"and the devil in the black dress watches over, my guardian angel walks away, life is short and love is always over in the morning" my outlook on life in the 90's.......awesome tune, great memories of some fabulous times.
This is an epic dance floor track - that still goes off like a bomb in any alternative/ darkwave club - it’s not a ‘song’ lol. You break it down skilfully and it’s good to see you come around to the genius of it - the contrast! And of course the relentless energy. Enjoyed your insights tho I think you came at it a little mainstream.
This song is one of the most unique imaginable,,it has eastern european vocals,A haunting lead vocal, A DnB vibe, rock, goth i mean it has everything a music lover could dream of, whoever wrote and arranged this track is a complete genius,
Loved Floodland back in the day. Still have it somewhere. Andrew's voice is the stuff you scoop out of a pail that's been sitting too long and I love it.
Watching Andrew Eldritch and Ofra Haza perform this live on Top of the Pops is quite something. That video is on RUclips; it's an electrifying performance but it's only the 7" version.
Love your music room! Thanks for showing us around! You had me at Sisters of Mercy! What an unexpected collaboration but I loved it! Ofra & Andrew & Doktor Avalanche are really meshing well into an amazing dance mix!
If you search RUclips for The Sister's "Wake" you can watch a one hour performance. There is a definite connection between how they sound and what their stage show looks like. If you look up the very beginning of the band many things that are now hazy will become clear.
Wake is a let down because it was post Gary Marx. The closest thing in decent quality on RUclips of the classic sisters line up is the Old Grey Whistle Test performance of First and Last and Always and Marianne.
Just fyi: the mix of the original '83 version is a lot less muddy, the guitars are more focused and don't swamp the mix as much, and the drums sound less boxy. I prefer it, although Ofra's vocals on this version are great of course.
ps: out of curiousity, what is the keyboard? I assume it's a Roland based on the pitch/mod lever, but it's bugging me that I can't tell the model (yes, I am that sad).
The original version from 1984 without Ofra was a club dance floor hit for over 10 years. In the Top 5 underground classics of all time... Great times of independent non consumer-only made music with power and rebellion.
The best description of Eldritch's voice I ever heard was David Bowie being drowned in a bag of cats. It's by no means a great voice but it's an interesting voice and it works for the style.
I recommend you listen to their really early more minimalist stuff. Andrew uses more of his vocal range in many of those songs. Look up "Some girls wander by mistake" and especially "Floorshow" "Alice" and "Adrenochrome". Much more interesting sound.
If you are listening to it on MP4 you just won't get the range... Listen to it on Vinyl and it will sound amazing on a good system. The Album 'A slight case of overboming' which is their greatest hit album all sounds great. It was not so much a cult following, it was very much a musical genres that was Goth or Goth Rock that in some ways developed partly as an off-shoot that encompassed some elements of earlier punk era. It had many great bands such as The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Dammed, The Mission to name but a few. The was and still is a whole goth scene that has lasted decades and still contines
Musically I think its brilliant. Starting with a backbeat, great guitar riff, violin behind it, female voice is what completes it and when it starts it's like an engine that keeps going. And they add layers and build ups and get to breaks and verse and layering up again. Melody very beautiful. Male and female voices awesome. Build up and layering brilliant. Lyrics awesome. Everything comes together and magic happens. A very special song to me. I was 18 in 1997, hanging out with older guys. In the group a 25 year old woman. Very pretty and i was in love with her. She had a kid and i knew this. So for her birthday she invited everyone. She said to me you can stay and sleep at my house. Cool. End of the evening everybody left and just me and her and that surprised me. Where do i sleep? Couch? In my bed. Wtf. Got in her bed and she came into the room and i watched her taking all her clothes off, everything getting totally naked and she got into the bed. I was staring a the ceiling thinking what the hell is going on. What's wrong she asked? Well... I'm madly in love with you. She hugged me, we kissed and had sex till the sun came up. So then i had a gf 7 years older with a little boy. Everyone said don't do it, your crazy but I wanted to make it work. Accepted her kid as my own and gave them all my love. But it didn't work out and she broke up after 6 months. And it hurt and still does. That's temple of love for me. Her favorite song. It's love and like diving of a cliff where you can't see the bottom. Just go and not be scared of it. I loved every minute of it being with her and her son. No regrets, I gave it all.
