Thoughts on love and war from the man who would not pledge allegiance
Written: Feb 15 '05 (Updated Jan 12 '06)
Product Rating:
Pros: Andrew invading the techno arena. Dancey AND deep, an abnormal combination. Sounds really BIG.
Cons: Totally peters out at the end. "This Corrosion" just goes on and on...
The Bottom Line: Andrew proving he has what it takes to go it alone in the music biz. A musical hydra with lots of handsome heads. Each one wearing dark shades, of course.
I have long supported the theory that conflict produces the best albums. Just like wars always seem to result in technical innovations (not necessarily a good thing), it appears that one's band must be full of strife and bickering in order to produce a masterpiece. In the case of Fleetwood Mac, it certainly doesn't hurt if half the band is banging the other half as well.
The Sisters of Mercy were not banging each other, nor were they really sisters. In fact, none of them were even female or merciful, which essentially makes their name a lie. They were a group of four men and a drum machine, none of which could get along (even the drum machine, Doktor Avalanche, was moody and unpredictable, as can be heard on some of their live bootlegs). Singer/anti-American/chain-smoker/perpetual wearer of dark shades Andrew Eldritch was basically the leader, and pretty much made the others do his bidding, which is naturally not the key to longevity in a band.
I am one of those who believes that "First Last & Always" was the height of the Sisters' glory. Andrew's lyrics and voice blended seamlessly with the dark melodic music of Wayne Hussey, Craig Adams, and that other guy to produce what has been described as a "Goth classic". Regardless of the genre one assigns it to, it was an inhumanly strong release that would've been hard for anyone to top. Some believe that Andrew did just that with the towering "Floodland", and while I hesitate to agree, I will concede that it's purdy darn great.
What was Andrew Eldritch's secret? Well, I believe that the aforementioned power of the "nyah nyah" was at work. You see, Andrew had a falling-out with Wayne and Craig, who both left to form The Mission UK in 1986 (the other guitarist, whose name I can't recall, had already departed Dodge). That left Andrew and the Doktor to carry on the Sisters and deal with the slagging he got in the press. So venomous was the split between the two camps that Andrew actually had to legally battle Wayne and Craig to keep them from the using the Sisters name (or any variation thereof, such as The Sisterhood). In fact, the name "The Mission" was probably cribbed from "Left At Mission And Revenge", the working title of the album that was due to follow "First Last & Always". Eldritch let it go at that and set about making an album that he hoped would blast his foes into the ground.
So what became of this competition between two teams of bickering Brits? Well, no one really won. The Mission UK's first album, "God's Own Medicine", is pretty good, but headed into territory more organic than the robotic bleakness of the Sisters sound. "Floodland", however, found Andrew forging ahead into moody cinematic dance club land, and it is considered by many to be an essential Goth-electronica-New Wave hybrid. It certainly set the Sisters apart, though it also marked the beginning of Andrew's dive into inactivity (since the release of "Floodland" in 1987, he has only released one proper studio album, 1990's "Vision Thing").
Andrew Eldritch did decide to hire a new member, former Gun Club bassist Patricia Morrison (who is now married to Dave Vanian, singer for The Damned). I don't know if she even played on the album, but that is her face next to Andrew's on the cover. Why he decided to bring her on board has always been a mystery to me, and my guess is that he wanted to get down her pants. Well, do you have a better theory?
The very first thing one might notice about "Floodland" is that it is every bit as grandiose, sweeping, majestic, etc., as the previous album was gloomy and brooding. For all the Gothic accusations it wears on its lapel, there is really nothing very dark about it (except for the mostly black cover and Andrew's super-low voice). Andrew hated the association people made between his work and the Gothic movement, and it seems that "Floodland" was his attempt to distance himself from the black-clad, bat-winged multitudes. I don't think it worked, however, since every Goth I've ever known clings to this album like a famished leech.
After a seemingly eternal spell of ranting, let me now introduce you to "Dominion/Mother Russia". It is a smashing opening track, with a mechanical rhythm for you to hit the treadmill to. Catchy guitar (or synth) line, driving bass, a kicking yet simple sax solo, and an expansive chorus with female backing vocals to give it grandeur. Andrew expresses his desire to see Mother Russia rain down on our Yankee heads, and kicks out poetry like "there's a lighthouse in the middle of Prussia, a white house in a red square/I'm living in films for the sake of Russia, a Kino runner for the DDR". Sounds neat, but what it could mean is for you to tell me.
