The Sisterhood – Gift (Merciful Release, 1986)

Let us now delve into one of the more tempestuous tales in the history of Gothic Rock.

We need to travel back to 1986 when The Sisters of Mercy were riding high on the success of their debut full length release First and Last and Always. Plans for the second album, reportedly to be called “Left on Mission and Revenge”, were underway, but all was not well. Recent gigs had been fraught with tension and guitarist and lead song-writer Gary Marx left the band mid-tour citing “personal differences”, and left The Sisters to complete tour dates of Europe and the US as a three-piece (Thompson, D. The dark reign of gothic rock: In the reptile house with The Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus and The Cure, Helter Skelter (2002)). He’s by no means vanished from history however, and soon turns up in Ghost Dance with Anne-Marie Hurst, former vocalist with fellow Leeds Goth act Skeletal Family, who had regularly served as The Sisters’ support act.

However, we digress.

Rehearsals of the new songs were going no better. As Eldritch would relate the tale later;

“They said, ‘Well okay, what are we going to do for new songs?’ and I said ‘How about this, this, and this’ and unfortunately the first ‘this’ I cited had too many chords per minute and Craig said “If that’s the guitar line, I’m not playing it’ and walked out.”

Wayne Hussey followed suit, exiling himself from The Sisters just one day later. As he would later explain events in contrast to the Eldritch version:

“We got to doing the second album and Andrew said ‘I’m not singing any of your songs’. That’s what it boils down to. Craig walked out of rehearsals and a day later I did. He was listening to things like Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks, Foreigner and there was us listening to Motorhead or whatever. And it showed.”

(Mercer, M. The Gothic Rock Black Book, Omnibus, 1988).

Curiously, Hussey and Eldritch would re-join for just one gig in Hamburg before formally announcing that The Sisters of Mercy had dissolved (Thompson, D., 2002). One would imagine that the backstage vibe at this gig must have been both weird and awkward, but this is where the real fun starts.

And so it begins: Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams regroup.  They’re joined by Mick Brown, previously drummer with fellow Leeds Goth band Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Simon Hinkler, formerly with Artery. Then they announce that they will call themselves The Sisterhood. By strange err...coincidence, this also happens to be the name of The Sisters of Mercy fanclub.

*CUT TO CHATEAU ELDRITCH*

Sitting on his skull throne, Lord Andrew taps his fingertips in a slow rhthym.

“No…. No.”, he thinks.

“This simply will not do. This simply will not do. At. All.”

*END SCENE*

So, what to do? The easiest approach is to launch legal action, easy because Eldritch already owns rights to “The Sisterhood” name.  A much more proactive approach however is to quickly record and release something using “The Sisterhood” name himself, thereby completely asserting rights to the brand.  Eldritch evidently fancies a quickie, and as Liisa Ladouceur observes, in many ways, The Sisterhood is best regarded as a “legal pissing contest disguised as a band” (Encyclopedia Gothica, ECWpress, 2011). Certainly, the “band” never performed live.

This path does pose certain difficulties however, chief among them being that Andrew Eldritch’s contract with Warner prohibits him from personally appearing on the album (drum machine, the indomitable Doktor Avalanche is fortunately not bound by any such odd conventions of meatspace and will be used to great effect) . To get around this, Eldritch ropes in the then largely unknown vocal talents of James Ray, later to become much better known with James Ray and the Performance and James Ray’s Gangwar, who sounds so much like Eldritch, that initially many suspect he may be a fictional entity. Regarding the politics surrounding The Sisterhood, Ray would later observe;

“I really didn’t give two monkey shits what was going on, it was just I went down and sang a song and that was it. I didn’t think anything of all that. Eldritch asked do you want to release a single with me and he asked me to start explaining why he was doing it and I just didn’t care, it was just a chance to make a record y’know?”  

In an interesting aside, James Ray would later go on to release several albums through Eldritch’s label Merciful Release and would eventually note on the subject of Eldritch;

“He’s a liar, he’s a cheat, he’s fucking useless.”
(Mercer, M. Gothic Rock, Pegasus Publishing, 1992)

Again, we digress, but isn’t it interesting to observe how often these very similar descriptions of Andrew Eldritch emerge from those who have had the intriguing experience of working with him?

Next, we require a bass player. In what would later prove an inspired choice, Eldritch enlists Patricia Morisson, formerly with LA punk/death rock group The Bags, then with The Gun Club, and at the time touring as Siouxsie’s support act, Fur Bible. She too will later assert that Andrew Eldritch cheated her out of money, but that’s a story for another time. Original Motorhead drummer Lucas Fox is roped in to co-produce and we are ready to begin.

