039. Ghost Dance - Gathering Dust

As the leaves turn delightfully to myriad shades of red, orange and yellow, my running routes begin to feel extensively barren, no longer bulked out with a fleshy green padding. This annual transformation also affects my musical purchasing and playing habits too. As the days get shorter and nights become longer, the techno gets more mechanical, looped and harder, trance becomes deeper, hypnotising but with an uncomfortable edge, all the while 80s post-punk and goth storm up the playlists.

Gathering Dust is the latest purchase in the latter category. Radiating with eyeliner and big haired charm, Ghost Dance dropped into existence during the deepest darkest depths of 1985 when Anne-Marie Hurst (née Skeletal Family), and Gary Marx (née The Sisters of Mercy) got together to write some tunes after leaving their respective bands. The history of their journey can be heard clearly throughout the LP. Expect drum machine rhythms, twangly reverbed lead guitar lines, and lots of lead like work with the bass guitar. In retrospect, this almost seems generic and clichéd, but at the time this was “the” sound to have. I only wish my own musical talents could craft something similar.

Gathering Dust was a compilation LP, collating the bands collected material thus far. Sadly though, this was to mark a shift in Ghost Dance’s sound. Much like The Banshees and The Cure, by the 90’s their releases became markedly more mainstream and pop oriented.

Anne-Marie Hurst, of whom I can’t quite decide if she’s mega-hot or not, though will give the benefit of the doubt, is apparently back in the musical game. With a new line up, she will be performing both Skeletal Family and Ghost Dance tracks with some new ones thrown in for good measure. You can find out some more info here, on her myspace. Be sure to check out the youtube video of a Deeper Blue, she still sounds fantastic, her voice aging very well. I’d be very tempted, but my bank manger is less than supportive, not to mention the fact that I now know how far up the M1 Bradford really is.

Plus it's on my birthday, and will be celebrating in kind.

Ghost Dance - A Deeper Blue by dcp84

Ghost Dance – Gathering Dust: A Deeper Blue
[Karbon : KAR XL303]
(1987)

Discogs: €20.80

035. The Merry Thoughts - Psychocult

You really know when you’ve fallen for a genre when you start buying outside the cannon. Musos will generally be able to recognise the big hitters in any given popular style, but it’s only when you begin to fly under the radar that you start getting to the exciting stuff.

Enter The Merry Thoughts. Unmistakably, they are heavily modelled on the tried, tested and thoroughly approved Eldrichian industrial groove machine template. Arkham, the band’s front man even does a passable imitation of Von E’s vocals. This leaves us with the obvious problem; are the Merry Thoughts not just a blatant Sisters of Mercy clone?

I’ll let you decide, but keep in mind the following. Vision Thing, the most contemporary to Psychocult, is by far the worst of the three albums. The energy and vibrancy found in much of the Sisters’ back catalogue was only tapped to small degrees in comparison to its lineage. This lack of desire is certainly not a charge that can be levelled at The Merry Thoughts. In any case, we haven’t had a Sisters offering since 1993, is it really such a crime to head elsewhere when we can find something which is so sonically pleasing? Perhaps I’m being generous, but I’m inclined to say that here, imitation is the sincerest flattery.

Psychocult was the final album of a two album back catalogue, and had an all together darker, more cohesive sound than the first offering, yet still maintaining a pleasing balance between synth, guitar and esoteric lyricism. We Love To is by far and away the standout track; an up-tempo, dancefloor friendly bum shaker of a track.

The moral of this story? Never judge a book by its cover. Just because they wear black in excessive quantities doesn’t mean they can’t provide a monstrously danceable tune when they want to.

The Merry Thoughts - We Love To by dcp84

The Merry Thoughts – Psychocult
[Oblivion: SPV 085-61392]
(1996)

Discogs: €10.50

028. The Sisters of Mercy @ 02 Academy, Leeds [08-04-2009]

Expectation can be the cruellest of mistresses. Hold the wrong ones, and it can spoil a night with the potential to be the greatest of you life. Hold the right ones, and an average night can become one over which you romantically reminisce for the rest of your existence.

