Tag: Gothic rock

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Best albums of 1990: #4 The Sisters of Mercy “Vision thing”

As I’ve written on these pages before, it was my friend Tim that introduced me to the iconic gothic rock band, Sisters of Mercy, way back in high school. To start with, I would hear the group playing in his parents’ borrowed car whenever we went out somewhere. Then, it was the mixed tapes or the second side of a blank cassette, on the first side of which I asked him to record some album or other. A Sisters of Mercy song would always appear. Finally, I bit and asked him to record me one of their albums and this is how I first came to
“Vision thing”.

This was the Sisters’ third and final proper studio album that they ever released, even though the group has continued to ‘exist’ in some form or other ever since Andrew Eldritch put them together back in 1980. We saw a couple of singles released in the first few years after the 90s began but even those dried up. Eldritch has continued to write, though, and these songs have appeared on set lists as the group continues to tour, right up to today, but nothing has been recorded and released officially to the public. There have been rumblings over the years of possible releases and Eldritch himself had posited half-jokingly that it might take a Donald Trump presidential win for them to get motivated but that was for the first time around and of course, Trump won twice and still no new music.

Interestingly, I’ve heard that “Vision thing” was inspired by the Sisters’ frontman’s thoughts surrounding George Bush (Sr), another polarizing republican American president, and his policies, which also had a worldwide impact. The album is eight epic songs*, all requisitely dark and foreboding, and that in spite of Eldritch, only furthered the group’s place in the pantheon of goth. It followed the tradition of the previous two albums, of being recorded by a completely different set of musicians that had worked on the previous. Joining Eldritch and his trusty drum machine, Doktor Avalanche, for “Vision thing” was Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s Tony James on bass, a young Andreas Bruhn on guitar, and Scottish vocalist Maggie Reilly provided backing vocals to many of the tracks.

Apparently, it was a difficult album to make, many different versions of each of these tracks were recorded, and the personnel themselves have publicly wondered how much of their contributions made the final cuts. What we know for sure is that the final versions settled upon were actually ones that came out of the early sessions, being rawer and more immediate.

“Vision thing” did reasonably well on the charts and have hit sales certifications in both Germany and the group’s native UK. It is my favourite complete album of their three but this is likely because it is the one with which I am the most familiar.

I have spent lots of quality time and have loved all eight tracks on “Vision thing” so it was hard to pick the requisite three for you but I have endeavoured. I recommend you wait until dark, light a solitary candle, and pour some red wine before pressing play.

“Vision thing“: The opening track title (which was also the namesake for the album) was taken from a phrase George Bush (the sr.) used during his 1988 presidential campaign. And this isn’t the only reference to things said by the former American president or thoughts on his policies. “Vision thing” is the song that most overtly takes to task the subject that many have said inspired the record. “It’s a small world and it smells bad. I’d buy another if I had back what I paid, for another motherf*cker in a motorcade.” Andrew Eldritch pulls no punches. It’s raw and aggressive and angry. The guitars chug along and Doktor Avalanche does its thing, sure, but the frontman is what makes this song. His vocals snarl and roar, takes layered upon each other, as if there were an army of him, ready to take on the world and take down everything that angers him about it. It’s a great song to bash about and stomp your feet too. A real (goth) punk song.

“Ribbons”: I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the first song I’d ever heard by The Sisters but it was definitely the song that sold me and got me into them. I’ve told the story before but it begs repetition. I distinctly remember it being on in my friend Tim’s car stereo when he was driving a bunch of us home after a high school theatre event. I was in the back seat and Tim took one of our school’s infamously high speed bumps too quickly and much of the contents of his open coke can was transferred to yours truly just as Eldritch was shrieking “Incoming!” The carload of us found the coincidence way too funny so we repeated the song a few times while he dropped the lot of us at our homes and in those repetitions, I gained an appreciation for the uncompromising chainsaw guitars, the equally foreboding drum machine, and Eldritch’s evocative lyrical imagery and singular delivery. “Her lovers queued up in the hallway, I heard them scratching at the door, I tried to tell her about Marx and Engels, God and Angels, I don’t really know what for.” Is it about a one night stand, sex with a bewitching prostitute, or is it an anti-war, anti-nukes song? Could be be all three and probably is. “Incoming!”

“More”: I fully admit that I am going to plagiarize myself a bit here since I’ve already written about this last song on these pages a few times already. It was the first single to be released off the album and features heavy handed piano, synth washes, muscular, machine gun guitars, and the backing vocals of Scottish singer Maggie Reilly. The version on the album is epic long at just over eight minutes, making full use of its Jim Steinman production. It is big and menacing, riffing on the love as a drug theme, dangerous and painful and wouldn’t be traded for all the world. “All I want, all I need, all the time is more of your sweet love. Too much just ain’t enough. I never needed a fix like this before.” It is equally perfect for blasting while driving down dark country roads or dancing to in packed and sweaty clubs while the strobes make you question your reality. I have memories of doing both, many times over the years.

*It was of course, coproduced by Jim Steinman, famous for his work with Bonnie Tyler and Meatloaf on “Bat out of hell”.

