Heartland

There was a rumour in the Roundhouse Gig review in Vive Le Rock magazine that AE was shopping a new album around the majors, anyone heard anything to collaborate this?
As the Radio session record/cd was licensed via WEA could that mean there is no legal contractual difficulties in the way anymore.

Hello @halfback68 & welcome to Heartland.
That VLR review was seemingly written by someone on work experience using quotes from almost 20 years ago whilst forgoing any sort of grammar (or fact) checker .
More on that interview here

Thanks Pista, still get to grips with the various discussion threads. I had doubts as i don't think the majors will sign anyone now that they can't control. i can't remember the last time I bought something interesting from one of the big 5 or 6 labels, apart from a re-issue.

Eldritch wont be looking for a label as he has no intention of releasing anything.if he did it would be on MR with distro by a cartel or whatever.

i guess we have to face the fact, that no matter how much we wait\want, how many new songs they play, there will be no new album. That`s sad, but true.

Well hell, maybe yes. But does it really matter as long as they write new songs?
Especially nowadays when almost everyone have their daily musical environment play from spotify and stuff?
Only to see Von present his understanding of adequate Sisters coverart these days? OK, why not.

Being645 wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 16:12 Well hell, maybe yes. But does it really matter as long as they write new songs?
Especially nowadays when almost everyone have their daily musical environment play from spotify and stuff?
Only to see Von present his understanding of adequate Sisters coverart these days? OK, why not.

It matters to me, because I'd love to listen to them, but I found the sound quality (and, frankly, vocal quality) of recent live recordings too poor to bother with most of the time. I'm a lyrics man, so not being able to make out the lyrics amid the growling is a bit of a problem. But it doesn't have to be a record, with a label and proper production! The recording of Suzanne we got was great! I'd love more like that! It just has to be decent sound quality, and audible / decipherable lyrics.

Let’s be honest of all the unreleased songs how many would have been “hits” back in the day?
Crash and Burn and Susanne possibly.
Decent album tracks? Arms and Summer?
Of the current crop of songs Genevieve and Show Me etc don’t really cut the mustard.
Eldritch would have released new music if it would realistically sold enough copies.
But tee shirt sales and tickets are where the money is.
He is happy being a heritage act.
Artistically he is a spent force and he has a shot voice.
His really brilliant idea was to play new and unreleased songs at the gigs knowing that it kept the live experience fresh and the fans interested.
Without that point of difference the crowds would have dwindled by now.
It gives me no pleasure to say that as I’d buy anything new the day it was put on sale.

seems to me that von's problem with releasing new music was (mainly) being pissed at record companies.
in this day and age, he can easily do anything he wants to do without releasing through a major label.
he's got nothing to lose by doing it DIY.
but....then...it's von.....

Moderate Mick wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 19:43 Let’s be honest of all the unreleased songs how many would have been “hits” back in the day?
Crash and Burn and Susanne possibly.
Decent album tracks? Arms and Summer?
Of the current crop of songs Genevieve and Show Me etc don’t really cut the mustard.
Eldritch would have released new music if it would realistically sold enough copies.
But tee shirt sales and tickets are where the money is.
He is happy being a heritage act.
Artistically he is a spent force and he has a shot voice.
His really brilliant idea was to play new and unreleased songs at the gigs knowing that it kept the live experience fresh and the fans interested.
Without that point of difference the crowds would have dwindled by now.
It gives me no pleasure to say that as I’d buy anything new the day it was put on sale.

I don't really know what I think of the new new songs. There is something quite good about them but would they be popular.... and will I still like them after 50 listens? As a comparison I would suggest Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds who are still to most degree making "un-pop songs" but in terms of sales and concerts seem to be going from strength to strenght, so maybe there is a niche for The Sisters' new songs that would ingnite their popularity.

I think they’d sound brilliant on record. I think we’d see a lot more in the songs than we’ve seen already. They’d be cracking!

MrChris wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 22:18 I think they’d sound brilliant on record. I think we’d see a lot more in the songs than we’ve seen already. They’d be cracking!

I agree

I'm not 100% sure that Von's voice is completely gone, he seems to speak just fine. I just assume it's his attempts at shouting on stage that really lets the cracks show through. If he sang in an "inside voice" I picture he would sound a lot less gravely, but that's just pure speculation on my part.

MrChris wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 18:18

Being645 wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 16:12 Well hell, maybe yes. But does it really matter as long as they write new songs?
Especially nowadays when almost everyone have their daily musical environment play from spotify and stuff?
Only to see Von present his understanding of adequate Sisters coverart these days? OK, why not.

It matters to me, because I'd love to listen to them, but I found the sound quality (and, frankly, vocal quality) of recent live recordings too poor to bother with most of the time. I'm a lyrics man, so not being able to make out the lyrics amid the growling is a bit of a problem. But it doesn't have to be a record, with a label and proper production! The recording of Suzanne we got was great! I'd love more like that! It just has to be decent sound quality, and audible / decipherable lyrics.

OK, you've got a point in that. Some decent recordings of the unreleased tracks should indeed be worthwhile ... ... and if they came with some contemporay coverart ... ...

MrChris wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 22:18 I think they’d sound brilliant on record. I think we’d see a lot more in the songs than we’ve seen already. They’d be cracking!

I'd like to agree, but I think that to sound great on a release the songs would need to be "finished" as suggested by Catalyst in that recent interview. Think about the differences between the current live versions of the old hits and the album versions. Lotta work needed there to take them the last 20% to "finished".
So I am not optimistic.

