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Eighties’ best 100 redux: #76 The Mission “Tower of strength” (1988)

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At track #76 is The Mission’s eight-minute epic single, “Tower of strength”.

The Mission (known as The Mission UK in North America) was formed by Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams after they left Sisters of Mercy due to a disagreement with frontman Andrew Eldritch before the recording of that band’s second album. In fact, a handful of songs that appeared on The Mission’s debut album, “God’s own medicine”, were written by Hussey and were meant to be recorded as Sisters of Mercy songs.

I was introduced to The Mission by my friend Tim (who incidentally also introduced me to Sisters of Mercy and a bunch of other Goth and Industrial bands) back in high school. It all started when he included their track, “Deliverance”, as part of a mix on the back side of a cassette tape on which he had recorded The Wonder Stuff’s second album “Hup” for me. Speaking of the Stuffies, they have a Mission connection, too. If my memory serves, the story behind their “Mission drive” track is that Wayne Hussey (a friend of Miles Hunt) invited The Wonder Stuff out to tour with them, which, in effect, saved them from breaking up before their time. Anyway, “Deliverance” only served to pique my interest in The Mission and was immediately usurped as my favourite track by them when I heard “Tower of strength”.

This single, which comes from the band’s second album “Children”, encapsulates the dark and epic beauty of The mission’s music at that point in their career. Wayne Hussey’s soul crunching vocals just soar over the strumming guitars that underpin the entire eight minutes. The video below is for the radio edited version, which is only half as good (because it is half as long) as the album version, but you’ll get the picture.

Original Eighties best 100 position: 79

Favourite lyric: “You are all passion and heart / When I lay in your embrace / And heaven is in your kiss / Salvation lies just a touch away” …oh so dark and romantic.

Where are they now?: The Mission are now currently on their second reunion, this time with three of the four original members. The have released two albums and toured a number of times since reforming in 2013.

For the rest of the Eighties’ best 100 redux list, click here.

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Best tunes of 2003: #4 Elbow “Fugitive motel”

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I wrote about how I fell in love with Elbow and their first album, 2001’s “Asleep in the back”, in a couple posts about tracks that were amongst my favourites of that year*. Indeed, I became quite obsessed with the Manchester-based quintet, name checking them with all my friends, recommending their music at every chance I got, describing their sound as epic and bombastic. I’m sure my friends got sick of hearing about them and being who they were, took every advantage to rib me and poke fun. I didn’t care. I just pressed repeat.

When I heard a sophomore album was being released, I went out to the local HMV and purchased “Cast of thousands” on CD as soon as it was possible. I didn’t even consider there would be a letdown given my lofty expectations and thankfully, the album didn’t disappoint in the least. Titled for the idea that they enlisted and recorded the Glastonbury crowd singing the refrain of one of the album’s tracks but really evoking how the band doubled down on the followup to their successful debut. Listening to the album over and over again that first week, I came up with a new descriptor for them: beauty, personified.

I distinctly remember taking the CD with me on a trip down to Toronto to visit my friends, Discman company for the long Greyhound bus ride, there and back. I stayed with my friend Tim that weekend, whose birthday it was, if I correctly recall, sleeping on the pullout couch in his basement apartment. On one of the afternoons, a couple of other friends came over and we span tunes, drank beers, ate Pizza Pizza pizza, and played Axis and Allies** for hours. When it was my turn to select the tunes, I slipped on “Cast of thousands” much to the eye rolling of my friends and though I think they got more of an appreciation, I don’t think any of them were entirely sold or as enthusiastic about the album as I was. Maybe it was my fault for talking it up so much. Their loss.

“I blow you a kiss
It should reach you tomorrow
As it flies from the other side of the world”

The second single and track three on the album is “Fugitive motel”. It begins with the barking of dogs off in the distance, followed by sinister guitars, a brushing away at the drums, strings awash, and a lonely piano. Over it all is Guy Garvey’s plaintive vocals, a depth of tone, and a layer of guilt and hurt. His is a protagonist, disheveled and unshaven but unwavering in hope in the face of eternity. It is less a narrative than a feeling – lovelorn and lost and far away. Strong imagery, cinematic in scope, the cheap and seedy hotel room as a prison, a captive in a dream, the whole world desolate and forgotten. But still Guy waits.

*”Red” came in at number twelve and “Any day now” was the top song on the list.

**A strategy game, not unlike Risk but more involved, in which you redo WWII.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2003 list, click here.

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100 best covers: #30 Eddie Vedder “You’ve got to hide your love away”

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Well, we’re finally breaking into the top thirty on this list of my favourite ever covers and it’s Pearl Jam frontman doing The Beatles’ “You’ve got to hide your love away”.

This is the fourth cover of a Beatles song we’ve seen on the list so far* and the third track to be pulled from the “I am Sam” soundtrack. In the two previous such posts, I mentioned how the soundtrack for the 2001 film consists solely of Beatles covers, faithful in track length and time signatures, given the filmmakers were not granted the rights to include the originals and that the songs had already been selected for already filmed scenes. It was a brilliant save by the filmmakers and the result is probably a more interesting soundtrack than it might have been, as great as The Beatles’ originals of those seventeen songs were.

It’s no accident that I am timing this post to follow the one counting down albums ten through six in my Best film soundtrack series. If you’ve been following along, you’d know that “I am Sam” didn’t appear as one my honourable mentions back on February 1st, nor was it amongst the latter half of my top ten. And when I saw this particular post on radar to write, I thought I’d take the opportunity to clear the air before moving into the top five – “I am Sam” won’t be one of them. Great concept yes, and some of the renditions were quite successful, but I’d say that almost of half of them were less so, making the whole less than its parts. An uneven listen.

Eddie Vedder’s cover was another one of the bright spots. Faithful to the original, not only in sound but also in spirit, a playful wink of the eye.

Much has been made of the fact that the John Lennon-penned “You’ve got to hide your love away” was his attempt at Bob Dylan. Successful or not, the fourth track on side one of 1965’s “Help” album is Lennon singing solo overtop a bed made of mostly acoustic guitars. Sure there’s a bit of percussion but it’s definitely before Dylan went electric and where Mr. Zimmerman would typically accompany himself with a harmonica, The Beatles opted for some flutes in its place.

Vedder opted for similar ethos with his cover. You can almost imagine him standing on a New York City street corner with a harmonica neck holder around his neck, a kick pedal attached to a high hat at his feet. The production even sounds dusty, DIY, and of a different time.

Lovely stuff indeed. Better than the original? Well…

Cover:

Original:

*The three previous posts were Rufus Wainwright’s “Across the universe” at #90, Cornershop’s “Norwegian wood (this bird has flown” at #69, and Sarah McLachlan’s “Blackbird” at #58.

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.