Heartland

I've been listening to this a lot lately and i'm just curious of people's opinions of it - both as a stand alone 12" & in thecontext of the band's time line...

I guess it marked a couple of significant changes - signed to a major (with the traditional sell out accusations), that guitarist, and a new style too. To me it felt a bit marginalized as the stopgap between the indie adrenaline rush of the early singles and the more commercial sound and polish of FALAA.

Listening to the single chronologically - and coming off Temple of Love EP, Body & Soul almost sounds like a different band, or rather Body & Soul sounds like a lot of bands around that time. Not that they or anyone else was necessarily copying, it just isn't quite as unique? It's also perhaps lyrically a lot lighter than the previous stuff. Having said that, I still think it rocks!
If Body and Soul points the way forward that the band were going to go, then to me, the next two songs hark back to the pre-hussey days - Body Electric obviously, but Train has the rush of the old sisters (I wonder when it was written?) I actually use to have a problem with Train though that I could never put my finger on - it took me so long to get into it. The Long Train on Lucretia didn't help much either when that came out... I didn't get it's appeal & was at a loss why that was reworked (or rather copy & pasted!) into an extended mix at the expense of... well almost anything else really! In fact, it wasn't until I heard the 'demo'(?) version on the Wide Receiver (& countless other boots) that I learned to love it for the savage little beast it is!
And then of course there's Afterhours... Like a cross between Morricone & John Carpenter or The Terminator if he listened to Suicide.
To me one of the underrated gems in the canon & far more than just the intro to many fantastic nights. The hypnotic pulse and nicotine guitars are just mesmeric. It breathes a narcotic air of danger & decadence like few others... An ominous fog of a song!

Any thoughts?[/i]

I love Body & Soul - song and EP.
It holds special meaning for me as a bit of a romantic... plus I have a signed copy.
I have always wanted Afterhours to be celebrated for the opus it is, it's a cracker of a tune. It would be tops to hear live, just to get things going.

Got to admit that "Body & Soul" is far from my favourite song, but the three B-Sides are TSOM at their best.

Body Electric version is way better than the original, Train (short version) with it's high octane pulse is a short burst of genious. Afterhours is the song that got my attention to TSOM, so that says everything, it's one of my personal favourites, and the first hint of the future after FALAA.

It's a shame these three songs were never released in CD, or included in any official reissue... But they're still on the setlists of concerts these days in a way or another.

Body and Soul was performed far better live than how it has ended up on Record. Just listen to any of the 1984 bootleg recordings. Perfection...

The B-Sides are a must for anyones collection. I like both the 1982 and 1984 (re-recording) of Body Electric, either suits me fine.

Body & Soul is one of my favourite Sisters songs.

Body electric is much better than the original although by no means one of my favourite Sisters songs.

Afterhours is a great atmosphere but not much of a song.

Train almost has a good chorus but is even less of a song.

Long Train - God, they're not kidding, are they?

What is known about who wrote what in terms of music on this EP?

I'd guess "that guitarist" would have been involved in some way, but Train sounds quite Marxist and Afterhours seems most likely to be an Eldritch composition... just guessing.

I always thought that it was all Eldritch, but Body & Soul certainly had the jangle of the (other) man in the hat...

Funnily enough, I don't know what's more shocking - that the b-sides never got a CD release or the fact that they actually had too many songs from that era to fit on the reissue...

Maybe it's time for a new money/ old rope super deluxe edition of FALAA with a remastered Body & Soul, Peel Sessions, even Nine While Nine from Tiffany's & Some kind of Stranger from George's hall on disc 2. And that's another 20 quid East West can happily have from the kids college fund!

Jeremiah wrote:What is known about who wrote what in terms of music on this EP?

I'd guess "that guitarist" would have been involved in some way, but Train sounds quite Marxist and Afterhours seems most likely to be an Eldritch composition... just guessing.

i think it's body and soul/body electric/afterhours-eldritch, train-hussey

took me a while to work out why i always preferred "body and soul" live, it's down to the studio version sounding a bit too slow and von's lead vocals being an octave higher and falsetto. it always sounded a lot better live, sang an octave lower like on "wake" even with the hussey bumnote!

