The Sisters of Mercy: Official Albums (1985-93)

First and Last and Always (1985)

In my experience, the first TSoM album is a love it or hate it event for most people; indifference is rare.

The nihilistic sounding 80s rock music engulfs the listener, but only really works its magic when played in the right environment. Like Joy Division or Bauhaus it's infused with a gloomy, repetitive atmosphere that can either depress or elate the individual. If you can embrace that, connect with it, it'll never leave you.

It's the album that's most responsible for the 'goth' label that dogged the band for years afterwards, a classification that they hated.

If you buy it new on CD you'll more than likely get the 2006 'Remastered and Expanded' version. That's generally considered a good thing because the previous edition had an inferior sounding mix that was the same as the Japanese vinyl pressing.

Floodland (1987)

Andrew Eldritch and Doktor Avalanche were all that was left of TSoM after the first album, and seeing as how Doktor Avalanche doesn't have a body, Floodland is basically an Eldritch solo album.

It sounds like it was conceived to be played in a sunken cathedral, a place where echoes and ghosts were once one and the same thing, manifested now as currents that carry a listener to their secret destination. It’s a soundtrack to the opening of your eyes to the bastardry of love and the reason the world is all wrong.

Get the extended version for sparkly bonus track goodness, including a 12 minute version of Neverland.

Vision Thing (1990)

The third and final official album of original material is a huge departure from where the Sisters started out. Listen to it without knowing anything about the earlier releases and you'd wonder where the goth connection ever came from. It's fast and punchy, almost radio-friendly power-pop played in a rock style. Eldritch's vocals are clearer than ever, there's more guitars and less dark brooding synth.

Just because it's different doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, it's a bloody great album, but not very much of it resembles a typical TSoM release. If you hated them before, it might be worth giving Vision Thing a spin?

Some Girls Wander by Mistake (1992)

...into the mess that scalpels make.

The first of two compilations is a lengthy collection that fills a CD to bursting point with the difficult to find early vinyl releases from 1980 to 1983. Even if you can track the originals down, and verify they aren't bootlegs, the chances are they'll be too damn expensive to acquire.

The striped-down sound can be cavernous and muddy to non-fans, and admittedly Doktor Avalanche sounds primitive, but for Sisters lovers it's a genuine goldmine of classic era output, and serves as a history lesson in the power of atmospheric minimalism.

A Slight Case of Overbombing (1993)

The inevitable Best Of... but it's one that collects all the A-Sides of the singles, so it includes stuff that isn't on any of the previous albums, which means it warrants a purchase.

Under The Gun, Temple of Love (1992 - Touched by the hand of Ofra Haza), and some remixes are all new, unless you were lucky enough to have bought the singles at time of release.

It does what very few Best Of... albums do: manages to be both a good starting point for listeners who have yet to be turned onto the band's infectious beats and an essential purchase for existing fans.

It says Volume One on the front cover, but there never was a Volume Two. The tease was reportedly a 'Fuck you!' to the record company.

Even though they've effectively left the studio bullshit behind, Eldritch continues to tour under the Sisters of Mercy name and has even penned some new songs. Like most fans, I selfishly hope that someday he'll get his ass to an independent studio and put them down on tape for self-distribution, but the chances of that happening are lessening with every passing year.