Tag: Gothic rock

Tunes

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

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date March 11, 2026
1 Comment on 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.

Tags 1980s, Alternative, Best tunes, British rock, Gothic rock, Retro, The Mission, Wayne Hussey

Tunes

Best tunes of 1994: #24 Cranes “Shining road”

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date January 28, 2026
1 Comment on Best tunes of 1994: #24 Cranes “Shining road”

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Here’s another song by a band whose introduction came by way of a sampler. Yes, they really did work!

Back in the latter months of 1994, I was living in a basement apartment just north of Toronto while attending my second year at York University. Although it was definitely a shorter commute from that apartment than it was in my first year driving in from my hometown, it still meant hanging about on campus, killing time between classes, haunting the library, the student centre, the arcades and games rooms, and the pubs. At some point nearing the end of the fall term, I was in the campus general store* in the York Lanes Mall, perusing the magazine section for music mags. I came across one that I’d never heard of before called CMJ New Music Monthly and flipping through, saw names of artists I knew and respected, names I wouldn’t always see in the mainstream press, outside of the British music mags. I got to the end and saw a sampler CD was included and was impressed by the artists featured there as well. I was sold**.

The first track on the CD compilation was the Brauer mix of “Shining road” by Cranes and it hooked me right away with its haunting minimalist approach and the trademark childlike vocals of Alison Shaw. As it would turn out, my friend Tim*** was discovering the band concurrently while attending Waterloo university, about 100 kilometres away. The lucky jerk got to see them in March 1995 in Toronto and covered their show for his university paper. Granted, Cranes certainly fell neatly into Tim’s gothic, dark, and heavy musical oeuvre, which also included bands like Sisters of Mercy, New Model Army, KMFDM, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Indeed, though the English alternative rock band has often been labelled as ‘Gothic’****, the band has not been happy about it. Cranes was formed by Alison Shaw and her brother Jim all the way back in 1985 and save for a brief hiatus near the end of the 90s, they were active until the end of the 2000s. They reformed again a couple of years ago for some shows and a new album in 2024. In all, they’ve released nine full-length studio albums, a couple of mini-albums, and a litany of EPs.

“She’s been making plans to go (you know)
Hit the bright lights, hit the road
To the city lights this time
Just don’t worry I’ll be fine”

“Shining road” is the opening track off Cranes’ third studio album, “Loved”. It catches your attention right away with those thumping ritualistic beats. The guitar strumming is restrained and taut, ominous and foreboding. At the chorus, though, things rev up considerably, to almost evil sounding levels. Yes, it plays the quiet-loud-quiet game, alternating between traipsing amongst dark clouds and stomping heavily through muddy puddles. Set all of that against the aforementioned childlike and haunting vocals by Alison Shaw and its pure magic. Pure black magic.

*Probably not the right name. I’m sure it’s long since closed.

**And blew a third of that week’s grocery budget in the process.

***It’s actually Tim’s birthday today. So this one goes out to you Tim!

****I included the very song that is the subject of today’s post on a “Goth” playlist I created and posted to these pages almost seven years ago.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1994 list, click here.

Tags 1990s, 1994, Alison Shaw, Alternative, Alternative Rock, Best tunes, British rock, Cranes, Gothic rock, Retro

Vinyl

Vinyl love: Concrete Blonde “Bloodletting”

Post author By jprobichaud
Post date October 31, 2025
2 Comments on Vinyl love: Concrete Blonde “Bloodletting”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Concrete Blonde
Album Title: Bloodletting
Year released: 1990
Year reissued: 2017
Details: standard black

The skinny: Well, it’s All Hallow’s Eve again and though it’s been years since I’ve celebrated it in any traditional sense and double that since I dressed up in costume as the holiday warrants, I know it’s an important one to many people and I do try to observe it every year in my own way. This year, as I often do, I’ll spin some gothic rock tunes, perhaps some Sisters, some Joy Division, or this album by Concrete Blonde. “Bloodletting” took the alt rock trio from California into gothic rock territory, their frontwoman Johnette Napolitano having been reportedly inspired by Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles novels, and scoring the group their best-selling album* in the process. I purchased this bare bones reissue when I saw it come up for sale on Amazon back in 2017 because it’s one of those albums** that I knew I needed in my collection, a total mood record that is playable front to back and to front again. And every time I do spin it, I get the urge to light some black candles and crack a bottle of full bodied red wine. Happy Hallowe’en everybody!

Standout track: “Tomorrow Wendy”