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Rating: Hello dear ones, here is my new (I won't say seventh) review, and true to my style, I'm reviewing another Gothic concert.
This time we talk about the legendary concert by the Sisters of Mercy released on VHS with the title "Wake." The concert was the final performance of that line-up, a performance made especially for the fans.
Let's take a step back into my personal life: it was the early nineties when I excitedly went to rent my first CDs from my trusted music store.
My initiation into Gothic was with the collection Some Girls Wander by Mistake by the Sisters, inside there were all the covers of the singles. What can I say, that music, those song titles, those lyrics, that image changed my life. They were TOO DAMNED, TOO SICK, TOO DARK.
Growing up, I realized that it was I who didn't want to be "normal" in a phase of my life, and I've changed since then, but that's another story.
The Sisters represented the macho and rock side of the English Gothic scene of the Eighties, they had a (then) very original sound and a singer with a low and cavernous voice, post-punk guitars at times, at others epic, with damned and rebellious lyrics.
Let's get to the concert:
It was held on June 18, 1985, at the Royal Albert Hall, at the height of their success and commercial following, a fame also due to the success of the Gothic movement phenomenon.
The curtain rises and behind the smoke machine, there are our four, you see a long-haired Wayne Hussey on guitar, Andrew Eldritch with a cowboy hat and a cigarette in hand, completing the band Gary Marx on the other guitar and Craig Adams on bass.
Throughout the concert, the director plays with lights and visual effects in a shoot that now appears a bit dated (and ridiculous).
It opens with First and Last and Always, and already under the stage, people are singing and dancing. The song has a very epic and immediate riff and a voice that shouts in the chorus. Followed by Body and Soul, and then Marian, very depressing and sad, with singing that rises and falls several times. Here comes No Time to Cry, also epic, with the anthem of the chorus.
"Walk Away" arrives, also powerful and energetic... it's clear that the setlist is based on the most gripping and rock pieces: the pattern is always the same, subdued verse and powerful chorus. Then there is Possession, I adore this song with a very catchy keyboard hook.
Then the cover Emma, Anphetamine Logic, here is A Rock and a Hard Place, energetic and to be sung in chorus, Floorshow, a special mention for Alice, one of the most maudit and sick songs in music history, with a simple but unique structure (for me THE sick riff par excellence), then Fix and Knockin' on Heaven's Door.
In conclusion, I say that over the years I've loved the various copycat bands (namely Garden of Delight, Love Like Blood, Dronning Maud Land, Rosetta Stone, Nosferatu, Merry Thoughts, etc.), but the Sisters, perhaps because of a unique period, are more in my heart.....
To be continued....
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 First and Last and Always (04:04)
See a body and the dream of the dead days
Following lost and blind
Living, far from here
Tomorrow is hard to find
And it seems like twenty-five years of
Promises and give me more
Scenes of a hand me down in
Dresses heard before
First and last and always: 'til the end of time
First and last and always: Mine
Maybe it's not so easy
Maybe it's a way too long
Say, say you'll be by me
When the evidence comes along
(My calling)
(My time)
See a body and the dream of the dead days
A following lost and blind
Cross my heart with silver
Here's the key behind
Seems like twenty-five years of
Ever after, ever more more more
Seems I wore this face for you
Far too long before
First and last and always: My calling, my time
First and last and always: Mine
First and last and always: 'til the end of the end of time
First and last and always: Mine
First and last and always: 'til the end of time
First and last and always: Mine
03 Marian (05:01)
In a sea of faces, in a sea of doubt
In this cruel place your voice above the maelstrom
In the wake of this ship of fools I'm falling further down
If you can see me, Marian, reach out and take me home.....
CHORUS
I hear you calling Marian
Across the water, across the wave
I hear you calling Marian
Can you hear me calling you to
Save me, save me, save me from the
Grave...
