Last show with a real bass?

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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ruffers
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That's it really, which was it and can someone provide a link please?

And what's the actual reason we no longer have one apart from falling out with a bass player in the past....
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czuczu
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Whole set bass? Or sneaky Romeo/Neverland bass?

Whole set would be Winterthur 91, week after Reading.
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ruffers
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Whole set.
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czuczu
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50:50 I have a copy, will look later.
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copper
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(delete this)
Last edited by copper on 14 May 2020, 13:41, edited 1 time in total.
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copper
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czuczu's got it, Winterthur was Tony James' last show. On Oct 21st, 1991, about two months later, he told Von he was leaving the band.
And what's the actual reason we no longer have one apart from falling out with a bass player in the past....
Money. The next year, Von opened up about the lack of band revenue, despite all that touring. To that end, touring in '92-'93 was an effort to recoup.

Considering the band had always had a bass player up to that, promoting the Doc could've been a miserly approach, which then stuck.
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ruffers
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Makes sense. Definitely sits in the "If there's one thing about the Sisters I could change" category though.
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ruffers
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czuczu wrote:50:50 I have a copy, will look later.
Thanks
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eastmidswhizzkid
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copper wrote:czuczu's got it, Winterthur was Tony James' last show. On Oct 21st, 1991, about two months later, he told Von he was leaving the band.
And what's the actual reason we no longer have one apart from falling out with a bass player in the past....
Money. The next year, Von opened up about the lack of band revenue, despite all that touring. To that end, touring in '92-'93 was an effort to recoup.

Considering the band had always had a bass player up to that, promoting the Doc could've been a miserly approach, which then stuck.
its a not too thinly disguised fact that tonys bass playing was so bad that they used to regularly use the Dr to generate bass and turn Judas down...without him even knowing!

for the record there have been many serious offers of wage-free bassists touring with the band for beer and drugs alone; including a still-standing offer in perpetuity from myself.
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And I knew the words to every song.
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czuczu
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eastmidswhizzkid wrote:
copper wrote:czuczu's got it, Winterthur was Tony James' last show. On Oct 21st, 1991, about two months later, he told Von he was leaving the band.
And what's the actual reason we no longer have one apart from falling out with a bass player in the past....
Money. The next year, Von opened up about the lack of band revenue, despite all that touring. To that end, touring in '92-'93 was an effort to recoup.

Considering the band had always had a bass player up to that, promoting the Doc could've been a miserly approach, which then stuck.
its a not too thinly disguised fact that tonys bass playing was so bad that they used to regularly use the Dr to generate bass and turn Judas down...without him even knowing!
Nah, don't believe that for a second! :lol:
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While Tony did admit that he "couldn't play slow enough" for a couple of the Vision Thing songs as I recall, I don't remember anything at the time about him not playing live. Image
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eastmidswhizzkid
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cant remember who said it. have a feeling it was Andreas but i cant remember where i read it.
Well I was handsome and I was strong
And I knew the words to every song.
"Did my singing please you?"
"No! The words you sang were wrong!"
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copper
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Yup, in fairness, Craig was the first and last real bass player in the band. Both Patsy and Tony were more on the promo side, and while Tony played live bass for a while, his studio contributions to Vision Thing were very limited.
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czuczu
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copper wrote:Yup, in fairness, Craig was the first and last real bass player in the band. Both Patsy and Tony were more on the promo side, and while Tony played live bass for a while, his studio contributions to Vision Thing were very limited.
By that logic, everyone post Andreas = not a real guitar player ;)

I like Tony, he did his shift, did it well and retired with honour. He may not have played much on the album but, on the other hand, an album did get made..
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ruffers
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Stirring the pot a bit but interesting to compare the treatment history gives to Patsy vs Tony..
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Being645
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"History" ... what a funny abstraction ... :lol: ... almost religious: Lord History hath bestowed on her/him ... :lol: ...

But joking aside, not that I overly like Patricia (rather not so), but still I don't think she's been treated as fair as she should have been.
For sure, there's been a good degree too much of that nastiness against her perpetuated by strangers for decades where Lord Eldritch
set the example. On the other hand, who knows how fair she's treated others?
So what, it's all long ago and hopefully everyone's happy now.
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Sarlscharisma
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Apart from 2-3 songs on Floodland and Romeo the SoM have not done a decent baseline after Craig Adams. Earlier Sisters material always had a great driving baseline.

Eldritch doesn’t seem to have much time for bass unlike some of his contemporaries aka Joy Division/New Order, Cure, Bauhaus, Banshees.

I saw them several years ago and it was just a horrible mess of noise in regards to bass. No note definition whatsoever.

Shame really, it could be so much better
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ww23
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Did Patricia ever really play bass (or anything) on Floodland?
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markfiend
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ww23 wrote:Did Patricia ever really play bass (or anything) on Floodland?
It depends on what you mean by the question. As I understand it, it's her playing each note, but the bass lines were sequenced from those individual notes. No wonder recording Floodland cost a fortune.

But that's just what I think fits as best explanation of contradicting stories from various participants and as such may not actually be remotely true. ;D
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thomas-h
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copper wrote:Yup, in fairness, Craig was the first and last real bass player in the band. Both Patsy and Tony were more on the promo side, and while Tony played live bass for a while, his studio contributions to Vision Thing were very limited.
????Tony James was a real amazing bass Player, too!!
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mugabe
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Not live, he wasn't.
Nothing ventured, nothing lost
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mugabe
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That said, I can't for the life of me think of why the guitarists can't be replaced as well. Should sound as ok as a the synth bass and drums have done all these years. Digitised guitars save money. Not that anyone would care, anyways.
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markfiend
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Now there's a thought: Dr Avalanche on lead guitar, Dr Avalanche on rhythm guitar, Dr Avalanche on bass guitar, Dr Avalanche on drums...

Get the Dok to sing as well?
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czuczu
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markfiend wrote:Now there's a thought: Dr Avalanche on lead guitar, Dr Avalanche on rhythm guitar, Dr Avalanche on bass guitar, Dr Avalanche on drums...

Get the Dok to sing as well?
Didn't WEA stop that tour in 1992 - insisted he had to be The Sisters Of Mercy and had to have a band?
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