"Flood I" is a slower brood, where guitars menace us with feedback throughout. Synth-driven, kind of Middle Eastern in a mechanical way. Andrew finds himself "sitting here now in this bar for hours while strange men rent strange flowers/I'll be picking up your petals in another few hours/in the metal and blood, in the scent and mascara". God, this guy is an awesome lyricist.
Andrew supposedly wrote "Lucretia My Reflection" as a welcome of sorts for Patricia Morrison. It's a dance club fave, with more juggernaut drums and incessant bass thuds. Andrew hears lots of things here, such as an "empire down" and "the sons of the city and dispossessed". His recommendation? "Get down, get undressed/get pretty but you and me/we got the kingdom, we got the key".
I've always had a soft spot for "1959", though the song's significance has eluded me for the past decade or more. It's just a sad piano and Andrew's Death Valley croon. Do you feel like 1959, Isabelle?
OK, here's where I'm asking to get crucified. One of my least favorite Sisters songs ever is "This Corrosion", though I'm sure you and the rest of the world adore it. Maybe it's the length (nearly eleven minutes), or perhaps the choral voices remind me a bit too much of "You Can't Always Get What You Want". I know that people sweat their designer drugs out to it on the techno floor, but it just does nothing for me. There is a metal solo of sorts, for those of you who need such things, and the "kill the king when love is the law" line always grabs my attention, but the refrain of "hey now, hey now now, sing this corrosion to me" makes me want to beat my head against a sharpened stake.
Other than some lyrical similarities, "Flood II" bears little resemblance to part one. Reminds me of The Fixx, and Andrew sounds as if he recorded his vocal tracks in a cathedral. Strange men are renting strange flowers again (must be some European hobby), the feel is slightly upbeat and dancey, the water is on its way. This guy can take a simple line like "this is the way it was, this is the way it is" and make it seem as though it came from the mouth of Confucius.
The wintery "Driven Like The Snow" has a similar tempo/rhythm to the previous song, but is more romantic in feel. The whole album has a Cold War vibe-theme-concept thing going, and this track finds someone or something being "given away to the west". It also contains what may be one of Andrew's most infamous verses: "I don't go there now but I hear they sung their 'F*ck me and marry me young'/some wild idea and a big white bed, now you know better than that I said". I think the F-word part even made it on a T-shirt.
And now begins the string of songs that prevent me from giving this album a full five stars. "Never Land (a fragment)" is really nothing more than that, kind of a slow underdeveloped piece that sounds like an early Sisters single. Has as downbeat a bass line as you can imagine, with icy synth notes bouncing around. The narrator apparently had a gun, money, and a ticket to Syria before he lost it all. That's OK, though- Syria's not the ideal place to be right now.
The first of the two bonus tracks is "Torch". It and the next song both feel like after-thoughts; perhaps Andrew just didn't quite know how to end the album. We are served up a slow electronic beat, acoustic strums, and lyrics that have a simple poetic charm, but the track fails to capture the majesty of its predecessors. Would he walk upon the water if he couldn't walk away? That is the question we are forced to ponder.
Bringing up the booty end is a seven minute repetitious exercise that goes by the name of "Colours". This song first appeared on "Gift", Andrew's stop-gap album that he released as "The Sisterhood". If a crawling techno beat accompanied by synths both long and pulsing is your cup of pee, then chug away liberally. The lyrics consist of a single verse that gets repeated again and again.
And that is what awaits you on the album known as "Floodland". A string of rock-solid songs, with a lengthy flaw planted in the middle ("This Corrosion") and a trio of meaningless splinters at the end. Dated production values aside, it is still an entertaining and relevant listen after all these years. Andrew followed it up three years later with "Vision Thing", but many dismiss that album as a poor attempt to meld hard rock to the rigid Sisters rhythmic approach. I disagree, but that is a topic we'll look at later.
Isn't it obvious that I recommend it? The lesser songs are not that big of a deal, especially now that we can skip tracks. As I mentioned toward the beginning, this was Andrew's big F-Off to Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams, but it's also so much more than that. One would be hard pressed to find an album that skips from poppy to brooding to sexy to sad with such effectiveness. The lyrics seem to be the vague outline of a story, but it doesn't really demand one's attention. Throw it on, kick back, and listen to the sounds of a British cynic imploring Mother Russia to wash away our mobile homes in a tsunami of nuclear fire.
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