Heartland

Andrew S wrote: Call that a beard?

Have you ever tried to grow a beard when you have to dye the roots every two days?

Andrew S wrote:

Big Si wrote:

boudicca wrote:no dodgy and embarrassing hair period with the exception of The Beard

Don't be afeared of the beard!

Call that a beard?

Oh there's a full boona pic out there, but I can't remember where!

boudicca wrote:With Von, it's less to do with mistakes he has actually made (there is no clanger of an album, no dodgy and embarrassing hair period with the exception of The Beard), it's all about what he hasn't done. Wasted potential. Failure to deliver what I have no doubt he's capable of.

Music has changed so much since 1993. Hair metal had only just let out its death rattle, and dance music was still relatively new - to the mainstream at least. Under the Gun and Vision Thing harked back to the former, and 1980's power-ballad bombast, with little acknowledgement of the latter (unless you count the drum machine).
I've always been pleased with him for apparently getting into Euro industrial music and so on - that's the kind of rock/dance hybrid I like, rather than the early '90's sort of thing. The one thing the Sisters lacked that I love was a good bit of synth, and I think that judging by his work with Die Krupps etc., the "industrial groove machine" incarnation of the Sisters could really work. The man can write a song. He still looks good. I don't think it would be a let down, but time is running out.

The Sisters' 'current' sound is excellent--it's hard to pin down. You've got guitar rock, metal, industrial blending together on great songs. You've got a guy who can howl and hiss and knows how to give his songs what they need.

I think the lack of a good synth is the same as the lack of a bass player--as much a personnel and cost issue as the sound, really. They literally can't afford anyone else at this point.

Those comments Von made a long time ago about taking the Sisters on the road with just him and the Doktor--ugh, thankfully it didn't come to that. Von and a tape a machine. Thanks, but I actually like the semblance of a band...

markfiend wrote:My prediction:

The 25th anniversary gig will take place on 16th Feb next year, probably at Leeds Uni again. At the end of the gig Von will say "Thank you and good bye" and then an announcement on the official site that The Sisters Of Mercy are departed and gone.

And that's if we're lucky. If we're unlucky, we'll still be sitting here in 6 years time, saying "well, maybe they'll come out of retirement for the 30th anniversary."

Somehow, I just don't see the 'Thank you and goodbye' bit again. I really think they'll play a 25th anniversary show, and then be silent. After all, there's still a chance that some record company will pick them up (cough cough sarcasm)

Red_Kola wrote:

Andrew S wrote: Call that a beard?

Have you ever tried to grow a beard when you have to dye the roots every two days?

No, every 7 days is enough for me. And I can't remember the last time I saw my own neck.

Quiff Boy wrote:

_emma_ wrote:

otherwise they are a "has been"

Not to mention all those who are dead now. Aren't they worth even less?

not sure i understand that one... seems a bit daft.

Oh never mind. As long as I understand myself everything's okay.
No, actually I preferred it to sound daft for the sake of peace, but okay, I can try to explain what I meant, why not. I'm aware my opinions are pink-coloured by blind love but then everybody's opinions are coloured by something, so why not.
Well I think it's a bit unfair to expect an artist to keep producing things just as if it was about producing pizzas. It's particularly delicate when it refers to fine arts, music and other such forms of expressing oneself. There have been some great artists who produced great amounts of wonderful things in their lifetime, and those who produced just a few, or even just one great thing. It's not something that can be expected or demanded, or assessed in terms of quantity or frequency.
Besides, nothing in this world lasts forever, and everybody and everything is bound to become a has been sooner or later whether we want it or not. It's depressing, but it's a natural process and there's nothing we can do about it, and again I think we have no right to blame somebody for undergoing this natural process.
And really, if Andrew feels like doing nothing, it's very difficult to accept for me for obvious reasons - but still, I'd rather see him do nothing and stay honest towards us and himself than lie and pretend to feel great about doing something, as so many other rock musicians around his age are doing, and I really don't want to mention any names here.
Sure I hope he'll give us some more good things, the more the better and the sooner the better - but there's a difference between hoping and demanding.

how do you mean?

they are dead, ergo they couldnt produce anything even if they wanted to.

yer man eldo has no excuse.

What if he's dead inside?
Or if he just has some other things to do and doesn't feel like producing anything anymore? That's excuse enough for me, and I'm still grateful for what I've been given so far.
Did I say I'm blindfolded by love? I did. Good.

Andrew S wrote: Call that a beard?

It was less a beard and more a disturbing attempt to hide even more of his lovely face than he already was doing. I mean really, you don't have to have read the entire works of Freud, Jung and Dr. Phil to notice that he's obviously somewhat afraid of confronting the world.

Maybe that's why he sits in his house all day, chainsmoking and watching German talk shows instead of giving us another slab of Sisters.

When I feel like listening to the Sisters, I just put on some of the old stuff I like. He's quite lucky you people still talk about him.

His biggest mistake? Probably the melodrama in his songs. From the booming, deep-voiced vocals through to the sobbing in some of the FALAA lyrics, it was everywhere.

The guy wrote consistently good songs and then trashed them to indulge his oblique sense of humour. Did anyone else get the joke, or was it only him?

I lost pretty much all interest in anything TSOM issued after Floodland...I just can't get into the Vision Thing stuff...if I never hear that album again it will be too soon. I never tire of the older stuff though and that's probably what keeps me going.

