Best Sisters guitarists

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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markreed
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1. Catalyst / Christo - this lineup have done some amazing shows
2. Bruhn / Bricheno - NEC '92 alone stands as one of the girls live high points
3. Pearson - he may have been a grumpy bugger, but I loved his work.
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10-E Rabid
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Me!!!!! Although no-one knows it yet. ;D No seriously, Hussey. Sorry but even though i don't like the guy I still think he's a great guitar man.
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il duce
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Chris looks and sounds the best.
Marx wrote the best songs and Adam had the coolest guitar.

And remember whatever you think about Ben/Chris they did breath life into something that was practically dead.
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itnAklipse
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i'd say Ben Gunn. Don't know why exactly. But still, there it is.
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euphoria
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The Varjak years were certainly the most creative after the Sisters stopped releasing records in the beginning of the 90's.

I don't know if "breathe new life" into the Sisters necessarily must mean to jump up and down a lot on stage, laughing and waving your hair when you play. I want to hear new songs being played, composed by the current band members, that's all really. (the lack of newly composed songs can of course depend on someone else...)

Nothing personal, both Ben and Chris are above-average nice and friendly guys. But they replaced Pearson/Starling, which must be the stiffest pair of guitarists the Sisters ever had. I think the only comment I ever heard from Starling was "shut the f**k up".
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demolitionsisters
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That's gotta be it, definitely
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originalgoth
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Hussey / Marx for me Hands Down

Back in the day when they had a live bass player.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hYeYgNIntQ
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originalgoth
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ribbons69 wrote:
crash_and_burn wrote:I once saw Kirk Hammett wearing a Sisters shirt while playing live, so I am going with him.
I met James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet at Rock City in Nottingham the day after they played Donington Monsters of Rock in 1987.They were there as guests of a certain ex Sisters guitarist who's band were playing a fan club gig there that day...
Was that the Magical Mystical Day (can't remember the full name of it) Mi$$ION Fan Club Day (was a Sunday).

If that's what you're refering to Dave, I was there as well.

Great day, it's what got me into Goth in the first place, I got invited to it by a daughter of the supervisor where I worked.
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DasPerltAber
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euphoria wrote:The Varjak years were certainly the most creative after the Sisters stopped releasing records in the beginning of the 90's.

I don't know if "breathe new life" into the Sisters necessarily must mean to jump up and down a lot on stage, laughing and waving your hair when you play. I want to hear new songs being played, composed by the current band members, that's all really. (the lack of newly composed songs can of course depend on someone else...)

Nothing personal, both Ben and Chris are above-average nice and friendly guys. But they replaced Pearson/Starling, which must be the stiffest pair of guitarists the Sisters ever had. I think the only comment I ever heard from Starling was "shut the f**k up".
The Starling comment that topped it for me was: " can I take a pic of the inside of your underpants" after the Furth gig. ;-)
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Eldritch / Marx / Gunn / Adams. The two forementioned being the key ingredients, but the resulting combination made the band even more powerful. These guys wrote & recorded more and better songs than almost any other lineup. Huss' decent, but when it comes to significance, he can't hold a patch on Marx.

IMO, Marx's songwriting contributions are what holds FALAA together, as the main troubadour was back then coming apart from the seams. Huss songs are, again, decent, but its the Marx/Von interplay that keeps things going. While Von was the principle songwriter in the Reptile House era, Marx stepped up to the plate at a time of need and delivered.

Narrowing it down, Eldritch/Marx. The original Sisters.


The current band is enthusiastic, moreso than anything Whammy had offered at the second half of his tenure. But Ben still has to find ways to go places if he is to rival Marx. And that's a tall order, as for all his technical prowess, Whammy fell short on emotion.

The Vision Thing touring lineup was promising, but after Tony James, they sounded like the Wake band, missing what made them good at the get-go. Starling and Varjak would've been very interesting together, but both were shadowed - for better or for worse - by Whammy.

Chris is grand, btw, and Ben gets better each passing year. One can't complain too much.
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il duce
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Ben is great, BUT, drop the tanktop and there is NEVER, NEVER an excuse for a white stratocaster. NEVER.
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Karst
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Pearson/Varjak, just listen to the Even Horizon an To The Planet Edge tours
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melchy
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Hussey / Marx for me.

I think of Eldritch more for the synth/sampler "Doktor" side of things.
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White Strat = Ritchie Blackmore - not a bad place for a rock'n' roll guitarist to start methinks, think Deep Purple and early Rainbow...
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i prefer hussey, especially the final shows in 85 when marx already had left i like best.
cheers.
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James Blast
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Eyes-like-Ice wrote:i prefer hussey, especially the final shows in 85 when marx already had left i like best.
cheers.
he did a real man's job, so I'll forgive him for most things except 'Stay With Me', he deserves a guid stabbin' for that.
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The geezer in the poncho.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQV_8hhKZg
Give me one good reason
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The Fat One
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Spiggy's hat wrote:The geezer in the poncho.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dQV_8hhKZg

I gotta admit that I think the guitar playing on that is exemplary. He earned his onions for that one
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il duce
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"Obviously, we could put them out independently, but the question is, how to make them in a way that doesn't stop everybody getting on with paying their rent. ... We have thought about [iTunes/digital releases]. A lot of the newer songs that we play at the moment were co-written with somebody [Adam Pearson] who's no longer in the band, and is not very comfortable with the idea of that."

This alone takes Pearson off my list.

And then when it all comes down to it. It does not really matter who they have as a guitarist, as long as they do not have a bassplayer. For me Sisters has a lot more do to with the bassplayer then any guitarist.

I wish Von would use Chris better, Chris is a great bassist and really likes playing bass, how about using that on a couple of songs?
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Syberberg
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il duce wrote:"Obviously, we could put them out independently, but the question is, how to make them in a way that doesn't stop everybody getting on with paying their rent. ... We have thought about [iTunes/digital releases]. A lot of the newer songs that we play at the moment were co-written with somebody [Adam Pearson] who's no longer in the band, and is not very comfortable with the idea of that."

This alone takes Pearson off my list.
The following small rant isn't aimed at you il duce, just getting something off my chest....

That's strange, because when Adam was in the band Eldritch was constantly going on about how he (Eldritch) didn't want to release songs for download (via a record company/distributor) as they'd only get paid 1pence/cent per download in royalties. Then the excuse changes to it being an unnamed ex-member who was reluctant to release songs for download. How...convenient.

There is only one person preventing the release and recording of new Sisters material, because it doesn't fit into his current business model, mainly because he sees The Sisters as vastly more profitable as a live unit selling merchandise than a recording and live and merchandising unit.

IMHO Adam was the last, full time, Sisters guitarist. Ben and Chris aren't, they have other commitments, which means that Eldritch has the perfect excuse not to record anything. That's not to take anything away from Ben and Chris.

Eldritch is perfectly capable of writing and recording new material all by himself (FLOODLAND), yet isn't doing so. He doesn't need anyone else to do the recording with.
I don't necessarily agree with everything I think.
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theparadox2010
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I liked all line ups, they suited the times that they where in the band.. Things change, times change too, maybe the new stuff has been recorded?? Maybe its sat on a shelf in Leeds awaiting the correct time, who knows? How many members have Hawkwind had?
I just wonder if people would pledge?
we're better than the birthday party, but not as good as motorhead, that makes us pretty damn good!!!!
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