Marian
Marian, there's a weight above me
And the pressure is all too strong
To breathe deep
Breathe long and hard
To take the water down and go to sleep
To sink still further
Beneath the fatal wave
Marian I think I'm drowning
This sea is killing me
CHORUS
Was ich kann und was ich konnte
(What I can do and what I could do)
Weiss ich gar nicht mehr
(I just don't know anymore)
Gib mir wieder etwas schönes
(Give me something beautiful again)
Zieh mich aus dem Meer
(Drag me from the sea)
Ich höre dich rufen, Marian
(I hear you calling Marian)
Kannst du mich schreien hören
(Can you hear me calling?)
Ich bin hier allein
(I am here alone)
Ich höre dich rufen, Marian
(I hear you calling Marian)
Ohne deine hilfe verliere ich mich in diessem Ort
(Without your help I am lost in this place)
CHORUS
[repeat Marian til end]
04 No Time to Cry (03:55)
It's just a feeling
I get sometimes
A feeling
Sometimes
And I get frightened
Just like you
I get frightened too
but it's...
CHORUS
(no no no) No time for heartache
(no no no) No time to run and hide
(no no no) No time for breaking down
(no no no) No time to cry
Sometimes in the world as is you've
Got to shake the hand that feeds you
It's just like Adam says
It's not so hard to understand
It's just like always coming down on
Just like Jesus never came and
What did you expect to find
It's just like always here again it's...
CHORUS
Everything will be alright
Everything will turn out fine
Some nights I still can't sleep
And the voices pass with time
And I keep
[repeat]
No time for tears
No time to run and hide
No time to be afraid of fear
I keep no time to cry
CHORUS
05 Walk Away (03:34)
And in the summer when the clouds show through
I might go the same way too if
You and I could talk together
Well what am I supposed to do with
You and I would walk together
Then with always close around and
Now you gaze toward the doorway
When the weather comes falling down
CHORUS
And when the rain comes down
Would you choose to walk or stay
Would you choose to walk
Would you choose to stay
Would you
Walk walk walk walk walk away
(away) (away) away away (away) away
away away walk away
Would you choose to walk away
And when the rain comes down
Would you choose to walk or stay
Would you choose to walk
Would you choose to stay
Would you
Walk walk walk walk walk away
Though when the day is nearly
Through I might see the same way too if
You would name the things
That bring you down on me so I could say it's
Not quite true if you don't really
Know or understand the circumstance
Behind then I might clear your
Mind and you won't have to go so
CHORUS
06 Possession (04:39)
Carrion child,
Prey for me,play your
Wild card, see the house come down around your
Head, home to me, so much dreaming
Some say I'm growing cold and
Taking over
Nothing, cuts, two ways.....
Possession: taking over
Stand these pictures on your shelf
And wear your heart upon my sleeve,
Wear a dress that you can see through,
See yourself inside;
I'll be your imagination,
Tear apart what you believe,
Make a mess of your conviction,
Take away my pride and leave,
Nothing, but the debris,
Cuts, two ways,
Carrion child,
Prey for me, play your
Wild card, see the house come down around your
Possession: taking over.....
Possession: shake shake shake shake shake shake;
Possession: taking over.....
Somehow the fact takes over, and the fiction coming through,
Somehow I do my crying breaking down for you,
This way doubt takes over, contradiction coming through,
This way I do my lying, making up and making out for you.....
Possession: taking over
Child (nothing)
Prey for me (but the debris)
Play your wild card (cuts two ways)
Some say I'm growing cold and
Taking over.....Down around your
Head (nothing)
Home to me (but the debris)
So much dreaming, see the house come down around your
Possession: shake shake shake shake shake shake shake
Possession: taking over.....
