Least favourite sisters songs

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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pearson
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something fast
you could be the one
temple of love 1983
arms (the worst of the new )
first & last & always (studio version)
emma (studio version )
body electric (slow version 2001...nobody needs this)
alice 1993 (why?)
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pearson wrote:alice 1993 (why?)
that insanely menacing bassline, that's why.
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Yggdrasil
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote:how can you not like Untitled? one of the most atmospheric, moving pieces of music ever. and basically Dominion slowed down with no vocals. Ozymandias is just annoying though i'll give you that.
I just felt Von's approach to B-sides at this point was beyond lazy (though I really love the version of Emma), and stuff like Untitled (he couldn't even be bothered to give it a title!) Sandstorm and Ozymandias are just cheap filler because he couldn't be bothered ("let's just slow this thing down, there we go, another song, another dollar! Wait - let's slap Long Train on the next one - done! Let's go grab a well-earned drink!")
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Long Train - because it's the quintessential filler. i'd rather listen to the original on repeat.
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Arms - because I prefer Killing Joke original riff.

Still - it's jus boring song.

Far Parade - bacause John Cage's " 4'33" " i lot more better.
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Anything post '85... except for Ribbons and Vision thing
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Yggdrasil wrote:
eastmidswhizzkid wrote:how can you not like Untitled? one of the most atmospheric, moving pieces of music ever. and basically Dominion slowed down with no vocals. Ozymandias is just annoying though i'll give you that.
I just felt Von's approach to B-sides at this point was beyond lazy (though I really love the version of Emma), and stuff like Untitled (he couldn't even be bothered to give it a title!) Sandstorm and Ozymandias are just cheap filler because he couldn't be bothered ("let's just slow this thing down, there we go, another song, another dollar! Wait - let's slap Long Train on the next one - done! Let's go grab a well-earned drink!")
Totally agree with you- the only original B side is YCBTO :D
-Torch: originally planned for Left on m*****n and Revenge
-Colours: originally on Gift
-Untitled/Sandstorm/Ozymandias: see above
-Emma: studio recording of a song played live for years. But great!
-Long Train : from the Walk Away flexi disc gimmick
-Live bootlegs on Doctor Jeep: well, I suppose only AE could have such an idea...
-The Hamburg live recordings: though nothing original we still have to thank :von: for this rare official live footage :notworthy:
-The TOL 92 B-sides: suppose his laziness reached new heights here, on level with that artpiece of video for the a-side...and even the a-side itself was no original ;D
-Alice 93: also no original. But I love it :D
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eastmidswhizzkid
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i like torch. and yes colours is on gift but if the sisterhood thing hadnt been necessary the best ideas from it would've surfaced as b-sides or whatever anyway. any disappointment people felt over the dominion b-sides must surely have been more than balanced by a studio recording of Emma? long train sucks full-stop. i'm pretty certain it only came about so they could use the phrase "ampheta-mix" in the first place.
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ruffers
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Yggdrasil wrote:
eastmidswhizzkid wrote:how can you not like Untitled? one of the most atmospheric, moving pieces of music ever. and basically Dominion slowed down with no vocals. Ozymandias is just annoying though i'll give you that.
I just felt Von's approach to B-sides at this point was beyond lazy (though I really love the version of Emma), and stuff like Untitled (he couldn't even be bothered to give it a title!) Sandstorm and Ozymandias are just cheap filler because he couldn't be bothered ("let's just slow this thing down, there we go, another song, another dollar! Wait - let's slap Long Train on the next one - done! Let's go grab a well-earned drink!")
General agree here. And this was the time when there was money to spend / invest on proper production. Maybe the well just ran dry...
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eastmidswhizzkid
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ok - i'll put it another way: i got into the sisters 3 weeks before the release of No Time To Cry which passed me by as an event. so after that every time the sisters released a record was a thing of joy and i was never once disappointed. compare that to now and i think being grateful for small mercies about covers it. :innocent: :von:
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!"

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radioactive kid
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More
This corrosion
YCBTO
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mh
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radioactive kid wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 08:47 YCBTO
Image
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:lol: :notworthy:
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:lol: :lol: :lol:
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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Anything which mentions Loserpool in the lyrics
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paint it black wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 15:30 Anything which mentions Loserpool in the lyrics
You mean that north in the Eyes of Caligula? :bat:
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eastmidswhizzkid
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paint it black wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 15:30 Anything which mentions Loserpool in the lyrics
the sisters of mersey
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:
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ruffers
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 19:53
paint it black wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 15:30 Anything which mentions Loserpool in the lyrics
the sisters of mersey
Nice work.
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 19:53
paint it black wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 15:30 Anything which mentions Loserpool in the lyrics
the sisters of mersey
The Trevor Howard head years 😂
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote: 24 Apr 2022, 19:53 the sisters of mersey
...was what folk called Rosetta Stone.