The result is the “Giving Ground” single (Merciful Release, 1986). Obviously, it’s designed to serve the very pragmatic purpose of rapidly and efficiently fucking over the opposition rather than any pretensions to high art. Accordingly, the cover art is extraordinarily minimalist to say the least.

 Equally minimalist is the track listing – why bother with a “real” B-side when you can just bung on a longer version of the A-side? And so, we are presented with the A-side “Giving Ground (RSV)” and the B-side “Giving Ground  (AV)”, the latter clocking in with a bonus 52 seconds. For the curious, AV and RSV are Biblical references denoting “Authorised Version” and “Revised Standard Version” respectively. So now you know!

His rivals’ guns neatly spiked, they are forced to concede defeat and change their name to The Mission. Eldritch ponders where to go next. He and his new-found playmates begin work on a little something titled “This Corrosion”, but Eldritch wisely decides to keep it under his hat for later, so perhaps a Sisterhood EP is in order?

And so, with no further ado, ladies, gentlemen and unwitting small children lured here by accident or evil design, we bring you the Gift EP.

This one has attracted quite a diabolical reputation over the years, but is it as bad as often supposed?  

Actually, the answer is probably not. Part of the problem almost certainly lies in that the Goth scene had never heard anything quite like this before.  Although it’s certainly true that it doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny, most of the tracks aren’t bad at all, in fact it’s rather more of a fascinating listen to hear in it the germination of ideas that a year later will reach maturity on The Sisters epic and awesome album Floodland (Merciful Release, 1987). Indeed, some CD versions of Floodland will include “Colours” as a bonus track.

The opening track “Jihad” is actually quite strong, it’s opening line of “2-5-0-0-0” commonly rumoured to be a mocking reference to the amount Eldritch was able to sue Hussey & Co for infringement of intellectual property. 

Meanwhile, “Finland Red, Egypt White” continues the, if nothing else, “economical” nature of the project by inventively quoting the specifics of an AK-47 (AKA: a Kalishnikov assault rifle) direct from a weapons and ammunitions catalogue in place of anything resembling real lyrics. “Rain from Heaven” is perhaps less remarkable although remains interesting for featuring the vocals of Suicide’s Alan Vega.

If there is a genuinely weak point here, then it’s ironically the single “Giving Ground” (here a different version from either found on the 7”). James Ray once described this as “It’s a terrible track” and he’s absolutely correct. On listening to the keyboard line, I can’t help but think it’s what this little guy might sound like on a whole mountain sized heap of Xanax. Never fear however – the song is not without redemption as Christian Dorge’s project Syria would later demonstrate to excellent effect on their album Ozymandias of Egypt (Black October Records, 1993). It doesn’t appear to be on Youtube, but I strongly suggest that you hunt a copy down since it does genuinely demonstrate with convincing power that it is indeed possible to polish a turd.

Jihad

Colours

Giving Ground

Tracklisting

Finland Red, Egypt White

Rain From Heaven

And so, gentle readers, there you have the whole sorry tale. We will leave it to the conspiracy theorists among you to muse upon the ever-persistent story that the entire stoush was in fact a totally confected row designed to maximise publicity for both parties.

Track Listing:

I)                    Jihad

II)                  Colours

III)                Giving Ground

IV)               Finland Red, Egypt White

V)                 Rain From Heaven

Line Up: Andrew Eldritch (Writer and Producer), Doktor Avalanche (Drum machine)

Others involved in various uncredited roles: Alan Vega, James Ray, Patricia Morrison, Lucas Fox.

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Sisterhood%2C+The

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sisterhood

http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/gen/regift.htm

Fields of the Nephilim – Burning the Fields EP (Tower Release, 1985)

Ahh…

How could we not talk about Fields of the Nephilim? Indeed, when I first became interested in Gothic Rock which is now literally more than half a life-time ago, even just their name fascinated me.

That they were influenced by the The Sisters of Mercy seems too obvious to say. That eclipsed only by The Sisters, they would become the prime influence on 90’s Goth seems doubly so. That without them the entire subgenre of Gothic Metal from Paradise Lost to Tiamat to Moonspell would never have existed is indisputable.

But all of this comes later, and is a story for another time. What concerns us now is a vastly younger and somewhat softer band with their first release and a saxophonist come keyboard player by the name of Gary Wisker.