I keep hoping something new will be issued and no doubt I'll buy it...the same as most of the punters who read this forum probably would do...so perhaps a bonus point to Eldritch for not fleecing us by issuing any old rubbish.

I've always had the feeling that he doesn't give a flying for anyone anyway so I'm sure my opinion counts for SFA.

I don't know how anyone can dislike Vision Thing. Unless maybe you're lead singer with a troupe of elfin hippygoths with a tendency to write really dodgy lyrics . I'm usually quite critical - I can always find a bad album by my favourite artists of all time (Cult - the last two, Siouxsie - Join Hands could've been much better), but I'm so glad Von never did that.

In my view anyway. Each to his own, tho'.

There you go then. I happen to think Join Hands is one of the best things Siouxsie ever did!

boudicca wrote:Each to his own, tho'.

Eggs-acker-lee

boudicca wrote:I don't know how anyone can dislike Vision Thing. Unless maybe you're lead singer with a troupe of elfin hippygoths with a tendency to write really dodgy lyrics .

I don't actively dislike it, but then again I can't really say I like it either. "Extraordinarily average" if viewed as just a record, when viewed as a Sisters record it slips to "decidedly below par" status. All imho of course (just without the humble )

Do I qualify for the elfin hippygoth title????

boudicca wrote: Unless maybe you're lead singer with a troupe of elfin hippygoths with a tendency to write really dodgy lyrics .

ruffers wrote: Do I qualify for the elfin hippygoth title????

Nah, boudicca was making a "veiled" reference to that other band (who's name I won't utter in here)

Yeah I got that

Since writing the post it has come to me in a blinding flash of revelation why I don't like Vision Thing (apart from the average songs and production of course) and the answer actually fits the thread title....

Big Mistake - the female backing vocals on Detonation Boulevard. FLAA - no female backing vocals. Floodland - none I can think of right now apart from the massed choir on This Corrosion. Sisters Tunes shouldn't have them (I like that smiley)

Black Biscuit wrote:When I feel like listening to the Sisters, I just put on some of the old stuff I like. He's quite lucky you people still talk about him.

His biggest mistake? Probably the melodrama in his songs. From the booming, deep-voiced vocals through to the sobbing in some of the FALAA lyrics, it was everywhere.

The guy wrote consistently good songs and then trashed them to indulge his oblique sense of humour. Did anyone else get the joke, or was it only him?

I think he reflected his frustration about the above in the past--that folks didn't understand what he was doing.

And he was probably right. It's hard work to make good music, and with the effort he made and the s**t-ass record company they had, why bother again? No one will give him enough dough to make the pain worthwhile.

ruffers wrote: Big Mistake - the female backing vocals on Detonation Boulevard. FLAA - no female backing vocals. Floodland - none I can think of right now apart from the massed choir on This Corrosion. Sisters Tunes shouldn't have them (I like that smiley)

For the record, I meant The One They Call... H-u-s-s-ey.

I'm with you on the backing vocals, I've never liked his choice of singers, but at the risk of repeating myself over a few threads, everything else is so good I just don't notice it.

*sigh* Love is blind!

Zuma wrote:Well, I'm going to make a stand - if does browse this forum from time to time as intimated/hypothesised by some...well, I'm never going to another Sisters gig unless anything new is released.

So there, ya boo sucks
I'm voting with my feet!

oooh, I bet that's got him worried!

I think Vision Thing has many merits, now, when it first came out I was very disappointed. Maybe it's just absence making the heart grow fonder.

You may not like the 'massed choir' thing, but I have often thought that the end part of Rain from Heaven would've been improved by the singing of the New York Choral Society, rather than just the four or five of them....

No, you misunderstand me, I do like the massed choir, what I don't like is the conventional "trio of wailing women" type backing vocals.

I'm not really getting down what I want to say very well, but FALAA and Floodland were both distinctive records. Vision Thing, on the other hand, was pretty much a generic rock n roll album. Probably a touch above average for it's genre, but still of that ilk and to be honest I think it could have been made by any one of a number of bands. On the other hand no-one else whatsoever could have made Floodland in particular. No one.

So to go back to the thread subject the biggest mistake was to make a conventional album, something exemplified (right word?) by the use of regular backing singers.

And you're probably right re Rain From Heaven

Big Mistake - the female backing vocals on Something Fast

After all the bravado and posturing, Von realised he had created a monster, and that monster was continually hungry and to keep it alive he had to feed it but at the end of the day he wasnt able to, He created some damn fine sounds (with help from others) but he just aint got it in him anymore, he created, he nutured, and he watched (let) it die.
Now theres only us still mourning over the corpse (and buying the t shirts to prove it)

If he hasn't got it in him, explain the new live songs Had the whole East/West issue been resolved quicker, I really doubt we'd be in the state we are now. I'm probably naive but the problem I see is that no-one wanted to sign them due to the whole strike thing and after that had cooled off no-one wanted to sign them for the kind of fees that Von commands.

With ever greater distance over time as the weeks go by, I think the big mistake post 93' was not having the impetus to go solo and concentrate on making music, regardless of its critical or commerical acceptance.

As I recall, last time he claimed to be going solo he ended up in court on the other end of a certain Ms Patricia Morrison