I did buy the 12inch of this when it came out. Not as good as the original though, if you do listen to the bass of Emerald Forest. The melody of this song runs through the chords E G A. Learning it on the guitar....it uses a caged system. Though not a big fan of this version, that woman's singing reminds me of Yoko Ono's screeching.
A truly rivetting performace with added eastern exoticism. I recall Andrew Eldritch, in a 1990s interview, saying that he "had wanted to marry Ofra but would first have needed to get to know her better". Obviously, he didn't get very far with his aspirations. I guess that, as far as she was concerned, the prospect of being dubbed " Queen Goth" as well as having to bear the moniker " Israel's Madonna" would have proved too much to handle!
Imagine, being born with the surname Eldritch, how could you NOT succeed? FYI, you could have fun comparing The Sister's "1959" and Adele's new single "Easy On Me." Both display very minimalist production, basically mainly just voice and piano. Other than that the songs will never be accidentally confused one for the other.
"Floodland" was the album thar my death metal-loving (I know. A lost cause!) and my technologically-wired mind could, at last, both could agree on. I'm very grateful fore it. It shaped an integral part of my life. To more contemporarily attuned style of dancing, its just too fast. I can't see myself pogoing anytime soon! Which makes me think of that time this Swedish Bond Girl jumped on the stage at a gay club in Stockholm where some drag queens I can't recall performed, danced for a bit, then decided to try stage diving. Which made everyone on the floor instinctively take one step back! "Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's a Bond Girl! Take cover!" There was quite a bit of awkward arm flailing, but no one was seriously hurt. Forgot to say this, but I tend to get quite wordy when so inclined. Like two days ago, when I rewrote "À la recherche du temps perdu" in the comment section right over...there (points in a general direction). Which nobody asked for, but ta-daa! I just love words, and language and...stuff? Much to the detriment of my fellow man. /Trust me, I'm a copywriter from Sweden. Get with it! 🤡❗️
The sisters of mercy aren’t really a band you can make any good assessment of from analysing just one track. You would have to listen to many of their songs from different eras to really appreciate the generous inside Andrew Eldrich’s head, -which of course no one would expect you to do unless you were a fan. Good and fair review of this though, I’d expect more or less the same from any neutral 😇
So, let's review a classic killer Goth track after spending 10 minutes showing off my bedroom... then spend the rest complimenting the accent vocals rather than the band. Mixing isn't great?... this was recorded in 1992!!! Give them a break!
Did she just describe A.E voice as a cartoon character? SOM sold 5 million records how many has she sold? As for the production/ sound quality maybe try listening on a proper headphone rather than a budget offering from Curry’s. 😂
Great band and the collectiv album A slight case of overbombing is just fantastic this is the biggest hit they got but This corrotion/Mother Russia are almost as good Fun fact: Dr. Avalange is a drum machine
i think you got the idea of this song wrong, this is not about love, this is a song about two people using hard drugs and the ups and the downs caused by it. the 'temple of love' is a metaphor for hard drugs.
Great reaction like the way you break it down. How about checking out a young family band called Liliac 2 sisters and 3 brothers check out their original song called We are the children
"First, Last, and Always" is really frustrating for me. The production values don't match the music. The music is so good, the production is muddy to my ear.
You got almost everything wrong. First of all, the track is not a collaboration with Ofra Haza, she was invited to contribute to a legendary band’s track re-release just like Iggy Pop was invited to sing in The Cult's New York City, certainly not a "collaboration`'. You went into analyzing a goth rock vocal and failed, you cannot not fail there. He is not even singing - is Bob Dylan singing? Or maybe Napalm Death’s vocalist? You also refer many times to the term “industrial” which has absolutely nothing to do with SOM, it describes your poor listening experience and expertise. You said that the track was successful due to Ofra - again wrong; the initial release in 1983 was a limited one on Merciful Release Rec., it couldn’t have gone high in the charts. The 1987 SOM were signed to a major label and that pushed their sales, plus they had a new producer. Additionally, due to the split of SOM, both them and the Mission had a hiatus in their releases and both their debut albums (as new line-ups) were destined to succeed for that reason alone, that's how rock industry used to work prior to the advent of internet.
