FALAA discussed in new Quietus article

THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
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culprit
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This has probably been covered elsewhere, but for those that missed it, the Quietus website posted an interesting FALAA Revisited article yesterday written by Julian Marszalek...
I like their articles as much for the comments as their text. :von:
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http://thequietus.com/articles/17433-si ... ays-review
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Thanks, always forget that!
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AdrenaChris
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Nice article
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Being645
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A good one. Indeed, somehow new ... thanks ... ;D :notworthy: ...
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Durly
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Interesting facts about the Albert Hall gig. I wasn't there but have watched the VHS dozens of times. I can only imagine how peeved I'd have been if I'd turned up to only see them playing the encores. Anyone know why it started and finished so early?
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Durly wrote:Interesting facts about the Albert Hall gig. I wasn't there but have watched the VHS dozens of times. I can only imagine how peeved I'd have been if I'd turned up to only see them playing the encores. Anyone know why it started and finished so early?
Broken bones and drugs? Or was that a different show?
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That is actually very reminiscent of the Kerrang magazine review of FALAA that originally got me into the band back in 1985. Not what you would expect from a Metal mag you might think but reviewer Dave Dickson was always a champion of th band.
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Durly wrote:Interesting facts about the Albert Hall gig. I wasn't there but have watched the VHS dozens of times. I can only imagine how peeved I'd have been if I'd turned up to only see them playing the encores. Anyone know why it started and finished so early?
It was a Tuesday (a School night) and there was no support band ? Maybe the Hall had to be cleared for setting up for an event the following day ?
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Nice read, but this made me scratch my head:

"First And Last And Always opens with the album's weakest track"
Only the Americans could have built a place like this in the middle of a jungle.
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shiver
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from the comments section:

Anrew Liles take on FALAA

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10 ... =2&theater
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Aazhyd wrote:Nice read, but this made me scratch my head:

"First And Last And Always opens with the album's weakest track"
would have eaten my Shorts if they'd played this song live only once.
this was the Point where i stopped reading.
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It was this comment that got me or end of; "And Floodland was OK-ish although overblown - but everything after that was completely unlistenable."

Horse doodoo, Vision Thing is a master piece, its top quality full force driving Rock and Roll.
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I wouldn't call 'Vision Thing' unlistenable but, if I'm being brutally honest, I really don't like it. 'FALAA' is an absolute masterpiece and, for me, gets better and better with age. 'Floodland' I still quite like but find side two eminently more listenable than side one. 'Flood II and 'Driven Like The Snow' are especially great. I honestly, really wouldn't be bothered if I never heard 'Vision Thing' again though. Not being sniffy or elitist in any way. It just never grabbed me at all. I know a lot of people love it and it's all subjective obviously but I never warmed to it and never really liked that Eldritch/Tony James line up.
Conversely, however, despite the fact that it was a "knocked up in 5 minutes" piece of work to stave off the Hussey/Adams 'Sisterhood' claim, I REALLY like 'Gift'. I know it got awful, awful reviews at the time and is seen as a petty, bitter and unpleasant piece of work by many but I am a big fan.
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My favourite 3 albums, in this order:

VT
Floodland
FALAA

Used to be the opposite way around when I was younger (hated VT when it came out - the sound and attitude just made no sense compared with their previous work) but as I've got older I think VT stands the test of time more than the others.

Maybe it's because out of all their recorded work, VT is the album that's nearest to how they still sound live, so hearing tracks like Ribbons and Det Blvd live reminds me of the album, and vice versa.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the article is pretty good by comparison with some of the s**t that gets written about The Sisters - at least it's (almost all) actually accurate.

And I like VT.

Sue me :D
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VT isn't bad but it's not great either. There's - IMO - a weak mid-section in it, comprising Something Fast, WYDSM and Dr Jeep, which pulls the overall ranking of the LP down for me. Otherwise the quality of the tracks is up there with anything else the band have ever done.

These days however I find myself listening to their 82/83 material far more than anything else, so I guess that era is my favourite. That's not to deny the band's right to move on and do new/different stuff, of course; it's just a bunch of songs and those ones are just those which I happen to enjoy most.
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Ah must admit Vision Thing is the one I'd listen to most. It just seems so current, so to speak, with the world seemingly getting more mad every day and you can't beat a good rawk riff every now and again. For me also it's the most lyrically complex and mature. That's not to say First and Last isn't brilliant and Floodland is of course great. Love them all in fact with Vision Thing just above the others. ;D
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Bar Vision Thing/Ribbons, VT is a big steaming pile of crap

If that is the best he can do then it's no surprise we haven't had another album - in fact it's a blessing
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abridged wrote:Ah must admit Vision Thing is the one I'd listen to most. It just seems so current, so to speak, with the world seemingly getting more mad every day and you can't beat a good rawk riff every now and again. For me also it's the most lyrically complex and mature. That's not to say First and Last isn't brilliant and Floodland is of course great. Love them all in fact with Vision Thing just above the others. ;D
aye, wot he sed ^ :notworthy:
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I love Vision Thing. Its full of Andy's sharpest lyrics, and though I can happy leave songs like Detonation Blvd and More entirely alone, Ribbons and I was Wrong are two of the best Sisters tunes ever.
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Vision Thing:

1. Vision Thing - Excellent
2. Ribbons - Even better
3. Detonation Boulevard - Decent
4. Something Fast - Decent
5. When You Don't See Me - Awful
6. Dr. Jeep - OK
7. More - In itself a good song, but way too long. I like the 7" better.
8. I Was Wrong - OK
9. You Could Be The One - Decent

Ribbons alone is worth the album, but it has some issues, I think.
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I played the Vision Thing LP over the weekend, it sounded incredible. Far warmer in tone than the CD, which sometimes suffers from digital "bite". The intro to When You Don't See Me was positively holographic!
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Aazhyd wrote:Vision Thing:

1. Vision Thing - Excellent
2. Ribbons - Even better
3. Detonation Boulevard - Decent
4. Something Fast - Decent
5. When You Don't See Me - Awful
6. Dr. Jeep - OK
7. More - In itself a good song, but way too long. I like the 7" better.
8. I Was Wrong - OK
9. You Could Be The One - Decent

Ribbons alone is worth the album, but it has some issues, I think.
agreed, apart from YCBTO ;D

swap More for the short version and swap Dr Jeep for the long version, and perfect :!:
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robertzombie wrote:I played the Vision Thing LP over the weekend, it sounded incredible. Far warmer in tone than the CD, which sometimes suffers from digital "bite". The intro to When You Don't See Me was positively holographic!
Part of the harshness is down to too many CD players/DAC's being way way too clinical and P poor OPamp's in there. Then a lot of transfers were way too clinical too, or just badly done with little care to keep the originals sound intact..
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Alex66 wrote:
robertzombie wrote:I played the Vision Thing LP over the weekend, it sounded incredible. Far warmer in tone than the CD, which sometimes suffers from digital "bite". The intro to When You Don't See Me was positively holographic!
Part of the harshness is down to too many CD players/DAC's being way way too clinical and P poor OPamp's in there. Then a lot of transfers were way too clinical too, or just badly done with little care to keep the originals sound intact..
I think in this instance it's more to do with the mastering. It's a fully digital recording, just sounds better on vinyl :) The Rhino remaster doesn't suffer as much.
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