We’ll be back in a handful of days with album #3. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. The Northern Pikes “Snow in June”
9. Jane’s Addiction “Ritual de lo habitual”
8. Sinéad O’Connor “I do not want what I haven’t got”
7. The La’s “The La’s”
6. Concrete Blonde “Bloodletting”
5. Spirit of the West “Save this house”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

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Albums

Best albums of 1990: Albums #10 through #6

A couple of posts ago, I initiated a new mini-series focusing on my favourite albums of 1990. I shared some words on the concept, the fact that 1990 was the year with which I started out this blog, focusing then, on its best tunes, and finally, providing a handful of album honourable mentions. So I’ll not blather on too much today for preamble. If you’re interested where I was musically and in life in general that year, have a looky-loo here. Otherwise, I’ll dig right into albums 10 through 6 of my list of top albums for 1990*.

Enjoy!

#10 The Northern Pikes “Snow in June”

The Pikes’ third and best-selling record feels inextricably tied to my DNA sometimes. It’s not one I listen to often anymore but whenever I do, it instantly transports me back to my teenaged bedroom, where listened to this cassette tape on repeat, constantly flipping sides, while playing hours upon hours of ‘Pool of radiance’ on my C64. It’s way more than just the ubiquitous CanCon classic, “She ain’t pretty“. There’s thirteen solid rock tracks that are tempered by folk leanings and varied in sound according to which of the three vocalists wrote and led the singing on each. Perhaps the nostalgia is strong here but I stand by my love for this album. It’s unfortunate that the Saskatchewan-based quartet couldn’t keep the momentum up for their next album.

#9 Jane’s Addiction “Ritual de lo habitual”

Jane’s Addiction’s second proper studio album was handed to me on cassette tape by a friend and fellow new initiate to the alternative music scene, calling it industrial and comparing the group to Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, both bands I was just getting into. Of course, Jane’s weren’t really industrial but they had that similar rage and wild sound and perhaps even more so in a sense. There’s so many great tracks on ‘Ritual’ and I’ve always thought that what set them so apart was that the songs are all slightly unhinged, as if the whole ship could all fall apart at any moment. This orchestrated chaos was what made the American quartet led by Perry Farrell so great but it was also their undoing**. They broke up at the end of the tour for the album, the finale of which also saw the group headlining the very first Lollapalooza festival.

#8 Sinéad O’Connor “I do not want what I haven’t got”

I remember buying this album on cassette tape as part of Columbia House’s 9 albums for a penny, way back in the day, and for the longest time, only listening to “Nothing compares 2 u” because that was the song I knew from my weekly viewing of the Chum FM 30. Once I moved past that one tune, though, I grew to appreciate Sinéad’s other material. I later migrated away from listening to her, not because of her infamous photo burning appearance on SNL or her outspokenness on many topics, but because my tastes took me in a different direction. However, I’ve since returned to this album many times over the last couple of decades. Sinéad was a great songwriter. Not just a lyricist but also in the way she created a sound, sometimes infusing Celtic folk sounds with funky drum beats and sometimes leaving it all bare, singing a capella and including her inhalations of breathe as another tool in her tool belt. Such a legendary voice and polarizing persona.

#7 The La’s “The La’s”

You’ve heard about one hit wonders, right? Well, how about one album wonders? The La’s were a five-piece Liverpool-based rock act led by Lee Mavers that were active from 1983 to 1992. They released a handful of singles throughout that time, including one of my favourite one hit wonders, “There she goes”, but only ever managed the one studio album before disbanding***. But what a great album it was. The self-titled debut is filled with short and jangly rock gems that dig their way into your head and root themselves in there for good measure, much like another act from that same England town. It’s another one of those great rock ‘what if’ stories. Who knows what a second record would have meant to the band and perhaps rock music as a whole.

#6 Concrete Blonde “Bloodletting”

Concrete Blonde’s third album was oh-so-close to breaking into my top five for 1990. Previously, the sound of the Hollywood-based, indie rock trio led by Johnette Napolitano was mostly pedestrian rock and yet, their following was meagre, being picked up mostly by the college radio kids. With “Bloodletting”, they ventured into gothic rock territory and surprisingly, found commercial success for the first time. I remember listening to this album around my wife at one point early on in our relationship and she was surprised that I was listening to a band that she knew. But this album is so much more than “Joey“. Every track is dark and haunting and full of soul and drenched with meaning for me. I could listen to this album all night long.

*With each album in this post, I’ve tried to choose a representative track that was not featured on my Best tunes list for 1990, partly to show the breadth of each and partly to avoid being repetitive.

**I’ve often thought that it could have been Jane’s and not Nirvana that broke alternative to the mainstream, had they managed to survive the touring cycle for this album.

***There were a number of attempts at reforming over the years but none have really stuck up to now.

Stay tuned for album #5 on this list. In the meantime, you can check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

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Best albums of 2024: #1 The Cure “Songs of a lost world”

If you’ve been following along, you might have guessed this album to be here at number one, given its conspicuous absence thus far.