"and the devil in the black dress watches over, my guardian angel walks away, life is short and love is always over in the morning" my outlook on life in the 90's.......awesome tune, great memories of some fabulous times.
That was all of the “Fans “ out look in the 90’s.
The sisters were really mid eighties
This is an epic dance floor track - that still goes off like a bomb in any alternative/ darkwave club - it’s not a ‘song’ lol. You break it down skilfully and it’s good to see you come around to the genius of it - the contrast! And of course the relentless energy. Enjoyed your insights tho I think you came at it a little mainstream.
Remember, this was before auto tune and when music was more creative and not controlled as much by the record labels.
This song is one of the most unique imaginable,,it has eastern european vocals,A haunting lead vocal, A DnB vibe, rock, goth i mean it has everything a music lover could dream of, whoever wrote and arranged this track is a complete genius,
These aren't eastern european vocals at all. These are middle eastern.
Eastern european vocals are what you'd hear in a genre called "ethno-folk".
When Eastern Europe meets Jewish Yemen you mean? She was a Jew of yemeni origin who sang as an Israeli!
As soon as I saw this song I hit the like and play button. This band is one of my all time favorites.
bertter listen first her reaction.... because its only crap....
Absolutely LOVE Ofra Haza's voice, wish she had been alive to do some pop songs from now😍🙏🥺
Loved Floodland back in the day. Still have it somewhere. Andrew's voice is the stuff you scoop out of a pail that's been sitting too long and I love it.
The first song I was thinking of seeing your Ofra serie…… but it took you soooooo long! Best Ofra song ever!
This song is one of the best ever.
Never gets old.
Watching Andrew Eldritch and Ofra Haza perform this live on Top of the Pops is quite something. That video is on RUclips; it's an electrifying performance but it's only the 7" version.
Ofra has an Angelic voice.
Love your music room! Thanks for showing us around! You had me at Sisters of Mercy! What an unexpected collaboration but I loved it! Ofra & Andrew & Doktor Avalanche are really meshing well into an amazing dance mix!
If you search RUclips for The Sister's "Wake" you can watch a one hour performance. There is a definite connection between how they sound and what their stage show looks like.
If you look up the very beginning of the band many things that are now hazy will become clear.
I still have "wake" on VHS somewhere 😲
Wake is a let down because it was post Gary Marx. The closest thing in decent quality on RUclips of the classic sisters line up is the Old Grey Whistle Test performance of First and Last and Always and Marianne.
Just fyi: the mix of the original '83 version is a lot less muddy, the guitars are more focused and don't swamp the mix as much, and the drums sound less boxy. I prefer it, although Ofra's vocals on this version are great of course.
ps: out of curiousity, what is the keyboard? I assume it's a Roland based on the pitch/mod lever, but it's bugging me that I can't tell the model (yes, I am that sad).
The original version from 1984 without Ofra was a club dance floor hit for over 10 years. In the Top 5 underground classics of all time... Great times of independent non consumer-only made music with power and rebellion.
'83, but yes, I agree.
The 80`s, this version makes you remember!
One has to admit that we witness one of the best drum programmings as well. Everything on this track is perfect.
Accurate and respectful analysis of a fantastic track. Nicely explained.
The contrast is amazing.
RIP Ofra Haza
The version without Ofra is even more upbeat, and almost a decade older. Over time I've come to appreciate that one more.
Didn't know there was one.
As much as I like the grandiose bombast of later day Sisters, the more minimalistic, post-punkish early Sisters are on another plane.
They are the reason "Gothic " is gothic....of course he sounds dark...
The Sisters of Mercy are an amazing band just don’t mention the ‘G’word( Goth) Andrew Eldritch hates it lol.
I discovered the Sisters Of Mercy through The Mission UK.
