The Quietus podcast reappraising 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.
Post Reply
User avatar
Pista
Cureboi
Posts: 17627
Joined: 25 Jun 2006, 15:03
Location: Lost In A Forest
Contact:



They used the wrong TSOM twitter handle though
Cheers.
Steve
Just like the old days

TheCureCommunity
User avatar
zaltys7
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 382
Joined: 13 Jun 2003, 15:26

And I have to pay to listen to this? :urff:
"We have too many cellphones. We've got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now." - Ray Bradbury.
User avatar
czuczu
Overbomber
Posts: 2191
Joined: 24 Oct 2005, 14:11
Location: UK

zaltys7 wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 21:00 And I have to pay to listen to this? :urff:
It's OK, you don't have to ;)
User avatar
Big Si
School Bully
Posts: 6747
Joined: 19 Nov 2002, 00:00
Location: Glesga Central

zaltys7 wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 21:00 And I have to pay to listen to this? :urff:
It's the latest Monthly Podcast for Subscribers (me!) who are helping to keep them afloat....
Wyrd bið ful aræd...

mybelgiannemesis
MAndrews
Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 170
Joined: 06 Oct 2015, 20:15
Location: Belgium

I write for them very occasionally and was offered a free subscription, but paid anyway. The Quietus are well worth supporting with money. No tQ articles, no Paint My Name In Black and Gold ... so I'm personally grateful.

Have listened to half the podcast so far. Plenty to annoy and fascinate, mainly the latter ...
User avatar
zaltys7
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 382
Joined: 13 Jun 2003, 15:26

Big Si wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 21:30
zaltys7 wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 21:00 And I have to pay to listen to this? :urff:
It's the latest Monthly Podcast for Subscribers (me!) who are helping to keep them afloat....
I would love to keep them afloat but I was furloughed for nearly five months, when every things back on track I'll throw money at em :lol:

Can I listen to this legitimately for free then or should I wait until I can afford to help these people out?
"We have too many cellphones. We've got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now." - Ray Bradbury.
User avatar
Big Si
School Bully
Posts: 6747
Joined: 19 Nov 2002, 00:00
Location: Glesga Central

zaltys7 wrote: 02 Oct 2020, 15:51
Big Si wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 21:30
zaltys7 wrote: 01 Oct 2020, 21:00 And I have to pay to listen to this? :urff:
It's the latest Monthly Podcast for Subscribers (me!) who are helping to keep them afloat....
I would love to keep them afloat but I was furloughed for nearly five months, when every things back on track I'll throw money at em :lol:

Can I listen to this legitimately for free then or should I wait until I can afford to help these people out?
There's probably a leaked copy around somewhere :innocent:
Wyrd bið ful aræd...

mybelgiannemesis
User avatar
zaltys7
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 382
Joined: 13 Jun 2003, 15:26

Thanks Big Si!
"We have too many cellphones. We've got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now." - Ray Bradbury.
User avatar
Quiff Boy
Herr Administrator
Posts: 16794
Joined: 25 Jan 2002, 00:00
Location: Lurking and fixing
Contact:

Ha. Thanks @Big Si
What’s the difference between a buffalo and a bison?
User avatar
Icon
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 280
Joined: 20 Mar 2019, 14:10
Location: Germany

Yes, thank you so much, Big Si! :kiss:
User avatar
TheGoodSon
Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 181
Joined: 07 Aug 2005, 21:15
Location: A small planet near Betelgeuse. Namely Sweden.

Really enjoyed - and agreed with - the discussion regarding Vons current attitude towards recording new material.
Makes me wonder if we will ever find out exactly when and why he stopped caring.
The dominant need of the needy soul is to be needed.
User avatar
OLDFART
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 709
Joined: 10 Aug 2020, 21:55
Location: The Cursed Earth

That was a very good listen , thanks Big Si :D
User avatar
maggieloveshopey
Road Kill
Posts: 66
Joined: 06 May 2007, 06:12
Location: brizzle
Contact:

thanks Big Si, that's tomorrow's commute sorted
User avatar
eastmidswhizzkid
Faster Than The Light Of Speed
Posts: 9876
Joined: 24 Mar 2005, 00:01
Location: WhizzWorld
Contact:

nice one brother Si! :notworthy:
Well I was handsome and I was strong
And I knew the words to every song.
"Did my singing please you?"
"No! The words you sang were wrong!"

:bat:
User avatar
Quiff Boy
Herr Administrator
Posts: 16794
Joined: 25 Jan 2002, 00:00
Location: Lurking and fixing
Contact:

That's a pretty good listen.

Some interesting analysis of Eldritch's motivations and attitudinal shift over time.

I don't know if I agree with all of it (actually I know I don't) but it does have some very interesting content and some new ideas and perspectives.
What’s the difference between a buffalo and a bison?
User avatar
bangles
Gonzoid Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 492
Joined: 16 Oct 2006, 10:05
Location: in the garden... growing potatos by the score

Thanks Big Si for the link!
That was a very enjoyable hours listen. Some great points - I'd never previously considered in quite those terms how, as a youth, a particular record can help define and almost justify both your existance and ambition.
I also found the points about Eldritchs supposed failure of nerve, be it true or not, quite moving.
I'd bought the offical party line whybother releasing records when you get the new stuff live anyway but i'm not so sure now.
Was there a crises of confidence somewhere? Or an unwillingness to accept the diminishing returns the majority of his peers get from the album tour threadmill? Of all his 80's peers, it seems only Nick Cave managed to grow beyond the narrow niche which is funny - in the podcast they discuss how Floodland reached beyond the confines of goth to mainstream appeal which Nick probably only managed with Murder Ballads, so why couldn't/wouldn't The Sisters expand their fan base?
Asperum Aestimate Fimi Aliquid Hodie
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15271
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

That was lovely to listen to ... :) ... thanks for the link Big Si.
Some good decriptions there of what effect the songs of The Sisters have had ... and of that unique something within them... :) ...
Shall listen to it again, for as a non-English listener it's not all that easy for me to follow track for so long for without missing a part... :) ...
therefore there's even more thanks due to Big Si for making this available... :notworthy: :) ...

