Book: Waiting For Another War

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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bismarck
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PV wrote: 01 Nov 2020, 00:33 my first post here in 15 years as a member is to congratulate Trevor

you really created something beautiful

back to incognito until 2035...
Many thanks, honored.
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bismarck
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Could everyone reading this whose packages are still in transit please email me at trevor (at) gkwfilmworks.com?

I've sent a lot of books after the first rush and they all seem to be arriving quickly. At this point I would like to run the trackers to see if all or some parcels from one particular mail drop have been delayed for some reason, and the best way for me to do that is to search through PayPal.

So please drop me a note and let me know the email address you used for PayPal payment. I will try to get some clarity on it. Thank you.
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Nyth Grandbeard
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Been reading this book, and i'm absolutely loving every bit of it so far but one thing that had me confused is that the author makes it seem like Marx, and Eldritch came up with the graphic design for their singles era stuff. IIRC didn't they commission a local graphic designer in Leeds to do the work? Think I read that on the Sisters 1980-1985 FB group.
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i believe the newer 90s version of the MR head was a commission:

andrea white
https://www.discogs.com/artist/2294383-Andrea-White

but am pretty sure the original was just them

gary once told me a story of a young andrew sitting in leeds library for hours, pouring over books of typosets, playing with letraset, and piecing together ideas to create the band's original branding (apparently he once suggested a very pointy, heavy germanic typeface but gary rejected the idea instantly).

he doesnt explicitly say (from what i recall) that eldritch got the head and added a star himself, but it's strongly alluded to because of the level of creative direction and responsibility andrew had over everything else.
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Just finished this and it was a brilliant read :notworthy:
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OLDFART wrote: 21 Nov 2020, 20:20 Just finished this and it was a brilliant read :notworthy:
:D Thank you.
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bismarck
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I am pleased to announce the Waiting For Another War is available from a few different websites.

In the US, you can order it from Rough Trade here https://www.roughtrade.com/us/trevor-ri ... FchN79qEO8.

For free US shipping, please use the Topos Bookstore and Café, a great community bookstore in Queens, here: https://www.toposbookstore.com/product/ ... r1IbPEbwxI

In the UK you can order it from Rough Trade here: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/trevor-ri ... -1-1980-85. There it is in pre-order, but I have delivered the books Rough Trade's NYC location and they will be shipped to London on the next pallet.

Of course anyone in New York or London can also walk into any of the above stores and buy the book also.

Great Christmas gift.

A big thank you to everyone who has ordered a copy already.

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Thanks for the Refund Trevor. I guess my Parcel and the other 6 (or 7) are lost in New York.

Rough Trade UK it shall have to be.....
Wyrd bið ful aræd...

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Hello all,

I've put up an "ABOUT" page on the website to collect the few interviews and reviews of the book so far. You can visit it here:

https://www.gkwfilmworks.com/sisters-about

It also has a direct mp3 stream of a radio interview I did recently for anyone who cares to listen. No searching, no login, just hit play. When I listened to it I was reminded of my friend Steve's comment about me: I speak like a New Yorker, an opinion about everything, delivered at 100 miles an hour. It was fun to do.

I'm also pleased to report that all of the books lost to the UK in the autumn have been replaced... and arrived (except the ones re-ordered through Rough Trade, which I hope will also arrive soon).

On that subject I would love a note from any Rough Trade buyer, in this thread or directly to me, letting me know when your book has actually landed on your doorstep.

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Recieved my copy from Rough Trade today.. :D
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Finished reading the other night, excellent book! Learned a lot of things I didn't know before, and can't wait for the next one to cover the Gift/Floodland Era! I'm stoked, but take your time and relax you deserve it :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:
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bismarck
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Thank you guys.
sistersvisions wrote: 30 Dec 2020, 20:23 Recieved my copy from Rough Trade today.. :D
Nyth Grandbeard wrote: 31 Dec 2020, 05:42 Finished reading the other night, excellent book! Learned a lot of things I didn't know before, and can't wait for the next one to cover the Gift/Floodland Era!
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Wanted to say thank you. I have received my copy in Singapore. And looking forward to a few hours to chill out.
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:notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

Thank you for providing us with this wonderful piece of Art, Trevor. My copy from Rough Trade arrived this morning (i've had neither sight nor sound of our local Postie since the 23rd December) and I plan to start Reading it ASAP. Brother Lee advised me that he received his "Surprise" 50th Birthday Present on the 30th December and was over the Moon to have received a copy.

Will that missing Package that USPS still appear to have sat in "Jamaica" since 10th October ever materialise.... :?
Wyrd bið ful aræd...

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bismarck
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Many thanks Simon.

And thank you and the others in the "lost books club" for your supreme patience.
Big Si wrote: 05 Jan 2021, 20:47 :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

Thank you for providing us with this wonderful piece of Art, Trevor. My copy from Rough Trade arrived this morning...
I was included in No More Workhorse's year-end round-up:

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2021/01/06/ ... ow-author/

While not strictly Sisters related, you can still watch the embedded Lucretia video if you need your fix.
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I have just this minute finished this fabulous book which is as outstanding for being the labour of love that it obviously is as it is for being -at the minute- the only published book available that deals exclusively with Our Favourite Beat Combo. Kudos Treveor; loved every minute of it. :von: :notworthy:

& special thanks to my Brother, Big Si for kindly marking the occasion of my reaching my half century by gifting me a copy for my 50th :kiss: :notworthy:

Come on Mark -where's "paint my name..."? :P
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Incoming, Lee. Incoming ... the wheels of publishing are turning.
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Finally finished this. After weeks (months) of a couple of pages a night (can’t keep my eyes open any more). Mostly loved it. The early pages filled in so many blank areas for me that I missed out on ‘in real time’. Discovering The Sisters post-FALAA and then digging in to the back catalogue I didn’t really get to experience the rise before the fall. So it was such a great read to get into the history. I really hope for a volume 2, as post-Floodland I left our green shores and lost touch with gothic empires and was distracted by techno bleepy bloops. In fact Vision Thing came and went without so much as an acknowledgement. So there’s another vast void for WFAW2 to fill.