Possession: shake shake shake shake shake shake shake
Possession: taking hold
07 Emma (06:19)
We were together since we were five
She was so pretty
Emma was a star in everyone's eyes
And when she said she'd be a movie queen
Nobody laughed
With her face like an angel
She could be anything
Emmaline
Emma
Emmaline
I'm gonna write your name high on the silver screen
Emmaline
Emma
Emmaline
I'm gonna make you the biggest star this world has ever seen
At seventeen
We were wed
And I worked hard to earn our daily bread
And every day
Emma would go out searching for that play
That never, ever came her way
And sometimes she come home and she'd be so depressed
I'd hear her crying in the back room and be so distressed
And I'd remember back when she was five
To the words that used to make Emmaline come alive
It was...
Emmaline
Emma
Emmaline
I'm gonna write your name high on the silver screen
Emmaline
Emma
Emmaline
I'm gonna make you the biggest star this world has ever seen
It was a cold and dark December night
When I opened up the bedroom door
To find her lying
Cold and still upon the bed
A love letter lying on the bedroom floor
IT read,
�Darling I love you
But I just can't keep living on dreams no more
I've tried so hard not to leave you alone
But I just can't keep trying no more�
Emmaline
Emma
Emmaline
I'm gonna write your name high on the silver screen
Emmaline
Emma
Emmaline
I'm gonna make you the biggest star this world has ever seen
08 Amphetamine Logic (04:08)
Watch them do
The falling over
Watch them do
The standing still
Nothing but the knife to live for
One life, all I need
Give me one good reason
Give me more S....
(Women)
And the women come and go
(Talk)
Talking about me like they know
(Men)
Bought and sold
And the world keeps turning
People cold
And people burning
Nothing but the knife to live for
One life, all I need
Give me one good reason
Give me more S....
Nothing but the knife to live for
One life, all I need
Give me one good reason
Give me more S.... (Amphetamine Logic)
Hit up
Steel in hand
Lit up
Like candles
Burning
Like Catherine wheels
Turning
On
Nothing but the knife to live for
One life, all I need
Give me one good reason
Give me more S.... (Amphetmine Logic)
10 Floorshow (03:52)
The bodies on the naked on the low damp ground
In the violet hour to the violent sound
And the darkness the blinding the eyes that shine
And the voices and the singing and the line on line
This is the floorshow the clapping hands
Animal flow from the animal glands
In the violet hour to the violent sound
Going round and around and around and around and around
I feel the bite I feel the beat I see the dancing feet
I feel the light I feel the heat I see the new elite
I see the final floorshow I see the western dream
I see the faces glow and I see the bodies steam
See them shimmy see them go
See their painted faces glow
Slow slow quick quick slow
See those pagans go go go go go
This is the floorshow the last ideal
It's populist got mass appeal
The old religion redefined
For the facile futile totally blind
Mundane by day inane at night
Pagan playing in the flashing light
In the violet hour to the violent sound
Going round and around and around and around and around
And the bodies naked on the low damp ground
In the violet hour to the violet sound
And the darkness the blinding the eyes that shine
And the voices singing line on line
See them shimmy see them go
See their painted faces glow
Slow slow quick quick slow
See those pagans go go go go go
11 Alice (03:34)
Alice pressed against the wall
So she can see the door
In case the laughing strangers crawl and
Crush the petals on the floor
Alice in her party dress
She thanks you kindly
So serene
She needs you like she needs her tranqs
To tell her that the world is clean
To promise her a definition
Tell her where the rain will fall
Tell her where the sun shines bright
And tell her she can have it all
Today
Today
Pass the crystal spread the Tarot
In illusion comfort lies
The safest way the straight and narrow
No confusion no surprise
Alice in her party dressed to kill
She the thanks you turns away
She needs you like she needs needs her pills
To tell her that the world's okay
To promise her a definition
Tell her where the rain will fall
Tell her where the sun shines bright
And tell her she can have it all
Today
Today
Alice
Don't give it way
12 Fix (02:52)
Love for the party love for the nation
Love for the fix for the fabrication
Love for the corpse for the corporation
Love for the death and for the defecation
Romance and assassination
Give me the love of genocide
Give me love
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