Yes, you did read that right – the same harder-than-nails Goth gods that goose-stepped straight out of Ennio Morricone’s fever dreams once possessed a saxophonist. However, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Fields of the Nephilim originally sauntered out of Stevenage in Hertforshire during 1984. At the time they were apparently working under the name of Perfect Disaster, itself a perfect disaster of a name that could easily have belonged to any of the godawful metal cover bands I was subjected to while growing up in the Perth of the late 80s. They very sensibly changed it to The Mission, only to have that idea completely derailed by the massive schism that occurred in The Sisters of Mercy camp.

Clearly, a new name was needed and, likely inspired by their new vocalist and Kaos Magick enthusiast Carl McCoy, began delving into more obscure parts of The Old Testament and Fields of the Nephilim came into being. It’s probably safe(ish) to say that most fans of Fields of the Nephilim are aware that the name derives from a biblical race of giants, but as few people have actually bothered to read the relevant bits and pieces, it’s probably worth taking a look:

“(1)And it came to passe, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were borne vnto them: (2)That the sonnes of God saw the daughters of men, that they were faire, and they took them wiues, all of which they choose…(4) There were Giants in the earth in those daies; and also after that, when the sonnes of God came in vnto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them; the same became mightie men, which were of old, men of renowme.”  Genesis 6:1-4 KJV

This is of course, about as far as most people get, and they understandably come away thinking that the bits about giants were awesome, but still bewildered as to where the band derived their name from. This is an unfortunate effect of later reiterations of The Bible striving to popularize itself by removing all the more esoteric references. To find the actual mention of The Nephilim, we need to look much earlier, and The Torah will do just fine:

“(1) And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, (2) that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives, whomsoever they choose…(4) The Nephilim were in the earth those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.” Genesis 6: 1-4 Torah.

Aha! And now we have the name, but we’ve somehow lost all mention of giants. To get that, we need to look a little bit further:

“And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying ‘The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. (33) And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.’” Numbers 13: 32-33 Torah.

And, Ta-Dah! Imagery no doubt pitching a tent in Carl Mc Coy’s pants rivaled only by the big top it must have pitched in Erik VonDaniken’s. (Serious students of esoterica and apocryphia might care to go here.) 

But enough of this nonsense! You want to hear about the music, yes? And rightly so.

 The year is 1985 and already the effects of The Sisters’ Reptile House EP and the Temple of Love single, released at the absolute peak of the first wave of Goth in ’83 are being felt. Never shrinking violets, those young Turks, The Nephilm picked up the ball and ran with it (three metaphors in one sentence – Go me!). The result musically, was something in the Sister’s pre-Wayne Hussey mold but with harsh vocal stylings previously seen only in proto-black metal bands like Venom or Celtic Frost albeit massively slowed down.

The EP itself is  quite the dynamic little number, commencing with the jaw-dropping “Trees Come Down” which in itself, could have easily become the The Nephilim’s signature tune if they hadn’t gone beyond all expectations of the time and bettered it just a few short years later with “Preacher Man” (Situation Two, 1987) and “Moonchild” (Situation Two, 1988).

“Back In Gehenna” follows (More Old Testament references!), but is perhaps overshadowed by some of the other tracks on the EP and it is here that we first encounter the saxophone. Not that it is bad in any way, but despite its compelling self-referential line “we are the Nephilim!”, it does seems a weak and runty beast when compared to the EP’s other offerings. Not that that stopped the band re-recording it for the Returning to Gehenna EP ( Supporti Fonografici, 1986).

Then we hit “Dark Cell”, quiet, laid back and heavy on the saxophone. I think I may have mentioned several times in the past that I’m not keen on the sax, but here it actually does something worthwhile. Nevertheless, after this, the Nephs seem to have woken up to the fact that the post-punk era of sax, as employed by Theatre of Hate, Ritual and Actifed et al. was over and after the Returning to Gehenna EP, the saxophone, and for better or worse, the keyboards were gone forever after.

Last, but far from least, we come to “Laura”. It is without question, one of Fields of the Nephilim’s strongest earlier songs. It’s a more relaxed version we hear here in the original than in later versions, but the fact that Fields of the Nephilim would go back and re-record it not just once but twice speaks volumes in itself. Its first reincarnation appears on the Returning to Gehenna EP (as “Laura (New Version)”), and then again on the B-side of  the Preacher Man single (Situation Two, 1987) as “Laura II” before reappearing yet again as bonus tracks on the various later re-releases of their debut LP Dawn Razor (Situation Two, 1987).

