Sisters of Mercy - Classic or Dud

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