13th November - The Sisters of Mercy's Floodland

Artist – Album: The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

Released: 13^th November 1987

Sounds Like: “Yeah. We're gonna go to the graveyard and write poems about death and how pointless life is.”

Gloomy goth band The Sisters of Mercy, with only one album to their name, broke up in 1985. Lead guitarist Gary Marx’s departure, claiming that he could no longer work with band leader Andrew Eldritch, was the first warning sign and, once guitarist Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Adams also defected, Eldritch was left with only his trusty drum machine and just enough loose threads of tunes to make an album. Undeterred, he quickly formed The Sisterhood (in a bid to prevent Hussey and Adams from using continuing to use the same name) and released his semi-solo album Gift in 1986, which was something of a flop. Things at that point were looking even bleaker than usual for the king of darkness.

But then things started to turn around. Goth music was on the rise in the mid-to-late Eighties, and opportunities inevitably arose for a man of Eldritch’s particular set of skills. Returning to the name The Sisters of Mercy, Eldritch managed to convince bombastic producer Jim Steinman – he of Bat Out of Hell fame – to work on his upcoming single ‘This Corrosion’. With Steinman’s clout, Eldritch could ask his record company for whatever they wanted, and they did. Joined by 40 members of the New York Choral Society, ‘This Corrosion’ morphed into an excellent, epic hymn, reaching #7 in the charts and resulting in a grim performance on Top of the Pops. Two months later Floodland was released to critical acclaim and subsequent singles ‘Dominion’ and ‘Lucretia My Reflection’ also performed well. It’s not hard to see why either – the singles enjoy a unique blend of goth, metal, psychedelia and – dance? – and are great fun, whilst the slower numbers are stately and grand, adorned with Eldritch’s brilliant baritone croon. Dark and hypnotic, Floodland is certainly up there with the best of its type.

Vision Thing was released three years later and disappointed, and The Sisters of Mercy broke up for good shortly thereafter, with Eldritch presumably fleeing to his crypt to escape the daylight and gather his cronies for their next assault on the world of the living.

Albumaday... rating: 8/10

1.       Dominion/Mother Russia – 7:00

2.       Flood I – 6:22

3.       Lucretia My Reflection – 7:00

4.       1959 – 4:09

5.       This Corrosion – 10:55

6.       Flood II – 6:47

7.       Driven Like the Snow – 6:27

8.       Neverland (a fragment) – 2:46

 
Listen to ‘This Corrosion’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgifFdi8eio

1st May - The Cure's Disintegration

Artist – Album: The Cure - Disintegration

Released:  1^st May 1989

Sounds Like: Spider lovin’ goths

Just under a month ago I reviewed a 2008 album called Saturdays = Youth by M83; an album that I concluded did a great job at taking all the best bits of the 80’s, stuffing them into a chunky blender and indulging in the results. You won’t find the theatrical, angsty lyrics here, or the teenage spoken middle, or even the bombastic drums, but for the lush, all-consuming soundscapes Disintegration may well have been exhibit A.

Right from the off, the symphonic opener ‘Plainsong’ sets the standard for an album crammed with epic, magisterial pieces. Fan favourite ‘Pictures of You’ is lumbering and slow, but it’s so gorgeous and heartfelt that it could be the best song they’ve ever recorded. ‘Lovesong’ may be a love song, but it’s shrouded in melancholy. ‘Lullaby’ is creeping and eerie, with ominous strings and whispered, paranoid lyrics, whilst ‘Fascination Street’ pulsates hatefully. It’s an exceptional collection of tracks and amazingly well realised record.

For those that only really know The Cure for ‘Love Cats’ or ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ or ‘Close to Me’ - God, they’ve had some cracking songs haven’t they? - this may come as something of a shock; I mean there’s nothing here that even remotely qualifies as pop. But if you’re aware that there’s more to The Cure than ‘Friday I’m in Love’ (gosh, another great one) then you’re bound to have a lot of love for this. It may just be the finest album of their career.

Albumaday... rating:  8/10

1.       Plainsong – 5:12

2.       Pictures of You – 7:24

3.       Closedown – 4:16

4.       Lovesong – 3:29

5.       Last Dance – 4:42

6.       Lullaby – 4:08

7.       Fascination Street – 5:16

8.       Prayers for Rain – 6:05

9.       The Same Deep Water as You – 9:19

10.   Disintegration – 8:18

11.   Homesick – 7:06

12.   Untitled – 6:30

Listen to ‘Plainsong’:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZoYzne9Tpg