Wednesday 21 September 2022

Dead Flowers On The Razor Wire

Side 2 of a cassette compilation, recorded 16th September 1991, featuring The Sisters Of Mercy, possessed body and soul (excuse the pun) by Andrew Eldritch
 
I posted Side 1 of this tape back in March and it's proved to be one of the most popular posts on Dubhed, remaining firmly in my Top 10, although visits have dropped off since June. Time then to dust off Side 2 and bring it back into the light.

Things start as they mean to go on with Body Electric, originally the Sisters' second single in 1982, then re-recorded for 1984's Body And Soul EP. The latter is featured here, simply because I didn't have the original version until the Some Girls Wander By Mistake compilation came out the year after I recorded this cassette. You can probably guess how much I like the Body And Soul EP, given that three of the four songs feature across the two sides of this selection.

Next up is This Corrosion, the definitive 12" version by Jim Steinman. It's the second time it's appeared here as track 2 of a selection in a little over 2 weeks, but I make no apologies. I briefly considered swapping it out for the 11-minute album version or even the slightly longer again version on the CD single. However, in the interest of maintaining some integrity with the running times of both sides, I've stuck with this, which is always my go-to version.

Ribbons is one of my favourite Sisters songs, though opinion (mine included) varies on the merits of the Vision Thing as a whole. The songs lent the compilation it's title and contains a classic Eldritch lyric
 
Her lovers queued up in the hallwayI heard them scratching at the doorI tried to tell herAbout Marx and Engels, God and angelsI don't really know what for
 
By contrast, the title track of Vision Thing is a kick-ass song, from the introductory cocaine sniff and crashing guitars to the opening lines
 
Twenty-five whores in the room next doorTwenty-five floors and I need more
 
The Reptile House EP from 1983 gets a bit of short shrift here compared to the Body And Soul EP, only one it's five songs on the 12" - Valentine - making an appearance here. Not at all a reflection on the quality of the EP but an example of the challenge when pulling together any compilation. On the original cassette, a 90-second excerpt of Burn was tacked on at the end to use up some dead tape time. It didn't really belong, so I've left it off of this recreation.

Colours featured in an earlier version on The Sisterhood's 1986 album, Gift. Whiffypedia contains the background to what can arguably be described as Andrew Eldritch's act of war/revenge on former band members Craig Adams and Wayne Hussey, who were touring as The Sisterhood at the time. The original version isn't greatly different to the subsequent B-side of This Corrosion, other than featuring vocals from Motörhead's original drummer, Lucas Fox, as Eldritch was unable to sing on any of The Sisterhood's releases. 

Alice was always a floorfiller at the indie/alternative/goth clubs I went to in the 1980s. Eldritch re-recorded the song as a B-side to standalone single Under The Gun in 1993, but the 1983 original with Doktor Avalanche is unbeatable.

The selection closes with the Sisters' cover of Hot Chocolate's 1974 single, Emma. I was very familiar with the song as it featured on one of my parents' K-Tel compilations that I played to death as a kid. Whilst the song was a staple of the Sisters Of Mercy's live sets, the first time I heard it was on buying the Dominion 12" single and hearing the crashing drums announcing the closing track on Side 2. Much as I love the original version, there's a primal, raw pain in Eldritch's performance that gets me every time. And so it ends.
 
Since recording the cassette, I expanded my Sisters Of Mercy collection with the aforementioned Some Girls Wander By Mistake compilation and it's bootleg companion, Some Boys Wander By Mistake, as well as the mighty re-recording of Temple Of Love with Ofra Haza and Under The Gun, featuring Terri Nunn from Berlin. A Slight Case Of Overbombing? Perhaps, but plenty more for a new Dubhed selection in future.
 
1) Body Electric (Special 12" EP Version) (1984)
2) This Corrosion (12" Version By Jim Steinman) (1987)
3) Ribbons (Album Version By Andrew Eldritch) (1990)
4) Vision Thing (Album Version By Andrew Eldritch) (1990)
5) Valentine (1983)
6) Colours (Full Length Version By Andrew Eldritch & Larry Alexander) (1987)
7) Alice (Single Version By John Ashton) (1983)
8) Emma (Cover of Hot Chocolate) (1988) 
 
1983: Alice EP: 7
1983: The Reptile House EP: 5
1984: Body And Soul EP: 1
1987: This Corrosion EP: 2, 6
1988: Dominion EP: 8
1990: Vision Thing: 3, 4
 
Side One here

6 comments:

  1. What! No "Gimme Gimme Gimme"? For shame! :-) Bloody love t'Sisters, saw them all over the place (Bochum,York,Bristol,somewhere in Holland - more dry ice than actual band sometimes) Somewhere on the innerwebz there is a page dissecting Spiggy's lyrics for Floodland, (fair warning; it elevates Von to Poet Laureate in places) With you re 'Vision Thang', patchy & a bit cock-rock in places, but given paucity of material we have to make do!
    Cheers anwe p.s. I still follow the blog now & then but Mega doesn't seem to want to play nicely anymore for me so I miss out on hearing some of the newer stuff you post.:-(

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    1. Great to hear from you again, anwe! I've only heard a live bootleg of the Sisters' ABBA cover, but I may get around to posting a Leather Nun mixtape that was given to me that includes their version.

      Sorry about the issues with Mega, I may look at alternative in future, but does this work for you in the meantime? https://app.box.com/s/4ptss1ebx2lrgxkwsvgwtvead66lp8pv

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  2. Got to agree the lines from Vision Thing are up there as his best ever

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    1. When I'm in the right mood, Vision Thing is a great album, end to end. I never tire of listening to Ribbons, More or the title track though.

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  3. Works Perfectly! thanks Khayem :-)
    Re VThing (pt2) 'I Was Wrong' has some killer couplets as well:
    "I can love my fellow man But I'm damned if I'll love yours"

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    1. One thing Eldritch was never short of were lyrical barbs, that's for sure!

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