Merciful release

I’ve just picked up the digipak rerelease of the Sisters of Mercy’s First and Last and Always – I’m not a goth, honest, I just like some of the music. Others have commented on the much improved sound quality on the Sisters remasters (all distinguishable by digipak cases and sleeve notes taken from a recent Uncut magazine profile) and I’m going to confirm that: there’s detail on this thing which was just completely inaudible on the previous CD release, and it’s got that proper oppressive tone that the album should really have. Worth £5 from Fopp, definitely, as long as you like that sort of thing.

It’s interesting that this is a Warner/Rhino release with the Merciful Release logo prominent – Andrew Eldritch infamously burned his bridges with Warner in the early 90s at the same time as many other artists were doing the same thing (Prince also with Warner, resulting in that symbol and ‘SLAVE’, George Michael with Sony) by giving them in lieu of his contracted recordings a truly horrendous dance album, and since then the rotating Eldritch+session players Sisters lineup has been touring new material and releasing nothing. So this could possibly be a sign of reconciliation: the detail in this release (including embossed Eldritch lyric sheets and recording studio tape orders obviously from his personal file) indicates that they might be back on speaking terms and so could finally record again. It’s an intriguing possibility, as long as any recording is better than Vision Thing.