@bangles
IMHO, they did expand their fanbase with the release of Vision Thing, but then there was the lull in American festival business, a tour ending
prematurely in 1991, a music press and a complaining fanbase steadily calling up an image far to limited and rather off mark, a band line-up
falling apart unable to create a perspective, and just no perceivable hint at how to get on, or why and where to. Only the same old absence
and lack. So what for? What for? Yeah, one can always do it once again and again, and again. Just so and without much of a reason, but it
doesn't mean a thing. It just means nothing. And nothing changes and there is no change beyond the moment. No real touch. So what. It's
been a labour of will, and also thanks to all those around who have kept to it too, that they still exist at all. But now, I think, all ways are open ...
despite and because that zombie apocalypse surge ... :) ... it only takes determination.
User avatar
Swinnow
Overbomber
Posts: 3551
Joined: 15 Mar 2005, 08:51
Location: In the Gazebo Of Badness, just outside BD3

Vision Thing hit the record stores as musical tastes in the UK and beyond were taking a huge left turn. To my ears it was Von's attempt to grab the American dollar with a hair metal/rawk pastiche. However, here we went baggie and the Yanks went grunge and the album flopped into the chasm between. I think I've played the CD end-to-end twice and that was probably once too many imho.

The whole experience probably hastened his retreat into semi-retirement.
....if I have to explain, then you'll never understand....
User avatar
Being645
Wiki Wizard
Posts: 15271
Joined: 09 Apr 2009, 12:54
Location: reconstruction status: whatever the f**k

Swinnow wrote: 16 Oct 2020, 17:33 Vision Thing hit the record stores as musical tastes in the UK and beyond were taking a huge left turn. To my ears it was Von's attempt to grab the American dollar with a hair metal/rawk pastiche. However, here we went baggie and the Yanks went grunge and the album flopped into the chasm between. I think I've played the CD end-to-end twice and that was probably once too many imho.

The whole experience probably hastened his retreat into semi-retirement.
... oh well, perception is a many, many splintered thing ...
User avatar
OLDFART
Utterly Bastard Groovy Amphetamine Filth
Posts: 709
Joined: 10 Aug 2020, 21:55
Location: The Cursed Earth

Vision Thing was the first Sisters album i bought and I still love it , then again I like metal and rawk ...
User avatar
Big Si
School Bully
Posts: 6747
Joined: 19 Nov 2002, 00:00
Location: Glesga Central

Glad you all enjoyed the Link :D

Further to what's been mentioned in the posts above, the Deal with WEA/East-West over SGWBM/ASCOOB and SSV provided him with a Pension Fund and meant that he was no longer tied to a Record Company and a Contract. Other than the Financial Reward (Ticket and Merchandise Sales) and "the Fun" of Touring across Europe every now and then, he has no obligation that requires him to Record and Release any more Music. I think we all agree that he still loves writing and collaborating with Band Members but that's as far as we're ever going to see him as a Recording Artist :von:
Wyrd bið ful aræd...

mybelgiannemesis
abridged
Slight Overbomber
Posts: 1431
Joined: 08 Sep 2008, 10:27
Location: Derry
Contact:

Swinnow wrote: 16 Oct 2020, 17:33 Vision Thing hit the record stores as musical tastes in the UK and beyond were taking a huge left turn. To my ears it was Von's attempt to grab the American dollar with a hair metal/rawk pastiche. However, here we went baggie and the Yanks went grunge and the album flopped into the chasm between. I think I've played the CD end-to-end twice and that was probably once too many imho.

The whole experience probably hastened his retreat into semi-retirement.
Each to their own of course but Vision Thing I think is still the most mature Sisters album. It's noticeable that :von: plays more from it live than the others so I suspect he thinks so too. I'm not saying I don't like the others, they're great of course. I'm saying that VT could have been written yesterday and the song itself sums up the world perfectly today. Saying that I managed to get an early listen to the album before release back in the day and was a bit shocked at the turn taken. I think why it's frowned upon is because it's distinctly not goth. That's ok with me though.
The Chancer Corporation
GC
Slight Overbomber
Posts: 1265
Joined: 27 Dec 2005, 22:05

Swinnow wrote: 16 Oct 2020, 17:33 Vision Thing hit the record stores as musical tastes in the UK and beyond were taking a huge left turn. To my ears it was Von's attempt to grab the American dollar with a hair metal/rawk pastiche. However, here we went baggie and the Yanks went grunge and the album flopped into the chasm between. I think I've played the CD end-to-end twice and that was probably once too many imho.

The whole experience probably hastened his retreat into semi-retirement.
I think you're right in that he was definetely aiming for the stadium market. He mentioned this many a time.... rawk was probably the way to go. I think however that they made (or probably accidentally made) a very good album with VIsion Thing. It was very unexpected...which probably lost a lot of goth (sorry) fanbase but gained very little new fans.

The bigger tours that followed were probably thanks to Floodland more than VT seeing that they never toured with the former.
Post Reply