Happy Birthday Vision Thing - the Album

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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Incoming!
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Favorite Song?

Mine is: Ribbons of course. :D

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Esoterica
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I like the song, “Dr. Jeep.”
And all the world changed when Daddy Oppie
got his “itty bitty A-bomb.”
Nothing’s been the same since.
Nor will it ever be.
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Incoming!
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Well they were actually already building it before he got there.
But he became the leader shortly after.
So everyone named him "Father of the A bomb".

This won't go over well, but I'm quite grateful for the Fat Man and Little Boy.
My father was on a troop transport from fighting in Germany preparing to invade Japan.
Fighting from house to house; person to person.
I wouldn't be here if not for those two weapons.
{comment to soon be deleted for controversy- but I had to post} :innocent:
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Incoming, you certainly have a point; but I’m thinking of the future and how the world was so fatefully changed at that time.
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I agree, Ribbons is my favourite, but the bootleg of Knockin on Heaven's Door on whatever reissue it was comes close
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Esoterica wrote: 22 Oct 2023, 19:14 Incoming, you certainly have a point; but I’m thinking of the future and how the world was so fatefully changed at that time.
I completely agree with you. Thinking of how many times the combatants have probably come close to using another terrifies me like it does most of the world.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I live, most believe in nuclear deterrence, and the high paying jobs are working in the Nuclear Deterrence Enterprise.
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VT is such a weird album. I love it, but it is weird.
The production borrows heavily from the hard rock bands of the era, but none of those bands made songs like these. Much of it is repetetive to the absurd. Stuff like Dr Jeep and Detonation Blvd aren’t even really songs, they are one riff repeated for five minutes, punctuated by some Maggie Reilly vocals. (The 8 minute version of Dr Jeep could easily be used in the Guantanamo torture program…)
And the guitars are so heavily sequenced, they sound so ”programmed” that they lose much of their intended rock feel.
But hey, I still love the album, in all its weird repetetive glory.
Favorite track? Ribbons, by a mile.
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FireInReptileHouse wrote: 22 Oct 2023, 19:27 I agree, Ribbons is my favourite, but the bootleg of Knockin on Heaven's Door on whatever reissue it was comes close
That was direct from uncle sister. Dr Jeep b-side I think
Goths have feelings too
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Everything apart from DB (which I never liked). Ribbons live is still one of the best things ever.
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Gave it a birthday 'spin' earlier (nothing spun, it was hi-res digital) seems like VT is still fresh, ribbons is the most Sisters song on it, When You Dont See Me is gargantuan & I Was Wrong the most pertinent to my own disastrous choices with women tempered with my enerring instinctive knowledge of when i am being played, YCBTO is of course the best song on the album as itn gets up peoples noses (even now i know there will be a post saying its not on the album...it is so live with it )
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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I listen to it much less than Floodland and FALAA, because there are so many songs there that I kind of admire without really liking. Ribbons is obviously wonderful (yes, especially in that live version, which is like the sound of ragnarok). I quite like I Was Wrong and Something Fast, and I seem to be in a minority in thinking More is great. The rest I can easily live without hearing again. What a missed opportunity.
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Again and again and again...
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It's interesting that while some kind of rough consensus exists for the other 2 LPs, everybody has their own opinion of VT and those opinions are often wildly at variance. I suspect Von might smile and say "mission accomplished".

Me, I like VT, Ribbons, Det Blvd, More and IWW these days; the rest I can happily live without, but I'll rank Dr Jeep as among the worst dross ever recorded. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. I love YCBTO, of course.
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MrChris wrote: 23 Oct 2023, 14:56 I listen to it much less than Floodland and FALAA, because there are so many songs there that I kind of admire without really liking. Ribbons is obviously wonderful (yes, especially in that live version, which is like the sound of ragnarok). I quite like I Was Wrong and Something Fast, and I seem to be in a minority in thinking More is great. The rest I can easily live without hearing again. What a missed opportunity.
More has great lyrics. its a real crowd pleaser which cant be a good thing as its just the MTV fans its pleasing.

for me though the album shou;ld be released with all the finished mixes as well as the s**t ones. :innocent:
Well I was handsome and I was strong
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"Did my singing please you?"
"No! The words you sang were wrong!"

