The Sisters of Mercy: Difference between revisions

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* ''Vision Thing'' (1990)

You could also count ''Gift'', which was released under the pseudonym "The Sisterhood" in 1985 by Eldritch, Morrison, Avalanche, Lucas Fox, James Ray and [[Suicide ~~(Music)~~|Alan Vega]] in the midst of the legal dispute between Eldritch on the one side and Hussey and Adams on the other. The album secured Eldritch's legal right to continue as "The Sisters of Mercy" while Hussey and Adams were forced to rename their band to "The Mission" ("The Mission UK" in the US, as there had been another band with that name). Somewhat more importantly, they also have ''Some Girls Wander By Mistake'', a compilation of (most) of the singles and [[E Ps]] they released during the early '80s before they actually had a recording contract. It contains many of their best (and a few of their worst, and they'll tell you that) songs.

You could also count ''Gift'', which was released under the pseudonym "The Sisterhood" in 1985 by Eldritch, Morrison, Avalanche, Lucas Fox, James Ray and [[Suicide|Alan Vega]] in the midst of the legal dispute between Eldritch on the one side and Hussey and Adams on the other. The album secured Eldritch's legal right to continue as "The Sisters of Mercy" while Hussey and Adams were forced to rename their band to "The Mission" ("The Mission UK" in the US, as there had been another band with that name). Somewhat more importantly, they also have ''Some Girls Wander By Mistake'', a compilation of (most) of the singles and [[E Ps]] they released during the early '80s before they actually had a recording contract. It contains many of their best (and a few of their worst, and they'll tell you that) songs.

None of these albums sound anything like each other, except for Eldritch's Darth Vader-ish vocal style. ''Some Girls'' was about icy, mechanical drum machine beats coupled with deep bass and high-end, minimal guitar riffs ("Alice" is notable because...well, because it's awesome, but also because the riff is almost always mistaken for [[ACDC ~~(Music)|AC/DC~~]]'s "Thunderstruck" from 8 years later. The riffs are both one-string wonders using the same string). Note that Eldritch plays the drums quite horrendously on "The Damage Done", although most the other stuff on the the album use a drum machine. ''First and Last and Always'' tried for a warmer sound with more sophisticated guitar-pop and less challenging lyrics. It's also the most stereotypically gothic of the releases. ''Floodland'', produced when the band was reduced to Andrew Eldritch, a drum machine, the New York Choral Society and whoever else was around (Patricia Morrison on bass and a session guitarist for "This Corrosion"), is heavily synthesized, lushly (and bombastically) produced, and can be summed up as "industrial gothspel". It's also the one that depends most on Eldritch being a singer and a lyricist.

None of these albums sound anything like each other, except for Eldritch's Darth Vader-ish vocal style. ''Some Girls'' was about icy, mechanical drum machine beats coupled with deep bass and high-end, minimal guitar riffs ("Alice" is notable because...well, because it's awesome, but also because the riff is almost always mistaken for [[ACDC]]'s "Thunderstruck" from 8 years later. The riffs are both one-string wonders using the same string). Note that Eldritch plays the drums quite horrendously on "The Damage Done", although most the other stuff on the the album use a drum machine. ''First and Last and Always'' tried for a warmer sound with more sophisticated guitar-pop and less challenging lyrics. It's also the most stereotypically gothic of the releases. ''Floodland'', produced when the band was reduced to Andrew Eldritch, a drum machine, the New York Choral Society and whoever else was around (Patricia Morrison on bass and a session guitarist for "This Corrosion"), is heavily synthesized, lushly (and bombastically) produced, and can be summed up as "industrial gothspel". It's also the one that depends most on Eldritch being a singer and a lyricist.

It's their best selling album.

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* [[I Am the Band]]: Eldritch. Especially on ''Floodland'', where the personnel list is basically him, Patricia Morrison, a session guitarist named Eddie Martinez, the New York Choral society, and some additional producers (including no less than Jim "Bat out of Hell" Steinman!).

