Heartland

Is there still a market for live/demo cassettes of The Sisters? By that i mean is it worth me checking the quality of the 30+ tapes from the early 80's i have and sticking them on Ebay or somewhere, or should i bin them along with all my other tapes and videos? ( pretty sure i dont have anything that was not readily available at fairs etc back then)

I've seen some (three or five) on Ebay over the last year, mostly from the US.

Some didn't sell even on a second try, some did.

Anyway, before you bin them, please send them all to me ...

DOZMEISTER wrote:Is there still a market for live/demo cassettes of The Sisters? By that i mean is it worth me checking the quality of the 30+ tapes from the early 80's i have and sticking them on Ebay or somewhere, or should i bin them along with all my other tapes and videos? ( pretty sure i dont have anything that was not readily available at fairs etc back then)

It depends. First of all, the contents on the tapes. There are, still, some recordings that has not circulated widely.
I bought a collection five, six or seven years ago on ebay. The collection had about 25 cassettes with recordings from 1980-1985 (with nice homemade covers, they looked lovely in the early days on recordfairs and markets!!). Some of them was very interesting, like interviews I had not heard before, soundchecks I had not heard before, full recordings of concerts from USA, different to other recordings from those shows.
I think I paid 200 pounds (could be 150, or even 300....) but whatever it was then worth every penny. And today I would not have the money left anyway, I would have bought other records, beers, clothes etc...which I didn´t.... instead I have a wonderful collection of Sisterscassettes... With some recordings still unheard elsewhere (at least for me)..

So DO NOT throw your precious tapes...

playboy wrote:

DOZMEISTER wrote:Is there still a market for live/demo cassettes of The Sisters? By that i mean is it worth me checking the quality of the 30+ tapes from the early 80's i have and sticking them on Ebay or somewhere, or should i bin them along with all my other tapes and videos? ( pretty sure i dont have anything that was not readily available at fairs etc back then)

It depends. First of all, the contents on the tapes. There are, still, some recordings that has not circulated widely.
I bought a collection five, six or seven years ago on ebay. The collection had about 25 cassettes with recordings from 1980-1985 (with nice homemade covers, they looked lovely in the early days on recordfairs and markets!!). Some of them was very interesting, like interviews I had not heard before, soundchecks I had not heard before, full recordings of concerts from USA, different to other recordings from those shows.
I think I paid 200 pounds (could be 150, or even 300....) but whatever it was then worth every penny. And today I would not have the money left anyway, I would have bought other records, beers, clothes etc...which I didn´t.... instead I have a wonderful collection of Sisterscassettes... With some recordings still unheard elsewhere (at least for me)..

So DO NOT throw your precious tapes...

A very nice description, playboy ... ... I would never bin or give away such stuff, either!

Also it reminds me of the fact, that in 2010 I've see an offer for a whole bulk of cassettes on Ebay ...
can't exactly remember for how much they went, actually ... but for sure it was something above 70 € ...

Most of mine have the lovely homemade photocopied covers, otherwise i made my own covers from magazine clippings and a typewriter. I shall put a list up of what i have Sisters wise anyway, got loads of tapes from that era, Siouxsie, Killing Joke, The m*****n etc.

DOZMEISTER wrote:Most of mine have the lovely homemade photocopied covers, otherwise i made my own covers from magazine clippings and a typewriter. I shall put a list up of what i have Sisters wise anyway, got loads of tapes from that era, Siouxsie, Killing Joke, The m*****n etc.

That sounds like a good idea. A list on the tapes would be welcome. The tapes with those lovely homemade photocopied covers may look cheap but they are a treasure, especially for those who remember the times when those tapes were sold in markets, some over the world, a LOT uf them in Camden in London.

IMO the only tapes that can be ( and should be) thrown away in the bin is those taped from vinylbootlegs and those ripped of from an official record and then sold as "official" in stores and markets in largely places like Poland, Checoslovacia, Bulgaria, Arabia etc. Those tapes are often called official, sometimes they have different trackorder, but they only have one purpose - to fool us consumers and taking money which would go to the artist if buiyng the proper product instead. Sorry, but I hate those fxxxxng tapes and thieves.

good idea to start with a list then we can start to filter out the wheat from the chaff.

a few years ago a favourite pastime was sweeping up old tape collections. many went in the bin, but some were uncirculated masters and major upgrades, so you never know

as it happens i'm listening to a master of Nijmegen 1984 now. First time i've listened to the sisters for about six months

paint it black wrote: as it happens i'm listening to a master of Nijmegen 1984 now. First time i've listened to the sisters for about six months

if you ever need a digitization?

Ok here is a list of what i have Sisters wise, seems a few are just recordings of Bootleg LP's which my friends and i taped for each other back then, dont think there will be any interest in them.

Manchester Ritz 19-3-85
Brighton Top Rank 1-4-85
New York Ritz 7-6-85
Nottingham Rock City 17-10-84
Stuttgart 12-10-84
York Racecourse 22-9-84
Leicester Mr Keisa's 28-3-85
Detroit St Andrews Hall 17-4-84
London Lyceum 25-3-85
London Royal Albert Hall 18-6-85
Frankfurt 22-4-85
Florence 1-5-85
Manchester University 13-10-84
Bielefeld Germany 24-4-85
Nottingham Rock City 27-3-85
Aylesbury Friars 2-11-84

These are what i think are Bootleg LP recordings;
Rome 2-5-85 (were all aware of that pic. disc?)
Cryptic Flowers
Peels sessions & 7" bootlegs
Bootleg 7"s
Live 83?
Phsychadelic Sessions & Tune in Turn off
Troyan Horse
Enter the Sisters
Pardiso Amsterdam 28-3-83 (Possession?)
No Time To Cry
Demos 81/82 & Floorshow EP
84 Studio outakes

Let me know if you want any more info, i do have a tape deck set up so can check quality. I am going to put them on Ebay now that i have got them out and dusted them off, rather than pick someone who has pm'd me off here to sell them to. So keep a look out if you are interested.

can you let us know when you have please. don't do ebay much anymore

Here is a photo of them, will post an Ebay link when they are up if thats allowed?

