For some time now I’ve been thinking that retrospective reviewing might be the way forward, by which I mean than an album should be given time to bed in – maybe as much as a year or two – before committing oneself to formulating an opinion and publishing a review. It could save a lot of embarrassment and back-tracking, for starters. Of course, reissues often provide the perfect opportunity to re-evaluate albums and to consider how well they’ve stood the test of time.
Some reissues, such as the expanded double CD editions of The Cure’s entire back-catalogue up to and including ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me,’ are well-considered and welcomed by fans, making long-unavailable B-sides and vinyl and cassette-only tracks obtainable on CD for the first time. Others, the likes of the recent Joy Division reissue series may whiff of a cash-in, but are of merit because of a renewed interest in a band. Others still, like the 10th anniversary reissue of Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’ simply reek of milking a release beyond what can be considered reasonable. And so it is, to a great extent, with the Sisters of Mercy’s three albums, remastered, repackaged and with extra tracks.
Having been released from their contract with WEA, who became East West, after a long stand-off, the band – or perhaps more specifically Andrew Eldritch – clearly have no interest in working with the label on cashing in on their (fading) reputation. (And a cash-in it obviously is: why else make the three CDs available separately at mid-price as well as all together in a ‘limited edition’ box?) And similarly, the label are equally unwilling to promote the band, which would probably explain why I had no idea that these releases were even out until I stumbled upon them in HMV.
The contents of the ‘Merciful Release’ box set equates to the entirety of the band’s album output. Yes, discounting the two compilations and the Sisterhood project’s ‘Gift,’ that’s three albums to show for a career spanning 29 years. But quality beats quantity, right?
The Sisters’ 1985 debut, ‘First and Last and Always’ certainly possesses quality. Having spent the first five years of their career releasing singles and LPs, this stands as a definitive statement of where the band were at during what many fans consider their ‘golden’ era. Listening to it again now, I’m reminded of he first time I heard it as a teenager in the late 80s. Back then, I was struck by its sonic density, the layers of skeletal twelve-string guitar weaving in echoes around the dark, throbbing bass and the mechanised drumming combining to produce an atmosphere that’s almost suffocating. The band may now contend that it suffers from ‘iffy production’ values, but in context, it works. Eldritch’s vocals are sonorous and pitched somewhere around the pelvis, and while the fist five tracks – side 1 on the original vinyl – wit the exception of ‘Marian’ may be very much chorus orientated and accessible, almost poppy, side 2, from the Celtic guitar motif of the title via the tripwire tension of ‘Nine While Nine’ and Amphetamine Logic’ to the epic bittersweet wedding march of closer ‘Some Kind of Stranger’ (conceivably my favourite track of all time), it’s still a classic. The bonus tracks are similarly outstanding: on CD (officially) for the first time here, the B-sides of this era, – in particular ‘On the Wire’ are as good as anything the band has recorded, period. What’s more, the inclusion of the long-lost and, to my knowledge, never-heard (not even on any of the countless bootlegs) demo of ‘Some Kind of Stranger’ makes it worth the money alone. but then they had to include something to convince the fans o part with their hard-earned cash yet again. credit where it’s due, this goes a long way to compensate the awful 1992 digital remaster, which was unpleasantly bright and clinical. But why are the bonus tracks significantly louder than the album itself? And why do the interior images from the studio master notes show the recording information for ‘Wide Receiver,’ a track not on the CD or any other official release? Such inattention to detail is irksome. The fact that Sisters fans are notoriously pedantic means that many will be incredibly annoyed by this, to put it mildly.
Floodland, the Sisters’ 1987 mainstream breakthrough saw a gargantuan shift in both sound and lyrical emphasis from ‘First and Last and Always,’ and didn’t need anything doing to it. Perhaps as well, as little has been done. There are fewer bonus tracks on this CD, which is a pity, as there were some interesting B-sides and promo-only mixes around the three singles from the album, which in its original form only contained 8 tracks, expanded to 10 for the CD. The inclusion of their cover of Hot Chocolate’s ‘Emma’ is welcome, but the absence of the extended mix of ‘Lucretia My Reflection,’ amongst others, is a tad disappointing. However, the addition of the near-mythical original version of ‘Neverland’ is more than adequate compensation. The album’s closer, subtitled ‘(A Fragment’) is a mere 2:46 in duration, and rumours of a ten-minute version have circulated since the album’s release. Its existence is now confirmed, and the complete 11:45 includes unheard lyrics and is truly epic in every sense, in keeping with the rest of the album. ‘Floodland’ has aged well, and despite having been written under the shadow of the bomb, its glacial keyboards and bombastic production – as exemplified at its most excessive on the monumental lading single, ‘This Corrosion,’ produced by Meat Loaf legend Jim Steinman - sound as fresh and inspired now as at the time. In fact, if anything, it’s only now really possible to appreciate just how ahead of its time – and timeless – it is.
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And so to 1990’s ‘Vision Thing,’ an anti-American pseudo cock-rock monster. ‘More’ may have been another tongue-in-cheek, million-miles OTT collaboration with Steinman that announced the band’s return and catapulted them back into the UK top 10, but the album divided fans and critics alike. For me, it was a grower, even if it wasn’t anything like either of its predecessors (which, in turn, sounded nothing like one another). There’s no denying the brilliance of some of the lyrics, but the album’s tone...? Well, hindsight shows how it was an appropriate vehicle for the purpose. The title track does unquestionably rock, and ‘Ribbons’ is a chugging masterpiece of darkness and wry wit, cruelly barbed and intricately layered. ‘I Was Wrong’ also reveals a different side of the band, and includes the wickedly dry lyric, ‘I can love my fellow man / but I’m damned if I’ll love yours.’ Genius! Other tracks, such as ‘Detonation Boulevard’ and ‘When You Don’t See Me’ (released in remixed form as a single, but only in Germany and included here) are a bit average. An incomplete selection of the B-sides to the album’s singles, the aforementioned ‘More,’ ‘Doctor Jeep’ (the extended version which appeared on the 12” and CD of the single release) and ‘When You Don’t See Me’ are included here. Fine, but the live recordings on the reverse of the latter didn’t include audio drop-outs. What excuse can there possibly be for this? And there’s no unreleased or otherwise unobtainable gem on the ‘Vision Thing’ disc, either, which renders it a bit of a swizz, really. But if you think all that’s sloppy, check the cover again. What’s that? No, your eyes do not deceive you: the spine really does read ‘Visioin Thing.’ Frankly, such errors are unforgivable and shows a carelessness and lack of regard for both band and fans alike. What’s more, such lack of attention to detail, in addition to the inconsistency of criteria for the choice of additional tracks, serves as a reminder of just what a lousy cash-in this reissue really is. After all, what is the real fan getting here that they don’t have already? 2 rare versions of released songs over three discs and a potted history of the band in the liner notes. Whoopee.
Ultimately, it’s nice to have the ‘First and Last and Always’ era B-sides on CD and to hear the rare outtakes from the vaults, but these reissues fail to do the band’s output justice. Yes, the reissue of ‘First and Last and Always’ is worth picking up, but for my money, I’d still recommend tracking down the originals of ‘Floodland’ and ‘Vision Thing’ plus a copy of ‘Some Girls Wander by Mistake,’ which gathers all of the pre-‘First and Last and Always’ singles and EPs (bar the ‘Body and Soul EP, which is STILL unavailable on CD). Alternatively, you could always wait another few years before they remaster and repackage the whole lot again as 2 disc sets, when surely they’ll do a better job....
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