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: "Ribbons" goofs on the title of a classic pop song with the lyric "Love is a many-splintered thing".

* [[Intercourse ~~With~~ You]]: "Some Kind of Stranger" turned from a love song to one of these. There's also "Bury Me Deep" and "You Could Be the One", a very ironic song of this category.

* [[Intercourse with You]]: "Some Kind of Stranger" turned from a love song to one of these. There's also "Bury Me Deep" and "You Could Be the One", a very ironic song of this category.

** [[Word of God|Eldritch]] has admitted that "Flood" I and II are intended to use flood imagery to evoke this.

* [[Looks Like Cesare]]: Eldritch, and Morrison a bit as well.

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* [[The Rashomon]]: Just ''try'' getting a straight answer what Patricia Morrison did on ''Floodland'', or even whether she played bass on it after all - Eldritch claims she didn't appear on the album after all, while Morrison says she did but Eldritch re-recorded some of her parts.

* [[Record Producer]]: With the exception of ''First and Last and Always'', which was produced by David Allen (whose work Eldritch and Marx have criticised), Eldritch has had a production credit on all their other albums, which he shared on ''Floodland'' with Larry Alexander and [[Jim Steinman]] (whose main contribution was recording the gospel choirs for "This Corrosion" and "Dominion/Mother Russia"; Eldritch said Steinman didn't care about anything else and had no other input). Steinman returned on ''Vision Thing'' to co-produce and co-write "More" (and later borrowed that song's riff and part of the chorus for ''[[Batman the Musical]]''), and Chris Tsangarides is credited for "When You Don't See Me", but the rest was self-produced.

* [[Redemption in ~~The~~ Rain]]: In "Nine While Nine," the narrator waits out in the rain for a train to come while reflecting on his previous lover.

* [[Redemption in the Rain]]: In "Nine While Nine," the narrator waits out in the rain for a train to come while reflecting on his previous lover.

* [[Sampling]]: "Never Land (A Fragment)" seemingly uses a sample from "When the Levee Breaks" by [[Led Zeppelin]].

* [[Sex, Drugs and Rock ~~And~~ Roll]]: Sisters lyrics are always about cars, drugs, women, and wars. And Andrew Eldritch himself was an amphetamine user for a good while, leading to the writing of <s>"Amphetamine Logic."</s> every song he ever wrote prior to Floodland.

* [[Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll]]: Sisters lyrics are always about cars, drugs, women, and wars. And Andrew Eldritch himself was an amphetamine user for a good while, leading to the writing of <s>"Amphetamine Logic."</s> every song he ever wrote prior to Floodland.

* [[Signature Song]]: "This Corrosion."

* [[Soprano and Gravel]]: The combination of Eldritch's [[Darth Vader]] vocals and gospel choirs, especially on "Dominion/Mother Russia", "This Corrosion" and "More".

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* [[Take That]]: "This Corrosion" is a huge piss-take at Eldritch's former bandmates, as is "Jihad" from The Sisterhood's album.

* [[Troubled Production]]: ''[[wikipedia:First and Last and Always|First and Last and Always]]''.

* [[Writer Revolt]]: After a contract dispute with Time Warner, Eldritch began working on a side project called Screw Shareholder Value - Not So Much A Band As Another Opportunity To Waste Money On Drugs And Ammunition Courtesy Of The Idiots At Time Warner -- or [[Fun ~~With~~ Acronyms|S.S.V-N.S.M.A.B.A.A.O.T.W.M.O.D.A.A.C.O.T.I.A.T.W.]] for short.

* [[Writer Revolt]]: After a contract dispute with Time Warner, Eldritch began working on a side project called Screw Shareholder Value - Not So Much A Band As Another Opportunity To Waste Money On Drugs And Ammunition Courtesy Of The Idiots At Time Warner -- or [[Fun with Acronyms|S.S.V-N.S.M.A.B.A.A.O.T.W.M.O.D.A.A.C.O.T.I.A.T.W.]] for short.