Floodland...

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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MadameButterfly
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1959... who played the piano? please.
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well it certainly wasn't Pat, she was sleeping on the f**king thing :wink:
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and she was in her right! :lol:

was it actually Mr. E?
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Search for 1959 in this interview...

http://www.zsd.co.za/~lucien/sisters/in ... .php?id=11
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I'd always assumed it was Doktor Avalanche, but I could be wrong.
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I believe it is Andy...
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methadrine wrote:Search for 1959 in this interview...

http://www.zsd.co.za/~lucien/sisters/in ... .php?id=11
splintered thing wrote:I believe it is Andy...
In that interview he says that he can't play piano.

He also mentions writing a saxophone song called New World Order. I'm sure I should probably know what it is but it doesn't ring any bells. Can anyone enlighten me?
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was it Bobby Crush :!:
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MadameButterfly
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splintered thing wrote:I believe it is Andy...
Yeah that's what someone else also thinks.
It probably is anyway for one song, allowing his fingers to glide over the piano notes...

Thanks methadrine for that linky! Will have a good read in the near future.

Still, if anyone knows for sure, please let me know, just very interesting.
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I don't know, but always assumed it was The Man himself. The booklet liner notes don't mention any musicians, while Herr Eldritch does take the time, for example, to credit a dozen names from the New York Choral society.
So to me the only logical conclusion seems that Floodland is an effing one-man masterpiece :notworthy:

Don't you all think the passage in the interview from methadrine indicates the same? So he did the sax and piano on a synthesizer?
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stufarq wrote:In that interview he says that he can't play piano.

He also mentions writing a saxophone song called New World Order. I'm sure I should probably know what it is but it doesn't ring any bells. Can anyone enlighten me?
The way he puts it is that he resampled a pre-existing track for 1959, because he can't play the piano as an instrument. Ditto for NWO as a sax track.

Clearly, buying a sampler and merely recycling chunks of other people's master tapes is not going to win you a lot of brownie points on Eldritch Boulevard, however fashionable it may be.

On the other hand, it's nice that I can write a piano song like "1959" or a saxophone track like "New World Order" without being able to play the actual instruments involved, and without having to let a session player get in the way of things.

stufarq wrote:He also mentions writing a saxophone song called New World Order. I'm sure I should probably know what it is but it doesn't ring any bells. Can anyone enlighten me?
The legendary Andrew Eldritch composition New World Order, described by the man himself as "a saxophone solo which takes ten minutes to convey one mixed emotion, and not sequentially either. It's one of the best things I've ever written" (UTR 14).

Chris Sampson maintains it was played on the PA in the Summer tour in 1998.

New World Order was played at Gelsenkirchen, these days complete with spoken (actually more like a hiss) word vocal. What no-one's noticed is that the outro music that night appeared to be a ultra-rough demo of War on Drugs complete with screaming Varjak guitar feedback. Anyone else hear this? - Clicky
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Sita wrote:I don't know, but always assumed it was The Man himself. The booklet liner notes don't mention any musicians, while Herr Eldritch does take the time, for example, to credit a dozen names from the New York Choral society.
So to me the only logical conclusion seems that Floodland is an effing one-man masterpiece :notworthy:

Don't you all think the passage in the interview from methadrine indicates the same? So he did the sax and piano on a synthesizer?
Eldritch specifically said that he can't play piano so it's not him. He might be able to bash out some basic stuff on a synth but that's too complex a piano part for a non-pianist. The other likely candidates would be Jim Steinman, who is known to have been in the area at the time, or perhaps a sequenced piano by the Doktor, although I'm not sure if the technology of the day was quite up to that. The sax sounds to me to have too much variation in tone to be synthetic so I'd vote for it being a real one. Which Eldritch can't play either.

Actually, he doesn't list the members of the New York Choral Society. There's a list of thanks then the choir then more names. That second list isn't the choir. The first few names (Holly Sherwood, Curtis King, Brenda King, Tawatha Agee, Gina Taylor, Vaneese Thomas) are listed on the website (FAQ) as backing singers in addition to the choir.

But I've just had a closer look at those credits and noticed something else: near the bottom is Sid McGinnis, former guitarist with Peter Gabriel among others and resident guitarist on Letterman. His Wiki page (admittedly not very thorough) lists SOM as one of the bands he's recorded or toured with. So I looked up some of the other names:

Eric Troyer - keyboard player with ELO Part Two and Steinman collaborator
Eddie Martinez - session guitarist and Steinman collaborator
Lenny Pickett - saxophonist with the SNL house band among others
Steve Margoshes - Broadway composer (best known for Fame), Steinman collabprator and keyboard player
Mike Timoney - "veretran" keyboard player (released an album called The Astounding Sound Of The Cordovox)
Jeff Bova - Grammy Award winning keyboard player and Meat Loaf collaborator, once in a band with Eddie Martinez
Jimmy Bralower - producer and drummer(!)

