Temple Of Love - what happened there then?

THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
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Thrash Harry
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Original Body Electric was good (before my time - 84 version is THE BEST), Floorshow was better, Alice was sublime, Anaconda was ... OK... Temple Of Love was slap it on the table, tell me that's not good and I'll offer you outside.

So, when I finally got to see them in October 84, why had they stopped playing it? Was it

a) Gary Marx couldn't play it without Ben Gunn

B) A tragic accident occurred during it

C) It became so big it consumed them

D) Something else

I need to get over this and move on. The pills didn't work, nor the alcohol or Miss Piggy in a bath full of custard with glace cherries on top. Perhaps you can help. Here's hoping...
Go to sleep now, Francis.
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CellThree
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Quoted from some interview around the release of Some Girls... :

'Temple Of Love', was never played live because nobody in the band could play the guitar part.'

They played it a handful of times in 1983, but it sounds pretty bad (just listening to the Paradiso 1983 performance).
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Padstar
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bah !!!! piece of p*ss!!!!!

Paddy ;)
Still playing guitar - sometimes weird shaped ones.
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Thrash Harry
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CellThree wrote:Quoted from some interview around the release of Some Girls... :

'Temple Of Love', was never played live because nobody in the band could play the guitar part.'

They played it a handful of times in 1983, but it sounds pretty bad (just listening to the Paradiso 1983 performance).
Oh dear. I got a similar answer from someone on Dominion a while ago. I assumed they were joking. You are joking aren't you? Well, Eldritch must have been then. Oh dear. Another case of good in the studio, not so good live?. Now The Smiths, they were very good live. And Ian Dury. And The Stray Cats. And The Specials/ Madness/ Selector. And Queen were superb. Sorry, I'm regressing again.
Padstar wrote:bah !!!! piece of p*ss!!!!!
I wonder if Junior is upto it? He got the hang of The Girl's Got Rythm in about 10 minutes. Struggling a bit with the solo to Hotel California though. Will you be playing Temple on the 11th? Looks like we might be coming after all. Mentioned it to Mrs T a couple of weeks ago and she said we should go. She was drunk at the time, but still seems to be up for it. She's not really a fan though. She can do proper dancing - rock 'n' roll and soul! Even Junior's expressed an interest, though he'd rather his first gig was Metallica or some such. I know. Leeds Festival. A sore point. Would he be allowed in? He's 14.
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MrChris
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It is rumoured that Andrew played the 'difficult guitar part' on the original record. We know he's a mean bass player now...
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Thrash Harry
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Eldritch played the guitar part? Is this another joke? Oh dear. Looks like I might have to show him a bit more respect. He really is a gifted SOB isn't he!

:notworthy:
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Black Planet
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Thrash Harry wrote:Eldritch played the guitar part? Is this another joke? Oh dear. Looks like I might have to show him a bit more respect. He really is a gifted SOB isn't he!

:notworthy:
Yes Harry, Andrew is gifted...He is an Intellectual Love God....

:notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

XXXX @ Andy my Luv.
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Andy TG
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I was always under the, possibly misguided, impression that Temple Of Love was not played live as the vocals were too "hard" for Andrew to sing during a show?

Does this seem like a familiar story to anyone?

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Thrash Harry
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AndyTheGoth wrote:I was always under the, possibly misguided, impression that Temple Of Love was not played live as the vocals were too "hard" for Andrew to sing during a show?

Does this seem like a familiar story to anyone?

Knew You'd Be Pleased.....
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Andy TG
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Thrash Harry wrote:
AndyTheGoth wrote:I was always under the, possibly misguided, impression that Temple Of Love was not played live as the vocals were too "hard" for Andrew to sing during a show?

Does this seem like a familiar story to anyone?

