

Maybe it's because I heard the albums (and specifically Floodland) first, but the EPs have always sounded really thin and low-budget to me, almost like demos. I don't enjoy them at all.

but the EPs have always sounded really thin and low-budget to me, almost like demos. I don't enjoy them at all.

that's because there were very cheaply recorded.

there are 2 excellent articles on tQ re the early days of the band that Ned linked to upthread.

I LOVE that thin-ness / low budget aspect. Reptile House's almost zero production just slays me.

The very best song is a b-side because it is, of course, Adrenochrome.

Adrenochrome just keeps getting better with age.

Those tQ articles are being turned into a book on Unbound (due September) and Trevor Ristow's book on the period up to the RAH show (Waiting For Another War) is an absolute blast.

It's that bit in Adrenochrome where it sounds like Keith Levene has turned up, slashed at his guitar for a couple of bars, then realised he's in the wrong room and leaves again while Marty Thau is leaving the knobs well alone because they got set at some point so they're still probably right.

It's the 'huh' tossed in after "freedom".

I LOVE that thin-ness / low budget aspect. Reptile House's almost zero production just slays me.

Same. Plus the songs are just better imo.

I LOVE that thin-ness / low budget aspect. Reptile House's almost zero production just slays me.

Nah. This is a band that was always striving for grandiosity. Working with Steinman was really the only choice. Bob Ezrin as a close #2.

It's Eldritch at his greatest, because he hasn't yet become Von.

I love this song so much. I remember when you had to buy They Shall Not Pass, the CNT compilation, to get hold of it (which wasn't that much of a hardship since it had other good stuff on it including Pink Headed Bug) and then the low quality Body Electric bootlegs. I remember when I finally found an affordable copy - might have been as late as 86? - and even then it was SIXTY FUCKING POUNDS.

Nah, i'm afraid you are wrong. Eldritch might have beeen striving for that but Sisters Of Mercy mk 1 and 2 revelled in their lo fi delight. Early Sisters was way more than just Eldritch's vision.

x post

brad i'm so proud

First time i saw them, Gary Marx was the star of the show. Eldtitch was second fiddle.

I remember when you had to buy They Shall Not Pass, the CNT compilation, to get hold of it

that is how i had it for many years. still never managed to get the 7".

Yeah, to a very large degree they're Gary Marx's band until he moves out of Leeds then they become Andrew's band.

clearly this band is an absolute classic entry into the whole 'i prefer their earlier stuff' cliche.
personally, i prefer the massive bombastic stuff as opposed to the lo-fi recordings, but thats cos i love a big widescreen production.
that said, you cant deny the brilliance of some of the earlier material.

i love both (up to and including floodland) but very much think of them as two distinct bands.

That's absolutely where I am too. I love the Michael Bay aspects of the later era but some of the songs are unmemorable.

Despite this, I've got tickets for the 40th Anniversary show at the Roundhouse in September.

As an aside, the first (goth) club i used to go to as a teenager refused to play any Sisters records as the DJ said the production was so bad (they were all about big widescreen productions). When "This Corrosion" came out they were all over it.

but very much think of them as two distinct bands.

exactly.

my obsession with this band didn't crystalize until I heard "Alice" and their cover of "Gimme Shelter"

― 80's hair metal , and good praise music ! (DJP), Thursday, April 22, 2021 8:34 AM (one hour ago)

omg ... those are so good ... what do you think about their cover of Hot Chocolate's "Emma"?

also lol at the goth club DJ -- Temple of Love is what I consider a Goth Club banger

Also a heads up for everyone that there's a radio sessions album coming out for Record Store Day that will presumably be mixed correctly and not have that massive jump in volume like Psychedelic Sessions used to on Heartland which was an absolute speaker killer.

also lol at the goth club DJ -- Temple of Love is what I consider a Goth Club banger

ahh ... but which version ?

o.g. temple of love forever

I'm glad Steinman never got his hands on "Floorshow, "Body Electric", "Anaconda", "Heartland" or "Body and Soul".
It kind of ruined "Temple of Love" and "Alice" when Andrew made them sound bigger in 92 and 93.

"marian" is so good. turn it up man!

thus proving my point re 'i prefer the earlier stuff' as i really love the '92 version

ahh ... but which version ?

― mark e, Thursday, April 22, 2021 10:23 AM (two minutes ago)

any version tbh

It's like Louie Louie ... when Temple of Love starts playing, you gotta go now (and hit the floor)

ha.
very true.
ooh to hear either version on a big club soundsystem again.
i doubt i will ever get to be in the right place at the right time.