James Ray you may already be familiar with
Kevin Mekon, many will already know, is Kevin Lycett, The Mekons' original guitarist
Holly Sherwood is also, yes, a Steinman collaborator

Couldn't pin down Tony K, Ann Rainone, Phil Wilfen, Steve Watson, Dave Kentish, Daniel Mass, Keith Herd, Carl Harrison, Pedro Moncada or Derick Johnson. However, there's a Derrick Johnson who played bass with the 52nd Street Band.

Some of the others in the top list (Claire, Kenny Giles, Jez Webb, Pete Turner) are known Sisters associates.

Looks like everyone was credited after all. The first list is various friends, associates, roadies, live crew etc. The second one is the singers and musicians on the album, including guitarists, a saxophonist, several keyboard players and even a possible bass player. And, for some reason, a drummer. Perhaps he helped with arrangements for the Doktor.

Mystery solved? Does lap of honour, trips over own shoelaces, embarrasses self in front of lots of people including girl he was trying to impress. She'll never share her dolly mixtures with me now.
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copper wrote:The legendary Andrew Eldritch composition New World Order, described by the man himself as "a saxophone solo which takes ten minutes to convey one mixed emotion, and not sequentially either. It's one of the best things I've ever written" (UTR 14).

Chris Sampson maintains it was played on the PA in the Summer tour in 1998.

New World Order was played at Gelsenkirchen, these days complete with spoken (actually more like a hiss) word vocal. What no-one's noticed is that the outro music that night appeared to be a ultra-rough demo of War on Drugs complete with screaming Varjak guitar feedback. Anyone else hear this? - Clicky
Ta muchly.
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Ann Rainone, is one Particia Morrison, so I was told a few years ago,
Daniel Mass, Danny from Salvation,
Dave Kentish, Big Dave, i believe, use to linger about in the early years n also helped the mussion,
Phil Wilfen, once again, from the early years, summat to do with lights or sound or roadie.
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MadameButterfly
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Sita wrote:I don't know, but always assumed it was The Man himself. The booklet liner notes don't mention any musicians, while Herr Eldritch does take the time, for example, to credit a dozen names from the New York Choral society.
So to me the only logical conclusion seems that Floodland is an effing one-man masterpiece :notworthy:
Indeed it is!
copper wrote:The way he puts it is that he resampled a pre-existing track for 1959, because he can't play the piano as an instrument. Ditto for NWO as a sax track.

Clearly, buying a sampler and merely recycling chunks of other people's master tapes is not going to win you a lot of brownie points on Eldritch Boulevard, however fashionable it may be.

On the other hand, it's nice that I can write a piano song like "1959" or a saxophone track like "New World Order" without being able to play the actual instruments involved, and without having to let a session player get in the way of things.
and
copper wrote:The legendary Andrew Eldritch composition New World Order, described by the man himself as "a saxophone solo which takes ten minutes to convey one mixed emotion, and not sequentially either. It's one of the best things I've ever written" (UTR 14).

Chris Sampson maintains it was played on the PA in the Summer tour in 1998.

New World Order was played at Gelsenkirchen, these days complete with spoken (actually more like a hiss) word vocal. What no-one's noticed is that the outro music that night appeared to be a ultra-rough demo of War on Drugs complete with screaming Varjak guitar feedback. Anyone else hear this?
Ta for that info! The New World Order stuff at first read seems to ring a bell, I'll check the books I have, but I'm sure a bell is faintly ringing in my memory.
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Sita
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Thanks stufarq!!! :notworthy:
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theparadox2010 wrote:Ann Rainone, is one Particia Morrison, so I was told a few years ago,
Daniel Mass, Danny from Salvation,
Dave Kentish, Big Dave, i believe, use to linger about in the early years n also helped the mussion,
Phil Wilfen, once again, from the early years, summat to do with lights or sound or roadie.
Thought a couple of those names sounded vaguely familiar.
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The master...Les Dawson.

A MASSIVE easter egg to anyone who comes up with a 'Les does piano' version of the piano track. It'd be a suitable tribute to all the s**t sisters cover versions out there.

C'mon, you know you can do it.
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Gripper wrote:The master...Les Dawson.

A MASSIVE easter egg to anyone who comes up with a 'Les does piano' version of the piano track. It'd be a suitable tribute to all the s**t sisters cover versions out there.

C'mon, you know you can do it.
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stufarq wrote:
Couldn't pin down Tony K, Ann Rainone, Phil Wilfen, Steve Watson, Dave Kentish, Daniel Mass, Keith Herd, Carl Harrison, Pedro Moncada or Derick Johnson. However, there's a Derrick Johnson who played bass with the 52nd Street Band.
I seem to remember Carl Harrison being a member of one of James Ray's bands. (Gangwar or Performance)
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You're right. Carl Harrison was a member of James Ray And The Performance ... see Band/Recording Personel...

http://sisterswiki.org/Mexico_Sundown_Blues
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stufarq
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Jeremiah wrote: I seem to remember Carl Harrison being a member of one of James Ray's bands. (Gangwar or Performance)
Another name I thought I should recognise but couldn't place. Kept thinking I must have been confusing him with Carl McCoy.

Anyway, what's the consensus? Do we have the Floodland band?
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very interesting... good detective work, team 8)
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I seem to remember an interview where Eldo said he programmed the Doktor to do it.
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