All that said I would be the first one the slap some cash down for a well-produced official live recording of similar quality to Susanne.

I'm not 100% convinced by the "von's voice is shot" thing. There are places in the recent books where it was mentioned that in a studio setting, even as far back as the early 80s, his "singing" voice was very quiet anyway; he virtually whispers into the microphone.

I think that he may be struggling more to produce the sound-volume than he did back in the day, and it may be increasingly difficult for the mixing desk to make his whispered vocal audible without the microphone feeding back. Ironically I think that studio recordings would be able to deal with this issue a lot better than the live music environment.

I think the simple answer is that he doesn't want to record a new album, so he's not going to. Good luck to anyone trying to get Eldritch to do something he doesn't want to do

The voice thing is a red herring. Loads of successful recording artists have way worse voices than Von. Compare Bernard Sumner live to the New Order recordings. The man is frequently out of key when he sings live, and everyone just accepts it as a part of his style.

Von's live performances aren't what they were, but I think any actual problems that exist with his voice could easily be corrected for in a studio. I think he'd sound colossal recorded.

Agreed to both, I've heard him speaking relatively recently, and had him shout "hello" at me as well, and firstly his voice is much the same as it always was (with 40-odd years of normal ageing on it, of course), secondly he's well capable of raising his voice too.

IMO some people are too quick to go straight to "his voice is shot" based on nothing much more than crappily-recorded live videos.

That leaves us with it being a deliberate stylistic choice, and other than the normal effects of age I'm inclined to go for that. We all know that the band use a really weird sound mix, where even the other instruments sound odd and the low end lacks presence. It's also the case that there's plenty of recorded evidence that the snarling/growling thing isn't a recent development but actually goes back to the 1990/1991 tours.

I'd be willing to bet that with the benefit of a well-recorded well-mixed sound his voice would be surprisingly good. Not the same as 1980 to 85 of course, but aged like fine whiskey and still capable of nuance and dynamics.

Yes, I agree. And it’s a whisky I’d happily buy.

mh wrote: ↑24 Nov 2021, 13:32 IMO some people are too quick to go straight to "his voice is shot" based on nothing much more than crappily-recorded live videos.

Agreed.

On his voice Roundhouse was a case study. The third night was night and day different to Friday.
And as an attendee at New Order O2 a couple of weeks ago I sas genuinely surprised how bad the vocals were, especially in Regret.

Von's voice would be plenty to work with.

His voice is still fine enough to sound good in the studio. Ian Astbury hasn't sounded good live for over 30 years now, yet on recent records he sounds alright.

Moderate Mick wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 19:43 Let’s be honest of all the unreleased songs how many would have been “hits” back in the day?
Crash and Burn and Susanne possibly.
Decent album tracks? Arms and Summer?
Of the current crop of songs Genevieve and Show Me etc don’t really cut the mustard.
Eldritch would have released new music if it would realistically sold enough copies.
But tee shirt sales and tickets are where the money is.
He is happy being a heritage act.
Artistically he is a spent force and he has a shot voice.
His really brilliant idea was to play new and unreleased songs at the gigs knowing that it kept the live experience fresh and the fans interested.
Without that point of difference the crowds would have dwindled by now.
It gives me no pleasure to say that as I’d buy anything new the day it was put on sale.

Summer / Crash And Burn would have been THE comeback single. both songs are top 10 -ever for me. Summer is a permanent top 5 for me.. [ i also think Genevieve & Show Me are 100% Sisters albeit an evolved sound taking into account the bands continuing growth as a live act)
And theyre not in any way a heritage act. i have friends who were huge fans up to and including the Vison Thing album who are terribly disappointed that Andrew WONT just play the old stuff.

there were no new songs this time around and those of us who saw the truncated 2020 tour dates were familiar with them already. when we get new songs they are a couple every few years at best. we waited 10 tears for 'Still' then 13 more after Arms for Show Me etc.

as for the crowds- they are clearly keeping the band as a viable propositon for the members and more importantly the promoters. Roundhouse was capacity 4.000 on the saturday, possibly 2.500 /3,000 friday and 2.000 sunday. thats fair sized audiences . you dont get fuller than capacity. Rock City is always TOO full. and itholds 4000. they aint ever gonna be an arena band again but really, of our era who is apart from Fat Bob.

Any of the unreleased stuff recorded in a studio would get high rotation in my day to day.

One of the main issues here is Andrew's perfectionism. It's probably gotten to a point where he's so obsessively detail oriented, he gets overwhelmed by the whole thing and talks himself out of it.
Von's tweaking in the studio is legendary, I recall Andreas Braun or Tony James saying something about there being 100s of layered audio tracks on some of the Vision Thing era songs.
Time = Money and with the record industry an emaciated corpse, the only way we're gonna see new songs is if Andrew goes back to his DIY 'punk' roots and pinches out singles on his own.


Dunno how he can be satisfied with the inevitability of Cleopatra putting out a tribute album with other bands doing covers of all the new songs after he kicks the bucket. He should at least set the bar before peacing out.

Moderate Mick wrote: ↑23 Nov 2021, 19:43 Let’s be honest of all the unreleased songs how many would have been “hits” back in the day?

I love Summer, Romeo Down, and most of the most recent songs. I became a fan when Alice was released, and I would have been stoked if they had released something like the above mentioned songs at any point in their career. I hope they will!