Heartland

despair wrote:I am not saying I want it to sound like Floodland, just that it has to be approx. as good to be worth making (IMO).

I fully understand your meaning. That's not what I implied.

despair wrote: There aren't really many other albums to compare with as they only released 3 albums,

Well, for me the crucial Sisters records are the singles before FALAA came out. That's more than an album's worth of music there. Not that I dislike Floodland, most of it is really great, but I still prefer Alice, Burn, Bury Me Deep, Temple Of Love and other tracks from the singles/EP:s. The early covers are great as well.

despair wrote: and Floodland is widely regarded as the masterpiece.

So I've gathered...

despair wrote:Floodland is widely regarded as the masterpiece.

Is it? It may have been the most commercially successful but don't most of the hardcore fans regard FALAA as the masterpiece? Or even the independent singles?

I don't have the slightest problem with you personally regarding it as their masterpiece and I love it too but I think that for most FALAA is the yardstick.

But ultimately, like Yggdrasil, I don't really think there should be a yardstick at all. Any new (and obviously entirely fictional) album should be its own beast not a shadow of one from twenty years ago.

stufarq wrote:

despair wrote:Floodland is widely regarded as the masterpiece.

don't most of the hardcore fans regard FALAA as the masterpiece? Or even the independent singles?

You probably know that better than me because I don't know any hardcore fans (except myself of course ), and I only lurked this forum briefly before signing up earlier this month.

In many ways the stuff they released 82-85 appeals most to me, but still the completeness of Floodland makes it the masterpiece in my book. I was under the impression that this was the general opinion as well, but I might be very wrong. It doesn't really matter; it's all really, really good music, and I am happy I can have it all.

I could say a lot about Floodland, but not in this thread... except Flood I is the best track ever

stufarq wrote:But ultimately, like Yggdrasil, I don't really think there should be a yardstick at all. Any new (and obviously entirely fictional) album should be its own beast not a shadow of one from twenty years ago.

The same goes for me:

despair wrote:I am not saying I want it to sound like Floodland, just that it has to be approx. as good to be worth making (IMO).

despair wrote:In many ways the stuff they released 82-85 appeals most to me, but still the completeness of Floodland makes it the masterpiece in my book.

Agreed

IMHO, songs like Crash & Burn, Summer and Suzanne give a pretty good indication of the direction Von pursued, what, ten years ago. The music's mostly in line with some of the Vision Thing material, way more guitar-oriented than Floodland. The presence of Doc makes it a tad more difficult to sell nowadays, as drum machines are in some ways, a bit of an 80's fad.

Would love to have Von team up with an ambient/electronica/industrial-oriented musician / producer, who could spruce up the drum sound and utilize it in some modern ways; to a role as prominent and recognizable as synths had in Floodland.

Just get out of the comfort zone, challenge yourself and try to push the envelope as far as the integrity of the vintage Sissies sound is concerned. And FALAA is and remains Von's strongest work lyrically, as far as I'm concerned.

Hard rock guitars and a re-invented Doc, with some Wordsmith lyrics. If they could be arsed with it, I'd be sure to check it, even out of curiosity alone.

copper wrote:IMHO, songs like Crash & Burn, Summer and Suzanne give a pretty good indication of the direction Von pursued, what, ten years ago.

So just record them and release them.

copper wrote: The music's mostly in line with some of the Vision Thing material, way more guitar-oriented than Floodland. The presence of Doc makes it a tad more difficult to sell nowadays, as drum machines are in some ways, a bit of an 80's fad.

I don't agree. Take Kraftwerk for example, they have their own sound, they never tried to change it and that's what makes it stand above trends. No one in their right mind would tell Kraftwerk to have more live sounding drums, just like no one would ever suggest that Motörhead use more keyboards. This could apply to the Sisters as well. The should keep going their own way without bothering about what other bands are up to. They nave have before and they shouldn't start now.

copper wrote: Would love to have Von team up with an ambient/electronica/industrial-oriented musician / producer, who could spruce up the drum sound and utilize it in some modern ways; to a role as prominent and recognizable as synths had in Floodland.

Just get out of the comfort zone, challenge yourself and try to push the envelope as far as the integrity of the vintage Sissies sound is concerned. And FALAA is and remains Von's strongest work lyrically, as far as I'm concerned.

Hard rock guitars and a re-invented Doc, with some Wordsmith lyrics. If they could be arsed with it, I'd be sure to check it, even out of curiosity alone.

Interesting ideas. Whatever AE does musically (if he ever does anything again), I'd be interested in hearing it. I'm sure he still has a lot to offer.

Yggdrasil wrote: just like no one would ever suggest that Motörhead use more keyboards.

But 1916 is suuuuuch a good song.

Seriously, it is.

copper wrote:The presence of Doc makes it a tad more difficult to sell nowadays, as drum machines are in some ways, a bit of an 80's fad.

