The Gift album

[Black Biscuit]

So is there any inside word on whether the Gift album was just a bunch of demos with a few quick Eldritch stylistic tricks thrown in to make it pallatable, as I sometimes suspect it was?

(This could also explain the serious lack of 'single' material on the album and the repetitiveness - perhaps the songs weren't given proper time to develop.)

Perhaps more than any other AE product, Gift has made me think, not that I've come up with any definitive answers on the topic of this album, but I like its uniqueness.

Oh, and I still think 'gift' is an abbreviation for Get F-cked.... and I have also found that there are times when Finland Red is the only song that suits my mood... something uncompromising about it.

Remember: rock n' roll is the deification of the a--hole.

[MrChris]

Hmmm...I'm interested that you find the album repetitive - I think it's quite varied really, although I guess the themes (anger, spite, revenge, forgiveness?) are stretched across the album. The word Gift, we're told, is german for poison, so gift/gift doubled means a poisoned gift / arrow / chalice, ostensibly a present but concealing a darker secret. Giving Ground is and was an obvious single; they produced another one - This Corrosion - but evidently decided it was a 'keeper', too good to be thrown away on this side-project. And so it proved, although many people would tear off an arm to hear the James Ray version...

[Gottdammerung]

Personally I think its the most "industrial" thing that Eldo has done and stands up quite well in direct comparison to what the likes of Front 242 were doing at this time... but, its still not industrial enough, i.e sticking with a more mainstream song structure and also the lack of samples etc...


Anyhoo, thats my tuppence!

[Black Biscuit]

I agree the collection of songs are varied, but individually some of them are repetitive: Rain From Heaven, with its repeated lines, being an obvious example, and Colours, too. Did this have anything to do with mantras?

I always felt art was open to interpretration, but I think it was Eldo who said it wasn't, or at least shouldn't be. Personally I always thought 'Colours' was about the Bloods (red) and Crips (blue) gangs of Los Angeles.

Serious sh-t. But I just ran out of Scotch, so I'm out on booze patrol for a while now. Catch ya!

[ruffers]

Well if that's what he can come up with throwaway demos stick to that mode of working imho.

I can't really add to what MrChris wrote, apart to add that the repetitiveness (if indeed it is) is part of the power of the record. Maybe a sexier word is relentlessness and that as I've previously stated is a quality I like in music.

Not really on topic but Gift is absolutely unique. Not a dance album, not a rock album, but perfect. Feel free to finish this sentence if you have a view...

"ruffers, if you like Gift then you'll probably like........"

[Quiff Boy]

.......early james ray



but then you knew that already.

[culprit]

It WAS a rush job though, wasn't it.
It's not an album that has been prepared and thought over...

[Quiff Boy]

if you mean it hasnt been laboured over, a la vision thing then i'd agree, but just the fact that they had a few people in a studio doing demos and stuff implies there was as least some though put into it.

dont forget torch was one of the songs that scared off craig... perchance there were others under his hat too...?

[nick the stripper]

Why did Torch scare off craig?

Torch is a bloody magnificent song.

I've only heard "Giving Ground" and "Colours" and 30 second clips of all the other songs, but what I heard I liked.

I especially like what I heard of "Rain From Heaven"

[culprit]

indeed, you phrase it better QB

[Black Biscuit]

Goodness I had trouble spelling 'interpretation' while drunk - you didn't see the edits...

[Dark]

Well, go get the mp3s of Rain From Heaven and Giving Ground [RSV] if you've not heard them.

I dunno about tearing an arm off to hear James Ray's take on This Corrosion, maybe I'd tear off another person's arm.

But if Alan Vega's version crops up, I'd rip off an arm, both legs, and eliminate all non-vital elements of my torso, just for a reasonable-bitrate mp3.

[Obviousman]

Gift is a very nice album to me (or rather an EP, but anyways)...

I always thought the fact that it isn't that much elaborated (well, not like floodland and vision thing, as mentioned before) made it more pure, and thus it made me able to see the deeper soul more as when I would have been overwhelmed by choirs and all that... Which doens't mean that the lyrics are that simple (and it does not take away the fact that most of them are about the best I know as well )

[biggy]

He chucked it out to stop Pussey from using the name - no more no less.

Whether it's good or bad it doesn't matter, he achieved what he set out to do.

[The Green Lantern]

He chucked it out to stop Pussey from using the name - no more no less.

Whether it's good or bad it doesn't matter, he achieved what he set out to do.

You said it Biggy. M1ssion accomplished (pun intended)

[Chairman Bux]

Assolutamente.

"We came, we recorded, we left. With lots of money. And a huge f**k-off grin."

The end product may or may not be a work of utter genius, but that is not the issue. It never was. It served its purpose and it served it well. The fact that its a hell of a lot better than SSV is a boon, but never an intention.

You could look at it in terms of tactical solutions, should you be lacking in anything better to do. There is probably some hideously convoluted mathematical formula involving energy expenditure, attention spans, vodka, fags and Class A drugs, but I wouldn't know anything about that sort of thing.

You could also look at it in terms of personnel involved: Gift was always going to be a better product due to the attending genii, Patricia discounted of course. Mr. Fox, Mr. Ray and the good Doktor were always going to produce a superior body of work to Messrs Eldritch and co. in a small bedroom somewhere in deepest darkest Leeds 7.

Or you could just listen to it. Gift that is, because surely no one here wasted the energy required to go out looking for a copy of SSV? Fools.

[Quiff Boy]

so who exactly are "the chorus of vengence"?

or rather, what samplers and synths were they?

[Chairman Bux]

http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/tech/tech-i.htm

RTFM my dearest Quifflet. RTFM.

[Quiff Boy]

http://www.thesistersofmercy.com/tech/tech-i.htm

RTFM my dearest Quifflet. RTFM.

you know what? i'd completely forgotten about that site!

[Chairman Bux]

T'cha!

[Planet Dave]

Spoiler? Intelligent techno with atmosphere and tunes? Both, obviously. A storming album, he should make (and release!!) much more of this kind of stuff. 'Colours' always comes in for a slating on this board. It stonks like nothing else. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Gift is the perfect soundtrack to a heavily 'relaxed' evening.

[Loki]

The end product may be a work of utter genius

[Francis]

Gift is the perfect soundtrack to a heavily 'relaxed' evening.

I've always been of the opinion that if you have to get 'relaxed' to appreciate something, then it's probably less than the sum of its parts.

[Planet Dave]

Have to? Who said anything about have to?

[Francis]

OK. Let's put it this way. How good does it sound when you're straight?