The Sisters of Mercy are a reminder that like Cocteau Twins & The Smiths of the potency of the single/e.p. format in the 1980s - building their sound over the releases compiled here and waiting five years before releasing their debut album `First and Last and Always.' Not something you'd get from bands these days or even in the last decade or so...
Some Girls Wander By Mistake was the compilation of their early years and a companion to the major label compilation A Slight Case of Overbombing. It includes their 1980 debut single The Damage Done, which became very collectable and was rumoured to have been paid for by the Psychedelic Furs' singer Richard Butler. I can't say that any of the three tracks are that exciting - The Damage Done is slightly better than the Gary Marx-compositions Watch and Home of the Hitmen.
The band expanded with the arrival of Craig Adams, later followed by guitarist Ben Gunn - a series of classic singles and e.p.'s were released. 1982's Body Electric b/w Adrenochrome was great stuff - drug inflected goth that nodded to their influences with included Motorhead, the Stooges & Suicide. Body Electric would be re-recorded for 1984's Body & Soul e.p., possibly in a superior version - while Adrenochrome remains a favourite, despite the fact its central guitar riff is a speeded up version of Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus!!!
The Furs' John Ashton produced the next wave of material - 1983's Anaconda b/w Phantom, the Alice/Floorshow/Phantom/1969 single, and the Reptile House e.p. Anaconda is a demented version of pop which some object to, I think it's fine, but do wonder why Good Things (which featured in a Peel Session of the era) didn't make the cut? Phantom is an extended soundtrack companion to the later Floorshow that featured on both the Anaconda and Alice singles and suggests the eclectic qualities that would become apparent in the "band" from 1983 to 1987.
Alice (later re-recorded in 1993) was a definite Sisters' classic, as was its companion Floorshow - both songs would survive in their live-sets over the following years. Alice is a chiming, spectral joy that sadly gave influence to a wave of bad goth acts with songs that have girls names in the title; while Floorshow has a primal dirgey bass that goes wonderfully with the Iggy-vocals and the lyrics that might be about a World War I trench or a moshpit at a Sisters concert! The cover of The Stooges' 1969 is sterling stuff, though sadly Adams and later Sisters' member Wayne Hussey would perform a dire version of it with their band the Mission. This one feels like Iggy fronting Suicide, which was probably the point.
The epic Reptile House e.p. was far more difficult and less catchy than its predecessor, though it appears to be a real fan's favourite and the six-tracks are probably the band's darkest collection of songs. Kiss the Carpet is an epic, slow approximation of metal whose lyrics fit with the narcotic haze of much of the band's material - it would be the common set opener for their concerts of the era. Lights is another ballad, Eldritch's whine "in the rain/in the rain" and the feel of the song would get extended on with later material like Afterhours & Some Kind of Stranger. Valentine is probably the most up-beat song here, which isn't saying much, and displays a more subtle sound that would give way to the joy that is Heartland on the next single. Fix is a junky-themed dirge with sinister moaning vocals followed by the circular guitars and pulsing drum machine of Burn and Eldritch's gothic moan...this is hardcore! Finally a brief reprise of Kiss the Carpet occurs, closing the densest release from the band called the Sisters of Mercy.
The compilation (non-linear) closes with 1983's final Merciful Release/indie single Temple of Love - this is the epic extended version of the title track, which again, would be re-recorded almost a decade later with guest vocals from the late Ofra Haza. It's much more epic and probably more rock and certainly lead to the exit of Gunn from the band (to be replaced by Hussey), later songs like This Corrosion, Dominion/Mother Russia and More came from this place! I always preferred the b-side Heartland which is a subtle refinement of material like Lights and Valentine, the Marx-Eldritch writing team clearly worked well, reaching its zenith on the second side of First and Last and Always. Finally there is a cover version of the Stones' Altamont anthem Gimme Shelter, which hasn't dated well but was one of their many notable cover versions played at the time (see Emma, Jolene, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Sister Ray, Ghost Rider , Teachers etc).
Some Girls Wander By Mistake is an enjoyable trawl through the early indie releases prior to the band signing up to Warners and disintegrating/metamorphosing soon after. Probably the best place to start with a band that seems to exist in a vague live form these days and were inescapable in the decade we call the 1980s.