I never got into the studio version of B&S but I love it live.
B side is great!

on a side note: I think almost all songs from that era were way better live than the studio versions and Body & Soul certainly is no exception to that rule.

Afterhours is a highlight in the Sisters catalogue in my opinion.

Great sleeve too!

Multiple sources, include the label on the vinyl itself, state that all 4 songs were written and produced by Andrew Eldritch.

b&s is a masterpeice by all accounts, although as most of us see it the same, much better live, especially first half of 84.
but: imo b&s is special (and out of tune) due to its heavy usage of speed-mutations of the taping machine (dobble speed / half speed).
wayne was complaining about this no longer being possible in trhe digital age.

again: body electric 84 is among the worst sisters tracks ever, while the original is pure genius.

afterhours is again a work of art

82 > 84

B&S live >= studio

Train > everything else

Quiff Boy wrote:82 > 84

B&S live >= studio

Train > everything else

Afterhours > The Harmonica Man

I think it's a fine EP indeed.
(short) Train blows Long Train out of the water. When I heard the long version on the flexi, i was quite underwhelmed. All its bite seemed to have been stripped out somehow.
My only quibble with the B&S ep as a whole is the huge drop in volume after the big scream in Body Electric.
Did someone fall on the mixing desk or something?

@Bangles
Good topic for discussion. It never fitted in at the time and this seems to have been acknowledged by those responsible for "packaging" the Girls' re-issues since.

I aired my view on the catastrophe that was B+S in this thread from last year (post #1) http://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic. ... sc&start=0 and have seen no compelling argument to change my mind - "a half-paced dirge with no real ending and "yesterday, today, tomorrow" lyrics more at home on an advert for TV sets."

The Body And Soul single does not only have a wonderful cover, it was also an urgently necessary correlate for the former releases AND
an almost perfect preparation for the coming First And Last And Always album. Way more than the following Walk Away and No Time To Cry singles ...

Somehow, it's funny though, that Train ... ... was made a Long Train later, instead of Afterhours becoming an Afterhours (extended) ... ...

The first Sisters record I bought..it did a lot to finally get me addicted. Body Electric, Train and Afterhours are simply great songs, especially Train (the short version) is still one of my favourites. These three songs in my opinion combine the original Sisters "kick" with a much better production work. The title song is not as good, but like most others here I think the live version is far better than the studio recording.

Afterhours is one of my favourite Sisters' tracks; it's just so brooding and oppressive, but with a beautiful little hook. Still unbelieveable that there's no CD release available...

Listening again to Afterhours, both to my own 12" rip and a FLAC I got off the Internet years ago, the sound quality is just terrible.

How do you mean?

Every time the 'chorus' comes in (y'know: "dum dum dum duum / dum dum dum duum / dum diddly duum duummm") and it gets a little louder, there's massive distortion and clipping. I guess it's either deliberate, or there was an issue pressing the discs 'cos both my copies sound the same. Still an absolutely fantastic track though...

oneiros wrote: (y'know: "dum dum dum duum / dum dum dum duum / dum diddly duum duummm")

Yeah. The guitar's quite "dirty" sounding I suppose

Pista wrote:

oneiros wrote: (y'know: "dum dum dum duum / dum dum dum duum / dum diddly duum duummm")

Yeah. The guitar's quite "dirty" sounding I suppose

I always thought that if had come up with some lyrics for that bit and sung it to the same melody as the guitar riff which follows the "dum diddly" bit quoted above, it might have been regarded a little better by both him and WEA and had a higher profile release. As it is, like so many of the b-sides, it has a slightly unfinished feel to it.

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:

Pista wrote:

oneiros wrote: (y'know: "dum dum dum duum / dum dum dum duum / dum diddly duum duummm")

Yeah. The guitar's quite "dirty" sounding I suppose

I always thought that if had come up with some lyrics for that bit and sung it to the same melody as the guitar riff which follows the "dum diddly" bit quoted above, it might have been regarded a little better by both him and WEA and had a higher profile release. As it is, like so many of the b-sides, it has a slightly unfinished feel to it.

I'd have to disagree - that'd be tampering with perfection. The only thing to change about Afterhours is that it's simply not long enough...!