Knew You'd Be Pleased.....
Zut alors. Monsieur Le Goth. Le chat. Les pigeons. Allons y!
Voila ;-)
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Serendipityhaven
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:eek: vocals on temple?
maybe ive overlooked something on any of the versions ive got here but i cant really pick out anything beyond what he'd normally stretch to :eek:

to be honest ive never thought the guitar on it was that complicated to justify it not being played live either.
having said that im not a guitar impressario.
bet angus could belt it out competantly enough tho :)
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MrChris
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I think the point was that Andrew could play the guitar part, albeit not that quickly, but that, as he had remarked in the past, he can't sing at the same time...kind of like rubbing your tummy and patting your head!
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Andy TG
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MrChris wrote:I think the point was that Andrew could play the guitar part, albeit not that quickly, but that, as he had remarked in the past, he can't sing at the same time...kind of like rubbing your tummy and patting your head!
Thats what I was driving at - and missed ;-)
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Thrash Harry
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AndyTheGoth wrote:
MrChris wrote:I think the point was that Andrew could play the guitar part, albeit not that quickly, but that, as he had remarked in the past, he can't sing at the same time...kind of like rubbing your tummy and patting your head!
Thats what I was driving at - and missed ;-)
Ah! Possibly beginning to make sense. I recall a few articles on the web where Eldritch goes on about being mocked for not being able to play guitar standing up. So he could actually play quite well then? I was amazed to discover that he did all of the Reptile House by himself - particularly as it was the first release with a full band listing on it. Is that what it was then? They were laughed at because they couldn't play their top song live? Were Gunn/ Marx/ Hussey not good enough? Is that why it all fell apart? Were the Vision Thing line-up better - they played it live didn't they? Oh dear, I'm in danger of excomunicating myself from my own Church. If only I'd kept paying attention, read the music press and subsricbed to the Reptile House, I'd know all this stuff. (Kicks bin). Unfortunately, I bought Gift, not knowing it was a spoiler or that it wasn't Eldritch singing, just that it didn't sound very good, and that was the final nail in the coffin. Any way of getting copies of all that old stuff - Under The Rock and Heartland? Then I might be able to stop pestering you guys.
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To ebay!
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Jim
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And proof that it can be sung and played at the same time, I give you my main man - Andy: http://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic. ... ight=sorry

Listen and weep.
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Yeh, Von has said that he actually played that riff in interview before. If you listen to the Stuttgart 84 concert (patience my friends! it's coming!) they use it as a false intro to Train, which proves that the band could certainly play it OK by then, so it must be the vocals thing. Since 90, Von has been singing the chorus as a duet with whatever backing vocalist he's currently employing, which lends weight to that argument. Think he also mentioned somewhere that it became a bit of a running joke not to play it live too.
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CellThree
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A quote from the same interview as above:

Really, I ended up in a band by default. I'd never picked up a musical instrument. I'd been banned from music classes at school since I was ten cos I couldn't sing in key or play anything. I was completely incompetent. Tone deaf. I still am. Even today, if you listen, I've got a way of implying notes rather than singing them. And if it's not in A, I can't sing it anyway. The musicologists among you will notice how many of our songs are in A. It's quite a lot. It is remarkable how much one can make of one's limitations. That's all I've done."
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Serendipityhaven
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see what your driving at now.

id figured it was an extension of the theory behind drumming-playing an instrument and singing together.but you see examples of it so often these days,i supose its sort of taken for granted its easily mastered.
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.... can't play standing up, can't strum and sing at the same time, three guitarists none of whom could play the TOL riff live, no-one could play the drums so they got in a certain Doktor Avalanche.... what is it with this band?
.... there is no semblance of rock 'n roll around here!
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Temple of Love hardly lifts up on the vocals--they go on and on and I would suspect Von might choke after a while between the smoking and voice strain. Also, yeah, the Paradiso gig version is awful, like cats screeching or something and the timing is off.

But the timing was always off, according to Von, who thought the original was too fast, maybe too gonzo, and harder to pull off like that. The remake and subsequent live versions are more slamming and controlled, with plenty of wailing. If only they can break out the 8 minute version again, but hey...bootlegs.

And no, you can't really smoke and sing Temple very well at once, at least the original.
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Electrochrome wrote:Temple of Love hardly lifts up on the vocals--they go on and on and I would suspect Von might choke after a while between the smoking and voice strain. Also, yeah, the Paradiso gig version is awful, like cats screeching or something and the timing is off.
I have this vision of the original version being recorded - Von managing one verse at a time, before collapsing on the floor gasping for breath, taking a 30 minute break, a few more cigs, then recue-ing the tape for verse 2...

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Red_Kola wrote:I have changed it to the current yearning of my lions...
loins? :eek:
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