Sisters of Mercy - Classic or Dud

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...