The best description of Eldritch's voice I ever heard was David Bowie being drowned in a bag of cats. It's by no means a great voice but it's an interesting voice and it works for the style.
Temple of Love, yes!
I recommend you listen to their really early more minimalist stuff. Andrew uses more of his vocal range in many of those songs. Look up "Some girls wander by mistake" and especially "Floorshow" "Alice" and "Adrenochrome". Much more interesting sound.
Awwww Ofra. ❤️❤️❤️
Rip ofra 😢
If you are listening to it on MP4 you just won't get the range... Listen to it on Vinyl and it will sound amazing on a good system. The Album 'A slight case of overboming' which is their greatest hit album all sounds great. It was not so much a cult following, it was very much a musical genres that was Goth or Goth Rock that in some ways developed partly as an off-shoot that encompassed some elements of earlier punk era. It had many great bands such as The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Dammed, The Mission to name but a few. The was and still is a whole goth scene that has lasted decades and still contines
And maybe just maybe if she didn’t have a dog shit cheap pair of headphone her comments would be different.
Musically I think its brilliant. Starting with a backbeat, great guitar riff, violin behind it, female voice is what completes it and when it starts it's like an engine that keeps going. And they add layers and build ups and get to breaks and verse and layering up again. Melody very beautiful. Male and female voices awesome. Build up and layering brilliant. Lyrics awesome. Everything comes together and magic happens. A very special song to me.
I was 18 in 1997, hanging out with older guys. In the group a 25 year old woman. Very pretty and i was in love with her. She had a kid and i knew this. So for her birthday she invited everyone. She said to me you can stay and sleep at my house. Cool. End of the evening everybody left and just me and her and that surprised me. Where do i sleep? Couch? In my bed. Wtf. Got in her bed and she came into the room and i watched her taking all her clothes off, everything getting totally naked and she got into the bed. I was staring a the ceiling thinking what the hell is going on. What's wrong she asked? Well... I'm madly in love with you. She hugged me, we kissed and had sex till the sun came up. So then i had a gf 7 years older with a little boy. Everyone said don't do it, your crazy but I wanted to make it work. Accepted her kid as my own and gave them all my love. But it didn't work out and she broke up after 6 months. And it hurt and still does.
That's temple of love for me. Her favorite song. It's love and like diving of a cliff where you can't see the bottom. Just go and not be scared of it. I loved every minute of it being with her and her son. No regrets, I gave it all.
I did buy the 12inch of this when it came out. Not as good as the original though, if you do listen to the bass of Emerald Forest.
The melody of this song runs through the chords E G A. Learning it on the guitar....it uses a caged system.
Though not a big fan of this version, that woman's singing reminds me of Yoko Ono's screeching.
A truly rivetting performace with added eastern exoticism.
I recall Andrew Eldritch, in a 1990s interview, saying that he "had wanted to marry Ofra but would first have needed to get to know her better".
Obviously, he didn't get very far with his aspirations.
I guess that, as far as she was concerned, the prospect of being dubbed " Queen Goth" as well as having to bear the moniker " Israel's Madonna" would have proved too much to handle!
Ofra haza
Love 💖💖💖💖💖
Imagine, being born with the surname Eldritch, how could you NOT succeed?
FYI, you could have fun comparing The Sister's "1959" and Adele's new single "Easy On Me." Both display very minimalist production, basically mainly just voice and piano. Other than that the songs will never be accidentally confused one for the other.
Andrew’s surname is actually Taylor.
@@LucretiusEldritch Thanks for the correction.
"Floodland" was the album thar my death metal-loving (I know. A lost cause!) and my technologically-wired mind could, at last, both could agree on.
I'm very grateful fore it. It shaped an integral part of my life.
To more contemporarily attuned style of dancing, its just too fast.
I can't see myself pogoing anytime soon!
Which makes me think of that time this Swedish Bond Girl jumped on the stage at a gay club in Stockholm where some drag queens I can't recall performed, danced for a bit, then decided to try stage diving.
Which made everyone on the floor instinctively take one step back!
"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's a Bond Girl! Take cover!"