Yeah that's allowed. It's only when people come on with "hey look at my ebay auction" as their very first post that people get annoyed.

DOZMEISTER wrote:Here is a photo of them, will post an Ebay link when they are up if thats allowed?

looks interesting

markfiend wrote:Yeah that's allowed. It's only when people come on with "hey look at my ebay auction" as their very first post that people get annoyed.

I remember someone from this forum making their first post on another forum I post on to basically say "Look at this painted leather jacket I'm selling on ebay".
I'll save their embarrassment by not mentioning their name... because I don't remember who it was.

It is probably just some kind of hankering back to simpler times
But I do think there is something lovely about seeing cassettes and their artwork
It is like looking at naive folk art or cave paintings
There is something rather wonderful and homemade about it all that has been lost.

I used to spend ages making my own tape covers and popping to the post office to photocopy them for friends. The greyer covers above are the original magazine cuttings that i used to make those covers. I do feel a bit sentimental about getting rid of them but they have sat unplayed for 25 years or so. Still enjoy making the odd CD cover but its alot easier with a computer nowadays.

Up on Ebay now, here is the link.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SISTERS-MERCY ... 4cfe0c7567

million voices wrote:It is probably just some kind of hankering back to simpler times
But I do think there is something lovely about seeing cassettes and their artwork
It is like looking at naive folk art or cave paintings
There is something rather wonderful and homemade about it all that has been lost.

It's true, the MP3/Kindle/XBox box age just isn't the same. Every time your games tape loaded or your FALA cassette didn't get chewed to s**t on your HI-FI's spindles, it was a small victory, a triumph of faith and perseverence. The analogue ancestors of today's self-important-yet infinitely-disposable bits and bytes had something authentic about them that we'll never see again (It's hard to see even print books surviving into decades to come). Be our bodies, next, I tells ya!

playboy wrote: IMO the only tapes that can be ( and should be) thrown away in the bin is those taped from vinylbootlegs and those ripped of from an official record and then sold as "official" in stores and markets in largely places like Poland, Checoslovacia, Bulgaria, Arabia etc. Those tapes are often called official, sometimes they have different trackorder, but they only have one purpose - to fool us consumers and taking money which would go to the artist if buiyng the proper product instead. Sorry, but I hate those fxxxxng tapes and thieves.

yes, probably you're right! but I have good remembrences about Polish bootleg cassettes anyway.. Probably because we had different realitys..In the early 90's I was a poor Russian student with no money etc. In that time our country was flooded by Polish audio/video cassetttes and that was like a breath of fresh air! There was no internet, no youtube, no mp3, no chance to hear Sisters on the radio or read about them in a music paper etc. Well, there were a few shops with official CD's, here, at that time, but they were so fookin expensive for a student! What I had at that time was a unofficialy reprinted Rock-enciclopedia and Polish bootleg cassettes..thats all.. I just red the discription of the band and what style they play and if I felt like I might like them, I went to the shop and bought cassettess... Thus I discovered many bands: Depeche mode, Sisters, Siuxsie, Numan, Doors, Kraftwerk etc. That was my reality..

numan wrote:

playboy wrote: IMO the only tapes that can be ( and should be) thrown away in the bin is those taped from vinylbootlegs and those ripped of from an official record and then sold as "official" in stores and markets in largely places like Poland, Checoslovacia, Bulgaria, Arabia etc. Those tapes are often called official, sometimes they have different trackorder, but they only have one purpose - to fool us consumers and taking money which would go to the artist if buiyng the proper product instead. Sorry, but I hate those fxxxxng tapes and thieves.

yes, probably you're right! but I have good remembrences about Polish bootleg cassettes anyway.. Probably because we had different realitys..In the early 90's I was a poor Russian student with no money etc. In that time our country was flooded by Polish audio/video cassetttes and that was like a breath of fresh air! There was no internet, no youtube, no mp3, no chance to hear Sisters on the radio or read about them in a music paper etc. Well, there were a few shops with official CD's, here, at that time, but they were so fookin expensive for a student! What I had at that time was a unofficialy reprinted Rock-enciclopedia and Polish bootleg cassettes..thats all.. I just red the discription of the band and what style they play and if I felt like I might like them, I went to the shop and bought cassettess... Thus I discovered many bands: Depeche mode, Sisters, Siuxsie, Numan, Doors, Kraftwerk etc. That was my reality..

I can understand you fully. Unfortunately a lot of other people bought the cheaper bootlegs versions instead of the official releases not because they couldn´t afford the originals but because they could.
I don´t know how big issue these pirated stuff was at that moment in Russia and where the money went. But my guess is that it was very big money involved (the country was flooded by Polish cassettes...).
Here the money helps to finance other illigal activities, drugs and weapons. It is just not worth it.
To to make life difficult for those organisations, never buy anything illigal, booze, music, movies, ciggarettes, clothes or whatever. You might just save a life just by ignoring those things....