As hard as I may have wished, I probably wasn’t going to slip through a rift in the space-time continuum and pop out the other side in the Royal Albert hall armed with a ticket to 1985’s Wake concert. Would I emerge at the Royal Albert as a 1 year old? Would I be able to observe, but unable to interact with the environment? Would people flee in horror at the sight of my futuristic Peugeot 306? What would happen if I did something in the past to disrupt the development of my later life?! With such ideas thoroughly banished from my mind, and all metaphysical time paradoxes aside, I went to this gig with the following expectations. Never have I seen the sisters before. As each year passes, my chances diminish proportionally. With Von E around fifty, and a career in the armed forces in my sights for next January, the time to strike was now.

With tickets booked, the car was readied for a trek up the M1 to the birthplace of the Sisters, Leeds. I always knew that Leeds was in the north. But as we passed places which I thought were really really northern, it soon became apparent that what I though was the north, was in fact the (southern) midlands. Three hours later, we arrived in Leeds with a new appreciation of the UK’s geography. After finding the venue and collecting tickets it seemed a good idea to relax in the pub next door. After all, it’s hardly going to be busy save for a few hardcore fans, is it?

A wise man once told me that assumption was the root of all blunder. Turns out he was right. The venue was rammed, with bodies packed to the gunwales. All of whom seemed to be very tall. Despite the rather poor viewing location, the sound on offer was undeniably crisp and clean, with Dr. Avalanche featuring prominently in the mix. This was much to the chagrin of many in the audience, but the relentless thump of synthetic drums sat well with the lineage of electronic influences which have been variously explored in other posts on DMM.

The live sound was only really let down by the sub-audible vocals of Von E. While he is know for mumblings which can strain the listener’s ear at the best of times, on this night it verged on the ridiculous; you just couldn't hear a word at all. Lucky for me I already knew the words. Undeniably though, he does carry an impressive stage presence, prowling the stage, disappearing an reappearing from the murky swirls of smoke. Set wise, the music nicely spanned the sisters catalogue, featuring highlight from all the albums plus a selection of new music, yet to be released (if at all). The quality of performance varied wildly though. Some sounded poor - Alice felt weak and fatigued, while This Corrosion sounded amateur and unfinished. Others sounded as fresh as a spring morning - Dominion feeling like a pristine classic car, while The Giving Ground sounded simply epic.

On balance? Despite, the long trip, feeling very vertically challenged, and the lackadaisical vocals, this was a really really awesome night. Am I simply trying to rationalise an average to poor gig via a rational cost benefit analysis? I don’t know, possibly. But the expectations did, in no way, outweigh the pay off. As such, this will be a gig to remember for some time to come.

The Sisters of Mercy @ O2 Academy, Leeds
[08-09-2009]

Tune of the Night: The Giving Ground / Dominion

Ticket Price: £21 adv. +fees
Souvenir T-Shirt rating: £16

026. The Sisters of Mercy - Alice (Dirty Funker Mix)

For someone who wears clothes from places like Hennie’s, Mark’s or Gap, I have a rather unusual penchant for goth music. Who can explain why? A sociologist may point to exposure to indelible Eldrichian tones in my most formative years. Alternatively, a psychologist might suggest some primal desire to run around in black all day. Some how, I don't think so. although, now I think about it, a lot of my running kit is black.

In truth, I both find the subculture interesting, almost from an academic point of view, and I also know that some of pop music’s best kept secrets are provided by its black clad dissenters. It’s also often easy to forget that, despite retaining its status as a ‘deviant’ sub-culture, as a genre it did make an indentation into the charts. Both the Sisters and the Banshees, arguably the two most iconic bands of the genre, made appearances on Top of the Pops!