Trees Come Down

Back In Gehenna

Dark Cell


Laura

I’ve always been one for album cover art so, despite not particularly liking that which graces Burning the Fields, I can’t help myself but to note that right from the start, Fields of the Nephilim aimed straight for the heart of collectors, and accordingly, there exist a number of variations on the original sleeve, all through Tower Release in 1985.

Speaking of Tower Release, I strongly suspect that this may have been The Neph’s own label; an early Nephilim song bears the title “The Tower” and Burning the Fields and its eventual 1993 re-release on CD are the only goodies that ever came out from said label. Strangely though, it appears to have been a child of Jungle Records. While I can’t claim much expertise in record licensing or distribution, this does seem a very odd arrangement.

Cover art on the rear of Burning the Fields is equally interesting, albeit for quite different reasons, namely the band pictures.

The story told here is quite plain – at the time of releasing Burning the Fields, the band were yet to adopt the post-apocalyptic cowboy pose that would later become their trademark. Equally interesting though is the EP’s central sticker, clearly suggesting that even at this stage, the cowboy concept was already past its initial incubation period.

Given their level of influence on Goth throughout the 90s, I doubt this will be the last we see of Fields of the Nephilim on Plunder the Tombs, but for now, let it be the end.

Track Listing:

1. Trees Come Down
2. Back in Gehenna
3. Dark Cell
4. Laura

Line Up: Carl McCoy (vocals), Tony Pettit (bass), Gary Wisker (keyboards & saxophone), Nod Wright (percussion), Paul Wright (guitar)

http://www.fields-of-the-nephilim.com/

https://www.facebook.com/FieldsOfTheNephilim

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fields_of_the_Nephilim

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gary-whisker-p273920/credits

Sisters of Mercy – First and Last and Always (Merciful Release / WEA, 1985)

And so, as promised, we return to The Sisters Saga, and indeed an album that along with Love by The Cult (Sire-1985) would prove pivotal in turning what had by now become known as “Goth” away from its earlier arty post-punk roots towards something decidedly more based in hard rock.

 As discussed previously, The Sisters triumphant single Temple of Love (Merciful Release, 1983) had set the template for the future evolution of Gothic Rock and set The Sisters up as a major headlining band in their own right, supported by opening act, the then nascent Smiths.

Things were not well in The Sisters’ camp however with guitarist Ben Gunn deciding that he’d had enough. (one suspects that Ben Gunn may not be his real name, since it happens to mirror that of a character in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”, then again – does anyone seriously believe front man Andrew’s last name is really Eldritch?*)

Convinced that the original piss-take nature of the band had been lost and The Sisters were increasingly becoming a one-man dictatorship under Eldritch, Ben Gunn chose to walk away (see what I did there? :-P).

His replacement was one Mr Wayne Hussey Esq. formally associated with an early incarnation of Pete Burns’ Dead or Alive. A massive change in direction resulted, with a much more jangly rock thing appearing, initially in the “Body and Soul” single, but then as the hugely influential First and Last and Always album.

To be honest, much as I love The Sisters, First and Last and Always has never been one of my favourite Sisters discs, but as such a well-known and watershed album I’ve got nothing to say that ain’t been said before (see what I did again?). It does however, contain some of their best songs – the immortal Marian and Some Kind of Stranger come immediately to mind.

Happily though, being such an influential album, Youtube.com provides the opportunity to experience pretty much all of First and Last and Always in its entirety, albeit in various forms.

Enjoy!

Things were still looking a tad shaky after First and Last and Always though, leading to a massive schism within the band. Hussey and Adams pissed off to form what would become The Mission and Gary Marx ended up in Ghost Dance with Anne-Marie Skeletal, leaving Eldritch to his own devices. Arguably, The Sisters were nevermore a band as such, but rather Andrew Eldritch and the hired guns. Nevertheless, there was still brilliance yet to come.

But again, this is a story for another time…

Track listing:

1. Black Planet

2. Walk Away

3. No Time to Cry

4. A Rock and a Hard Place

5. Marian

6. First and Last and Always

7. Possession

8. Nine While Nine

9. (Amphetamine) Logic

10. Some Kind of Stranger

Line Up:

Andrew Eldrtich* (vocals), Wayne Hussey (guitar), Gary Marx (guitar), Craig Adams (Bass), Doktor Avalanche (drums).

*It’s not his real name. His actual name is the somewhat unexciting Andrew Taylor. Oh well….what was Goth if not a land of make believe and fantasy?

Come to think of it, my real name probably isn’t even remotely like James Von Sutekh either.

http://www.the-sisters-of-mercy.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sisters_of_Mercy

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=The+Sisters+of+Mercy

http://www.myheartland.co.uk/index.php