If I have one critique it’s that all the factual historical data pieced together to tell a linear story was so wonderfully created, but there were odd areas of subjective opinion I could have done without. The whole chapter on the recording of FALAA I don’t think I agreeed with one word. It was quite a disappointing end to the book for me. After so much objective fact, to dump a bunch of subjective opinion, just left me a bit cold is all. As @EWMK once said
”i mean, do they think ANYONE gives the tiniest f**k what their "opinion" is? answers on a brick to...”
Anyhow, it won’t stop my buying a volume 2 if it ever gets made. I learned so much from this I look forward to keeping that going

Anyhow. Minor complaint
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote: 14 Jan 2021, 03:10 I have just this minute finished this fabulous book which is as outstanding for being the labour of love that it obviously is as it is for being -at the minute- the only published book available that deals exclusively with Our Favourite Beat Combo. Kudos Treveor; loved every minute of it. :von: :notworthy:
Thank you both for reading and posting. Much appreciated. Vol. II is underway.
DJElectricDaddy wrote: 04 Feb 2021, 07:52The whole chapter on the recording of FALAA I don’t think I agreed with one word.
Do you mean the book's criticisms of the album's production in the recording chapter? Or do you mean the lyric analysis chapter? Just curious. I've been slightly disappointed that no one's opened a discussion of the lyric analysis yet so please feel free.
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I was really amazed at the lyric analysis and felt you made a lot of sense there. I loved the whole book from the first to the last page and especially the lyric analysis! Sometimes I had come to the same interpretations and sometimes I was just confused by certain lyrics. For example I had not really figured out the meaning of Body and Soul. Also I stupidly never considered Nine While Nine being written from the perspective of Claire.
When you made the connection to some of the events in the book it all seemed to make much sense and I believe very much of your interpretations is what Andrew actually meant to say.
I can say your book gave me lots of new insight and I can‘t wait for Volume 2.
Thank you very much for Volume 1!

By the way I also really enjoyed the radio interview you recently did. It all sort of revives the old times to me.
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bismarck wrote: 07 Feb 2021, 16:51
Much appreciated. Vol. II is underway.
DJElectricDaddy wrote: 04 Feb 2021, 07:52The whole chapter on the recording of FALAA I don’t think I agreed with one word.
Do you mean the book's criticisms of the album's production in the recording chapter? Or do you mean the lyric analysis chapter? Just curious. I've been slightly disappointed that no one's opened a discussion of the lyric analysis yet so please feel free.
Actually both to a certain degree. There are pages throughout the book that drop in random bits of lyric analysis that felt like a juxtaposed to the objective factual reportage. The critique of the production of FALAA was definitely my least favourite part. Here’s why, and bare in mind I don’t have the book in front of me to quote directly, just remembering from a couple weeks ago when I finished that chapter:

When stating the album was poorly recorded you don’t say why or how. To me, it’s perfectly recorded. But then I discovered the back catalog - that you may argue were better produced - after I had heard FALAA so it was always the benchmark for me. The book never explains WHY the production was so poor; are the lower mids of the bass muddy, is the kick flabby and needing definition, were the guitars too shrill and cutting through too much, or vice verse, were the vocals buried in the mix, was the final master lacking in punch in the lows and sparkle in the highs? Not expecting a dissertation on audio production but musical ‘quality’ is such a subjective area it has to be qualified with something.

As for lyric analysis....well I find the whole endeavor a bit of a laugh. Trying to get inside the poets head to understand the meaning is all a bit earnest for me. Maybe I’m shallow and just enjoy things for what they are. As a songwriter I know sometimes you just have to put a line or a word in to keep the cadence or rhyming pattern going, sometimes you’re just evoking an overall feeling rather than being specific. So to reverse engineer a song is kinda futile in my eyes. Not to say I haven’t read every lyric discussion thread here on HL and enjoyed it for what it is, healthy discussion among fans. It just felt out of place in a book covering the history of the band.

Sorry. Really happy to hear Vol II is under way though and will definitely support the project unequivocally
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DJElectricDaddy wrote: 04 Feb 2021, 07:52Trying to get inside the poets head to understand the meaning is all a bit earnest for me. Maybe I’m shallow just enjoy things for what they are.
Yes, I can definitely see how those sections might not appeal to you then.
DJElectricDaddy wrote: 07 Feb 2021, 20:47Really happy to hear Vol II is under way though and will definitely support the project unequivocally
Many thanks!
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Icon wrote: 07 Feb 2021, 17:19 I was really amazed at the lyric analysis and felt you made a lot of sense there. I loved the whole book from the first to the last page and especially the lyric analysis!
Thank you very much.
Icon wrote: 07 Feb 2021, 17:19 By the way I also really enjoyed the radio interview you recently did. It all sort of revives the old times to me.
Great. That was (part of) the point!
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I thought the lyrical analysis was quite compelling, actually. It was one of my favorite elements of the book.
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sultan2075 wrote: 10 Feb 2021, 03:27 I thought the lyrical analysis was quite compelling, actually. It was one of my favorite elements of the book.
Thank you, I appreciate your comment!
The great questions of the day will not be
resolved by speeches and majority decisions,
but by iron and blood.
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