Surely every dance band these days uses a drum machine - or rather drums sequenced on ProTools or QBase. Not that I'd like to hear the Sisters using the sort of hyperactive drum sounds that are ubiquitous in that genre. Look at how David "Annoying whiny voice" Gray managed to spoil what was presumably meant to be a fairly emotional song (Babylon) with exactly that sort of drum sound (and an annoying whiny voice). I guess he thought it would make him appeal to a younger audience and, to be fair, it did turn out to be a big hit, but that doesn't mean it was any good.

''Summer'' would have been a really great single...and if the other version mentioned was more different than the Jutland/Metropolis mixes (ha) of the last single....who knows how quick the grooves of the 7'' would have been worn... he really fecked up there, just pull it from the page! i'll supply the Kleenex Von!

I reckon fans should embark on a strike...and who knows maybe in 7 or so years we can get some results!

Found this by accident on tours.tsom.org, don't know if it's fact or not.

"In 1998 Adam personally blocked plans to issue an independent Sisters single and thus try to restart their career, and he forbid to put any of his songs for free download."

despair wrote:Found this by accident on tours.tsom.org, don't know if it's fact or not.

"In 1998 Adam personally blocked plans to issue an independent Sisters single and thus try to restart their career, and he forbid to put any of his songs for free download."

*headdesk*

despair wrote:Found this by accident on tours.tsom.org, don't know if it's fact or not.

"In 1998 Adam personally blocked plans to issue an independent Sisters single and thus try to restart their career, and he forbid to put any of his songs for free download."

I'm sure this has either been mentioned before or at least suspected. I've always been curious about Adams lack of interviews

silentNate wrote:I'm sure this has either been mentioned before or at least suspected.

Yes, probably. I posted it more or less as a follow up to a discussion on the same subject in this thread, but for some reason I posted it here instead

but what with free download of suzanne then? he said, 'ok andy, you can upload that one because i like you'?

Isn't Suzanne written by Mike Varjak? (I think it is)

here's what the website says about Susanne:

Music by Mike Varjak.

doesn't say anything about the lyrics, so i'm assuming it's .

it's funny that they've got info about who wrote the lyrics for the other songs though

silentNate wrote:

despair wrote:Found this by accident on tours.tsom.org, don't know if it's fact or not.

"In 1998 Adam personally blocked plans to issue an independent Sisters single and thus try to restart their career, and he forbid to put any of his songs for free download."

I'm sure this has either been mentioned before or at least suspected. I've always been curious about Adams lack of interviews

It is odd. And as it's never been addressed the rumours have been allowed to fester over time. I'd like to know if there's any truth in the whole "Adam bloxx0rz!" thing, but y'know

There's no real doubt that Adam had a hand in what happened, it's old news. However, I'm not so certain that the more extreme opinion necessarily reflects the truth. This is probably a little closer (source: http://tours.tsom.org/2001eoe/interviews/channel4.htm)

JE: As your dispute with East West ended in '97, were you tempted to rush-release an album to celebrate?
AE: No, but I did plan to bring out a few indie singles. Our guitarist Adam spent a year not recording one called Summer, as he'd gone off the idea. He's since seen the light, but by the time he 'fessed up it was too late.

despair wrote:Isn't Suzanne written by Mike Varjak? (I think it is)

yeah, right, where's my mind?

mh wrote:There's no real doubt that Adam had a hand in what happened, it's old news. However, I'm not so certain that the more extreme opinion necessarily reflects the truth. This is probably a little closer (source: http://tours.tsom.org/2001eoe/interviews/channel4.htm)

Pretty much says that he could make an album any time he wanted to but he just doesn't particularly want to.

I mentioned this a while back. Kenny, the merch guy told me not to blame Adam for no new album thus far, his exact words were,

"There's only one person responsible for no new record, and it's not Adam."

He said Adam is a really nice guy and shouldn't be blamed for that, and he was equally annoyed with the lack of a new Sisters record.

But like Agent Mulder:

I WANT TO BELIEVE!

Heaven knows, what's happened - it mostly takes two to tango ...

Well, who knows. To recap:

Q: The last TSOM studio recording is Vision Thing released in 1990. Why we have to wait so long for the new album?

AE: It will be released soon. The songs are already recorded. I'm still trying to polish them. I want this album to be retrospective, to show changes that took place in the band in almost 20 years. And also prove that I have't rested to my oars and that I hadn't laze, that media sugest from time to time. - Von, March '09

Q: If you release a new album, will you distribute it via internet or will you trust a record company?

AE: When this time arrive, we will see. But we don’t have direct plans to release a new album at this moment. Now we are on tour and we care only about that. We will think about the rest after the tour, when we will return to our homes. - Von, April '09


Such comments, along with the introduction of Arms and the lyrics to Far Parade, would (with almost any other band) suggest that a new release is to follow the South American leg of the tour.

Regardless, the final performance checks probably hit Von some time after the shows, at which time he'll know how much money he actually has to burn from the latest trek.

Waste all that on an album? Naah...

It looks like he recorded an album, but it is a trick.

you never know . it could also be...



or would that just be wishful thinking?