Why "Floodland" is the ultimate 1980s album

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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Toaster Mantis
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Concept album about the cold war? Check.

First words sung on the entire album are "in the heat of the night"? Check.

Jim Steinman producing? Check.

Cover art shows the singer wearing sunglasses at night? Check.

Lots of synths? Check.

Ridiculously huge hair on one band member? Check.

Out-of-place piano ballad down in the middle of the album? Check.

and last but not least...

Pitch-perfect cyberpunk dystopian atmosphere I haven't heard in any albums written after the Cold War ended? Check! 8)
You can take a tiger out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the tiger... on the other hand, the tiger can't step into the same river twice because other waters are always flowing on to it. Yeah.
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stufarq
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Toaster Mantis wrote:Concept album about the cold war? Check.
Well, it has one song that might be about the Cold War...
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Being645
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... if you like to compare culture traditional gender relations and their respective inconveniences with Cold War ... fine ... ;D ...

... in that case I recommend to not forget that certain
consecutive kisses have taken place some time ago already, either ... :roll: ...

:D Anyway, Floodland ... a great piece of music ... ;D ...
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Toaster Mantis
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stufarq wrote:Well, it has one song that might be about the Cold War...
Maybe "concept album" is a bit of a stretch but it's a recurring theme through the album.

There's the two Flood songs making references to the flooding that would occur in the aftermath of a nuclear war and, as Being645 said, comparing that to to the power struggles in a romantic relationship.

Then you have Lucretia mentioning "two worlds an in between", "we've got the empire now as then" and referring to an empire coming down.

Never Land could be about the situation of a spy on the run after his last m*****n failed. ("had a hand on the gun, a place in the sun and a ticket to Syria")
You can take a tiger out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the tiger... on the other hand, the tiger can't step into the same river twice because other waters are always flowing on to it. Yeah.
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Bartek
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and of course driven like the snow is about post nuclear war.
1959 it's reference to 7th May 1945 (in Europe) one day before WW II ended and cold war started.

yeah. of course.
Last edited by Bartek on 01 Nov 2009, 14:38, edited 1 time in total.
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GC
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And Vision Thing is about the dominance of the US after the collapse of Soviet Russia. I don't know kind of makes progressive sense.
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Being645
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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Suleiman
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...and while Mother Russia anticipates the collapse of the USSR all over Europe, Dominion's themes are timeless. Only the power shifts.

and the Doktor's Snare.

Ultimate Album.
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GC
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Being645 wrote::lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I was being half serious.
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stufarq
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Toaster Mantis wrote:Maybe "concept album" is a bit of a stretch but it's a recurring theme through the album.

There's the two Flood songs making references to the flooding that would occur in the aftermath of a nuclear war and, as Being645 said, comparing that to to the power struggles in a romantic relationship.

Then you have Lucretia mentioning "two worlds an in between", "we've got the empire now as then" and referring to an empire coming down.

Never Land could be about the situation of a spy on the run after his last m*****n failed. ("had a hand on the gun, a place in the sun and a ticket to Syria")
I used to think the same about Lucretia until it was pointed out in the relevant lyric thread that all the evidence (including Von's fairly unambiguous explanation) points to it being about Patricia joiing the band, with the two Empires being SOM pre- and post-i]Gift[/i] (from where the album title is taken). This Corrosion is more of the same.

There's nothing to suggest nuclear war in either Flood, the floods in question being either emotion or, er, bodily fluids. (And I'm not sure that nuclear war would necessarily result in flooding anyway.) The snow in Driven Like The Snow is just snow, the song being a sequel to Nine While Nine, while 1959 was the year Eldritch was born. It's a bit of a stretch to assume that Never Land's gun and Syria equate to a spy story. Dominion is about the loss of monumental power but its influences are ancient Egyptian rather than Cold War.

That just leaves Mother Russia, which could be Cold War but, as Being645 says, could equally be about cultural differences. If it's anticipating the fall of the USSR then it's impressively prophetic but it's the only song that has any real Cold War imagery.
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paint it black
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It is well known MR is about Chernobyl. It is also well known that the snow, in one of its guises, is nuclear fallout

edit to add. for the avoidance of doubt, TC is pre-gift
Goths have feelings too
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Being645
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Gollum's Cock wrote:
Being645 wrote::lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I was being half serious.
Oh yes, and not only you ... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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markfiend
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It's the album for the end of the world, no doubt about that.

Only thing was, the world didn't end; that left :von: with a bit of a problem...
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
—Bertrand Russell
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Bartek
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just to make sure: i was joking when i was writing about 1959 and DLtS as another example of cold war comentary.
the only glitter and doom song on this album is D/MR; TC is about personaly collaps.

and as paint it black point it MR was wrote after chernobly disaster when AE were trapped in some communist block country (any info which one ?).
Last edited by Bartek on 02 Nov 2009, 12:23, edited 2 times in total.
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Silver_Owl
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markfiend wrote:It's the album for the end of the world, no doubt about that.

Only thing was, the world didn't end; that left :von: with a bit of a problem...
Never really came back from that one did he? :lol:
We forgive as we forget
As the day is long.
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Being645
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Baby Universe ... :cry: ... Baby Universal ... :(
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Bartek
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no that was
baby east- west, baby WEA records
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Suleiman
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Life, the Universe and Everything.
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Being645
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:lol: ... Floodland, ah ... :lol: ... and a vision thing ... another temple of love ... under the gun.

And now it's a far parade ... or all about Floodland. :D
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James Blast
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Toaster Mantis wrote:Never Land (a fragment) could be about the situation of a spy on the run after his last m*****n failed. ("had a hand on the gun, a place in the sun and a ticket to Syria")
it could indeed but, Never Land (full length) turns the whole story inside out

points deducted for missing out (a fragment) BTW ;D
"And when you start to think about death, you start to think about what's after it. And then you start hoping there is a God. For me, it's a frightening thought to go nowhere".
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GC
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James Blast wrote:
Toaster Mantis wrote:Never Land (a fragment) could be about the situation of a spy on the run after his last m*****n failed. ("had a hand on the gun, a place in the sun and a ticket to Syria")
it could indeed but, Never Land (full length) turns the whole story inside out

points deducted for missing out (a fragment) BTW ;D
You mean the Peter Pan connection.
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James Blast
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Suck my Nick! Cock ;D
"And when you start to think about death, you start to think about what's after it. And then you start hoping there is a God. For me, it's a frightening thought to go nowhere".
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darkparticle
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It's visionary, so like The Dark Side of the Moon it remains timeless.

The poetic genius is the hints and reflections of meaning that seem to form whilst remaining insubstantial. Not many poets have such skill with word and a tiny minority can move with the same attitude.

the things that make Von and the sissies cool has never gone.

Maybe someone knows why it's Mother Russia, the motherland propoganda, because it isn't the fatherland, because it contradicts the instincts we were taught to associate with the great russian bear... Not just because it fits?
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid.

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Nadia81
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Although the west may envision Russia as male, I think russians themselves refer to Mother Russia.
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Being645
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I agree, they Russians used to refer to their country as Mother Russia
because of their Tsarina Kathrina II. She ruled the country from 1762 - 1796.
Last edited by Being645 on 03 Nov 2009, 01:10, edited 1 time in total.
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