While goth bands are in no way averse from tinkering with synths or embracing the production values of electronic music, rarely do the realms of dance and goth meet successfully. It seems that neither world really finds a common language with which to communicate. It’s either goths trying to make what they think a dance record should sound like or ravers trying to make a record they think goth music should sound like.

When things do work, they are more than worth the wait. After finding a well made fan video on youtube of this track several years ago, I have been on the hunt for it ever since. It has traded at some ridiculous prices. Thankfully, I found it at a reasonable cost and snapped it up straight away. This track works because it manages to find a common language. It doesn’t sound like the original has been distorted out of recognition to meed the demands of the house genre. Similarly, the remix does enough to give justice to the aesthetic qualities of the goth genre, the breakdown being a shining example. The record even looks like a sisters release using very familiar artwork. While I’m sure this would rub up some of the purists the wrong way, I’d love to see what reaction this would get when dropped on a goth dance floor. I have an intuitive feeling it would work.

The Sisters of Mercy - Alice (Dirty Funker Mix)
[n/a : SOM001X]
(2004)

Discogs: £10.99

009. GDX - Corrosion

Cover versions of the Sisters inhabit a realm of music which is best left unheard. They inexorably tend to the fantastically sub-standard. Usually, some dodgy goth band takes it upon themselves to pay homage to whom they regard as their spiritual forefather and end up producing some god awful out of tune clamour which remorselessly drains all the inherent acumen of the original, leaving nothing but a spiritually empty din in its wake. They simply miss the point.

To date this is the only cover version I’ve ever heard that is at least serviceable. Amazingly, GDX have managed to surpass the serviceable and entered the realms of common decency. What sets this aside form the pack is that they are one of the few who actually do get it. It’s not another group just trying to echo the Sisters. They have their own sound, their own take, and offer another interpretation. But, what they have captured is the sheer swagger, arrogance, ostentation, pomp and circumstance of the original.

GDX - Corrosion
[Interdimensional Transmissions : IT 18]
(2003)

005. The Sisters of Mercy - Alice (1993)

Re-releases are a depressing fact of music. Especially prevalent in the world of electronica, artists frequently feel obliged to ‘update’ a classic song with fancy new remixes. The results are usually unfit for human consumption, going so far as to ruin any appreciation you may have had for the original and simply go to highlight the commercial nature of the music industry. Only one man in the history of music has ever successfully pulled this off: Andrew Eldritch. What beggars belief is the fact that this was done not only once, but twice. Metaphors about lightning and bottles aside, Alice (1993) is a banging tune.

While the black clad purists will no doubt bemoan the fact that 1993’s offering isn’t a patch on the 1982 original, the 1993 release does add something new, different and worthwhile into the mix; dropping the electro feel of the 80s for a more industrial synth and guitar driven sound. Still, no matter how hard one might try, the influence of Doctor Avalanche (the drum machine) means you just can’t escape the electronica factor with a Von record. When you consider the use of repetitive arpeggio guitar rifts, many of which could be given adequate justice recreated on a 303, and the heavy use of synths on both The Gift and Floodland, the Sisters’ sound frequently ventures into the esoteric electronic worlds of drum, synth and DJ than the purists would care to admit.

For example, watch the 1985 Wake concert and ask yourslef what we have here: a bunch of people, probably on all kinds of drugs, dancing like muppets to a repetitive drum beat, accompanied by strobe lighting, smoke machines and lasers. Sound much like many a rave I’ve been to. However, having never had the pleasure, perhaps I’m not in a position to comment. Conceivably there is some deeply metaphysical, culturally significant difference between wearing black and dancing to a drum machine and wearing colours and dancing to a drum machine. In truth though, speaking as someone who is looking at things retrospectively and stopping short of suggesting Eldritch is a frustrated Crasher Kid, I don’t think there is.

The Sisters of Mercy - Alice (1993)
[Merciful : MR 059 T]
(1993)