I’ve been a fan of The Cure for many years, close to four decades in fact. Yeah, I’m aging myself here but what can you do? I first got into the post-punk legends led by Robert Smith when I was in high school, shortly after the release of their seminal album, 1989’s “Disintegration“. Alternative music became a passion amongst me and a few friends, with each of us introducing the others to the latest bands, in a time before the internet. I’m pretty sure it was my friend John* that shared “Disintegration”, along with early singles compilation “Staring at the sea”, both of which I dutifully dubbed to blank cassette and quickly wore out from playing.

When “Wish” came out in 1992**, I wasted no time in purchasing it for my burgeoning CD collection and obviously played it to death. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for 1996’s “Wild mood swings” on either count. I did try to make amends with “Bloodflowers” in 2000*** but that was mostly because I had bought tickets to finally see the band live with my youngest sibling for that tour. I still don’t believe I have heard an ounce of either of the two albums Robert Smith and company released between that album and this year’s release.

All that to say, I certainly wasn’t expecting a new Cure album to be my favourite album of the year when the calendar turned to 2024 last January. But it certainly is and I’ll tell you why.

It could be just me but Robert Smith seems a completely different musician and person than he was in the early 2000s. I remember seeing them for that aforementioned show for the “Bloodflowers” tour and walking away disappointed. The setlist seemed more designed for him than for the audience. Contrast that with the next time I saw the group at Osheaga in 2013, when organizers had to pull the plug to get them to leave the stage, and even then, they performed “Boys don’t cry” without sound. I’ve heard that this is pretty much how all his shows go now. Playing everything he thinks his fans want to hear and having a great time doing it. And he’s been touring lots without releasing anything new for years, though the rumours of new material have been swirling faster and faster of late.

“Songs of a lost world”, The Cure’s 14th long player was finally released in November and it explodes through the speakers. It exudes all this passion that Smith performs with while on stage. People talk about how Cure albums waffle between goth records and pop records but this one feels like it nestles and nuzzles itself snuggly in between both. It is big and bold and is unabashedly The Cure.

At just eight songs, our number one album feels way too short, like we wouldn’t have minded it go on for another 45 minutes at least. However, Robert Smith has assured us that he’s got enough material in the can for a few more albums to come soon. Until then, let’s listen to this again and again and you could do worse than go with any of these, my three picks for you.

“Alone”: “This is the end of every song that we sing.” Quite the line to start off an album with. Indeed, it’s the first line on the first song and the first single to be released off the album. And that it comes just shy of the three and a half minute mark of a nearly seven minute song and that it just happens to be the first piece of new music to be released by The Cure in 16 years is both heartbreaking and beautiful. Of course, this was not random. Robert Smith knew he needed a great line to open the album and it might very well have been the reason that the long promised album kept getting pushed back. He’s readily admitted that once this line was written, the rest of the album fell easily into place. And this line, this song, is well worth all the waiting. The sweeping and trudging and haunting darkness that prefaces these words is simply gorgeous, so easy to get wrapped up in, that you almost don’t want any vocals to appear, that they might mar the perfection in some way. But of course, Smith doesn’t let this happen. His words, morose, moody, satisfied, whatever, they make the perfection even more so. How does it get better? Read on friends.

“All I ever am”: “My weary dance with age and resignation moves me slow, toward a dark and empty stage where I can sing of all I know.” The penultimate track on the album sounds like Mr. Smith reflecting on his mortality. But he does so with panache and in a way that only The Cure can do it. Of course, it’s morbid and morose, but it’s also set against an aggressive and tribal beat and haunting synths, ambulance sirens and elevated heart rhythms. There’s soaring guitars demanding to be forefront and twinkling keys content to take the back seat. It’s all very big and epic and romantic. And begs for more.

“A fragile thing”: “Don’t tell me how you miss me, I could die tonight of a broken heart.” This line and so many like it in this song is heartbreaking. The whole song is heartbreaking. Heartbreaking and truthful and real and beautiful. A song about a relationship in trouble, love when love is not enough, love that hurts, a relationship whose story is linear and long foretold. And the music is just as haunting. Menacing keys from an early eighties slasher flick, set against shimmering and blinding cymbals, and a foreboding bass line, the kind that keeps you up at night, cold sweat from a nightmare, reaching for comfort but only finding an indentation where a warm body should be. This is the kind of Cure single we’ve been waiting a couple of decades for and we are more than grateful to be able to crank it up and let all soak over us. Over and over and over again.

*Or maybe it was Tim?

**It was also around this time that I purchased an original pressing of “Mixed up” on vinyl. Sadly, I lost that one to one of my younger siblings when I moved away to university. I’ve since purchased a reissue.

***Thankfully, it was a better album than its predecessor.

I hope those of you that have been following along this mini-series of my favourite albums from last year. I am going to try to get back into a rhythm and a regular schedule after this. For those of you who haven’t been following along, here are the previous albums in this list that you’ve missed:

10. Quivers “Oyster cuts”
9. The Jesus And Mary Chain “Glasgow eyes”
8. The Last Dinner Party “Prelude to ecstasy”
7. Vampire Weekend “Only god was above us”
6. Real Estate “Daniel”
5. Wild Pink “Dulling the horns”
4. Wunderhorse “Midas”
3. Gift “Illuminator”
2. Ride “Interplay”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.