Or at least was what Rosetta Stone wanted folk to call 'em :lol:
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eastmidswhizzkid
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:lol:
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:
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alanm
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old thread but I'll bite

Damage and Watch - we don't really talk about these I guess

Wide Receiver - unreleased and rightly so

Body Electric, Floorshow, 1969, Train. I think I'm just too far removed from the 70's and 80's post punk scene for these ones to push my buttons. Thanks to Spotify I can go and listen to their influences from the same time and place so I can see where they're coming from, but it's just not my thing.

Phantom is bad, sorry Gary I'm glad you're proud of it anyway.

Fix is pretty daft. But the various live versions are much better especially due to their lack of falsetto.

Afterhours is an interesting sonic experience but not a very good song.

Body and Soul is dreary. But again various live versions have been a lot better. There's a ghost of a good heavy metal song in there, desperate to come out. Too bad Von was deep in his Fleetwood Mac phase when they recorded it.

Bury Me Deep has very few redeeming features.

Ozymandias/Sandstorm/Untitled are really just phoning it in.

Doctor Jeep. I want to like it but I just can't.

Of the Pearson-era stuff I don't care that much for Romeo Down and War On Drugs.
Too early to talk about the recent wave of things, although I will opine that Instrumental86 is a much better effort that Top Nite Out.
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I think Arms is the weakest song in the entire catalogue.
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You ready for some hot takes, cause boy do I got them. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Singles Era -
Watch: It feels a little unfair to criticize this song since this was before they really found themselves, but the fact that the song feels so off time makes it a bit harder to revisit, and isn't as catchy as Damage Done in my most humble of opinions.

Phantom: Just a diet version of Floorshow that doesn't really go anywhere creatively, and feels more like just a random snippet of a jam session.

Home of the Hit-men: This song is actually pretty dang good, and reminds me a lot of a song by the late Snakefinger from vocal delivery, and instrumentation. But this song is just too dang short! It really could've been expanded upon.

FALAA Era -
Bury Me Deep: it's the only song I really don't care for in this period. The song just kinda goes nowhere in my opinion, and just feels very repetitive in a not good way. I like Eldritch's macabre ethereal vocal delivery in this song but that's all the nice stuff I have to say about it.

SISTERHOOD Era -
Finland Red, Egypt White: Feels pretty uninspired, and I mean sure the rest of GIFT was a rush job but the rest of the songs at least felt unique and catchy to me. Even as repetitive as Jihad was I feel like you could at least dance to it.

Floodland Era -
1959: this song feels like the lowest point of the whole album imo. The rest of Floodland is this chaotic proto-industrial gothic hellscape that Von takes us through like a musical Charon on a post-apocalyptic River Styx. It just comes off, to me, as super sappy, and overly sentimental, but without the same genuine heart that went into something like Nine while Nine or Some Kind of Stranger.

Flood II: Certainly not the worst song on the album, but it just doesn't carry the same energy as the song after it, and it's first counterpart Flood I. I'll listen to it on occasion but it just has a weird placement on the album and to me it feels more like a B-side than a proper song. Perhaps it could've been exchanged for a spruced up version of Giving Ground, or Rain From Heaven.

Torch: This song to me just feels super cheesy, not as much as 1959, and maybe it would've been better to swap the two out as the lull in Foodland, but ultimately it is pretty forgetful.

Untitled: It's just slowed down Dominion so it's a pretty filler track. With that said it's companion piece Sandstorm is pretty good and I wish it was actually the intro to Dominion like in the music video.

Long Train: It is certainly Train, but longer. Train itself is a banger of a track, and full of so much energy but this rendition just kinda overstays it's welcome.

Vision Thing Era -
I Was Wrong: This is basically the 1959 of Vision Thing, and I do not care for it for the same reasons.

You Could Be the One: No you most certainly can not. This song is just butt rock of the 90s and it doesn't hold up at all.

The Final Recording Era -
Alice 1993: Just doesn't have the same energy as the original, and kinda overblows the whole thing which is the opposite of how I feel about Temple of Love 1992. It's still a decent song at it's core because Alice is a classic but it just kinda feels like a middling cover of the original, and doesn't bring anything new to the table.

Live Era -
I Have Slept With All The Girls In Berlin: Weird flex, but okay. Jokes aside, it just feel a little generic for my liking, and the lyrics don't feel especially inspired.
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