Product Description

The Sisters Of Mercy's debut, 1985's FIRST AND LAST AND ALWAYS, is the definitive goth record. Combining the filtered punk-inspired angst and fury of Bauhaus, a machine-honed brittleness, and the literate dourness of artists like Leonard Cohen (whose songs are referenced in both the Sisters' lyricsand by their name), it's an amazingly solid album.
Highlights include "Marian (Version)" and "Some Kind of Stranger"; on the first, Andrew Eldritch's vocals (about half of which are in German) are felt rather than heard, an effect accentuated by crystalline guitar notes. The latter song is arguably the most spectacularly gloomy song that the goth movement ever produced--nearly seven and a half minutes of soaring keyboards, morose, tortured vocals, and aching, brittle guitars. Fans might wish to note the album's 1992 remastering cleans up the sound quality significantly, but whichever version you hear, this album is an extraordinary document.

Track Listing

1. Black Planet
2. Walk Away
3. No Time To Cry
4. Rock And A Hard Place
5. Marian
6. First And Last And Always
7. Possession
8. Nine While Nine
9. Amphetamine Logic
10. Some Kind Of Stranger

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31810 in Music
• Released on: 1992-06-22
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

First and Best and Always
For me this is the best album ever, or at least the best Goth album ever. Andrew Eldritch's haunting lyrics and deep deadpan voice deliver his message perfectly. The whole album sums up what goth really is. It is dark, it is austere, often romantic, often bleak. It is life. It is real and honest. IT IS NOT DEPRESSING. This album delivers all this with some mysticism thrown in.

25 years on and this album still holds up as THE Goth masterpiece although it has aged. This was the first and best Sisters line up and the guitars, bass and lyrics, backed up by the unmistakeable drums of Doktor Avalanche give that quintessential 80's gothic sound. Supreme.

Anybody with the slightest liking of music should add this to their collection and sit and really listen to Black Planet, No Time to Cry, Nine While Nine and the epically tragic Marian which is surely the star of the show. And for anybody purporting to be a goth, this is a MUST have in your CD collection.

Sisters of Mercy - First And Last And Always
This album, when I first heard it, comsumed me completely; it awoke in me a feeling of awe, a feeling that I had never experienced before and expect never to feel again. This album is, in so many ways, unique; the only album the "True" Sisters Of Mercy released, the only album that contains the brilliant guitar team of Gary Marx and Wayne Hussey, carried by Craig Adams' powerful bass and, of course, the cold, harsh voice of Andrew Eldrich and the constant passionless pulse of Doktor Avalanche. This album stirs thew soul, it is the embodiment of that time when music had reached a new plateau; so nilhistic, so cruel and yet it is an epiphany, a self realisation. The title track begins with tinny guitar accomaniment, which is then picked up and carried by Adams' rich, deep bass chords before, finally, the voice of the venerable Doktor brings forth Eldrich, the death of love and the promise of only failure and accepance of defeat. No Time To Cry takes from us what hope we may have once held onto, A Rock And A Hard Place shows us the worth of love and life and Marian sings of lost love and love unfulfilled. This album, is so cold and devoid of passion; it is still one of the most powerful albums ever released and I dare anyone to listen to this and not be moved by it. AND THEY ONLY GAVE ME FIVE STARS TO VOTE WITH!!!

Jeesuz!
This is just such an atmospheric album that just oozes more and more character with every listen. This has been in the top five of my play lists for 20 years! From the opening notes of Black Planet you are just sucked into a luxuriously dark and mesmerisingly warm soundscape. For a 'Goth' album this is not depressing but truly liberating. The lyrical content, laced as it is with Eldritch takes on TS Eliot, is superbly matched to the mood music. An absolutely seminal album. There is raw energy and emotion in this album which neither Eldritch nor The Mission ever recaptured. BUY THIS. KEEP THIS.