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I love Vision Thing ... with Detonation Boulevard and particularly WYDSM the weaker tracks. YCBTO is of course a great song ... ;D ... Happy Birthday Vision Thing ... ;D ...
Last edited by Being645 on 23 Oct 2023, 18:16, edited 1 time in total.
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dont get me wrrong, when VT came out i was so Sisters starved it seemed llike a miracle. i didnt even know an album was coming out or being recorded or anything! hadnt seen or heard aabout More even. i walked into Ainsleys records on the way home from work (thats how long ago iut was- i had a job!) to find the whole shop was a massive Sisters display!!! needless to say i bought it there and then. happyhappyhappyme! :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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eastmidswhizzkid wrote: 23 Oct 2023, 14:52 Gave it a birthday 'spin' earlier (nothing spun, it was hi-res digital) seems like VT is still fresh, ribbons is the most Sisters song on it, When You Dont See Me is gargantuan & I Was Wrong the most pertinent to my own disastrous choices with women tempered with my enerring instinctive knowledge of when i am being played, YCBTO is of course the best song on the album as itn gets up peoples noses (even now i know there will be a post saying its not on the album...it is so live with it )
I was soooo excited to hear When You Don't See Me the second night in London. It's one of my favorites. And like yourself reflects my own love life.

NOTE: Don't judge. But the first Sisters Album I heard was Vision Thing. So I kind of have a little on the side love life with it. :D
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Something Fast.
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Incoming! wrote: 23 Oct 2023, 16:19
I was soooo excited to hear When You Don't See Me the second night in London. It's one of my favorites. And like yourself reflects my own love life.

NOTE: Don't judge. But the first Sisters Album I heard was Vision Thing. So I kind of have a little on the side love life with it. :D
i always love hearing WYDSM live. & Vision Thing. i get miffed when VT isn't played.
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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TheGoodSon wrote: 23 Oct 2023, 08:03 VT is such a weird album. I love it, but it is weird.
The production borrows heavily from the hard rock bands of the era, but none of those bands made songs like these. Much of it is repetetive to the absurd. Stuff like Dr Jeep and Detonation Blvd aren’t even really songs, they are one riff repeated for five minutes, punctuated by some Maggie Reilly vocals. (The 8 minute version of Dr Jeep could easily be used in the Guantanamo torture program…)
And the guitars are so heavily sequenced, they sound so ”programmed” that they lose much of their intended rock feel.
But hey, I still love the album, in all its weird repetetive glory.
Favorite track? Ribbons, by a mile.
I was into hard rock and metal when introduced to VT. So, your explanation probably explains why I gravitate towards it.
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"Incoming" is my messages alarm for decades now :)
Love that album, there is a special place in my heart for the songs of it :bat: :bat:
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Vision thing was thing was the first Sisters album I bought and I still love it . Also think the opening salvo of Vision thing and Ribbons is stunning :notworthy: .
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote: 23 Oct 2023, 15:21 More has great lyrics.
That's 80% the work of Jim Steinman (Von rewrote the second half of the last verse)
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OLDFART wrote: 24 Oct 2023, 07:47 Vision thing was thing was the first Sisters album I bought and I still love it . Also think the opening salvo of Vision thing and Ribbons is stunning :notworthy: .
Me too. After the first two songs I thought that this was the greatest album ever. It does kind of go down hill quite quickly after those two though IMO . I was Wrong does lift it a bit at the end.
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Vision Thing live in Mexico City just before the pandemic went off. D/MR in Vegas this year was pretty fun too, even beyond the entertaiment factor of just seeing him perform there of all places :D

For me, More has good bones, and excellent lyrics, but overall too bombastic and it shadowed what could have been a really strong track. IWW is infinitely better than SF. Ribbons is the perennial favourite for good reason, for me, one particular line hasn't dated so well imho but still love the song. And yes back in my dj days I'd yell INCOMING before dropping it :lol:

DJ just irritates me. WYDSM I like as a sleeper track, it's not trying to be something else. DB was kind of nothing until I visited Reno, now it's hard to not have the association when you saw the neon sign for the El Dorado from your room :lol:

YCBTO has some fun intentional satire/silly lyrical moments but the song itself isn't good at all
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^ nice first post, welcome to :hl:

Vision Thing, the album, rocks like a motherfkr, start to finish, even when it's being quiet. I still reckon an extended Doctor Jeep should be the last song of the live set, going off Ghostrideresque long after Von has bowed and is backstage on ciggie number two.
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