There was quite a bit of awkward arm flailing, but no one was seriously hurt.
Forgot to say this, but I tend to get quite wordy when so inclined.
Like two days ago, when I rewrote "À la recherche du temps perdu" in the comment section right over...there (points in a general direction).
Which nobody asked for, but ta-daa!
I just love words, and language and...stuff?
Much to the detriment of my fellow man.
/Trust me, I'm a copywriter from Sweden.
Get with it! 🤡❗️
GREATE OFRA HAZA!!! 🤗
i'm gen-X, and i can't decide which version of this song i prefer.. original or the one with the wonderful Ofra. both awesome.
Interesting that you react to Dr Avalanche and liked it. As a matter of fact Eldritch has done all the programming through the years.
The sisters of mercy aren’t really a band you can make any good assessment of from analysing just one track. You would have to listen to many of their songs from different eras to really appreciate the generous inside Andrew Eldrich’s head, -which of course no one would expect you to do unless you were a fan. Good and fair review of this though, I’d expect more or less the same from any neutral 😇
Eldritch is a poet, not a singer. If you like this collab you should also do 'This Corrosion', extended version.
I always thought Andrew was singing from a position of urgency or even someone constantly fighting forward.
You need to follow up on Alan Wilder from Depeche Mode, Alan has a new job doing what the f. he want's to AKA Recoil - founded in the late 80's ;)
You forgot to mention the Eldritch sung background for Sarah Brightman and Gary Moore
Great tune, but have you listened too the original version? I prefer the first, minimal version.
So, let's review a classic killer Goth track after spending 10 minutes showing off my bedroom... then spend the rest complimenting the accent vocals rather than the band.
Mixing isn't great?... this was recorded in 1992!!! Give them a break!
F academic singing, we don't give a damn, he's voice is perfect for postpunk, darkwave, gothic rock
Did she just describe A.E voice as a cartoon character? SOM sold 5 million records how many has she sold? As for the production/ sound quality maybe try listening on a proper headphone rather than a budget offering from Curry’s. 😂
Great band and the collectiv album A slight case of overbombing is just fantastic this is the biggest hit they got but This corrotion/Mother Russia are almost as good
Fun fact: Dr. Avalange is a drum machine
She is hot and the song is hot🤟🏼
I was there with Ofra with the sisters. Period of music which influences so many. Still music is copied from these days it shows the orginality
Though the drum machine always has same name it has been different machines
i think you got the idea of this song wrong, this is not about love, this is a song about two people using hard drugs and the ups and the downs caused by it. the 'temple of love' is a metaphor for hard drugs.
Why not both?
The original version is way better.
Great reaction like the way you break it down. How about checking out a young family band called Liliac 2 sisters and 3 brothers check out their original song called We are the children
Cult, good Top my youth the first production without Ofra Haza from the 80s
The devil in the black dress I know too well
Not a patch on the original version. Over produced and too little echo on the vocals. .
🙃 just because its hard for you 🙃
If you think Andrew's voice is silly, consider that 2/3s of goth singers copy him. ',:/
The arabian chant mesmeraise me !!!!
"First, Last, and Always" is really frustrating for me. The production values don't match the music. The music is so good, the production is muddy to my ear.
You got almost everything wrong. First of all, the track is not a collaboration with Ofra Haza, she was invited to contribute to a legendary band’s track re-release just like Iggy Pop was invited to sing in The Cult's New York City, certainly not a "collaboration`'. You went into analyzing a goth rock vocal and failed, you cannot not fail there. He is not even singing - is Bob Dylan singing? Or maybe Napalm Death’s vocalist? You also refer many times to the term “industrial” which has absolutely nothing to do with SOM, it describes your poor listening experience and expertise. You said that the track was successful due to Ofra - again wrong; the initial release in 1983 was a limited one on Merciful Release Rec., it couldn’t have gone high in the charts. The 1987 SOM were signed to a major label and that pushed their sales, plus they had a new producer. Additionally, due to the split of SOM, both them and the Mission had a hiatus in their releases and both their debut albums (as new line-ups) were destined to succeed for that reason alone, that's how rock industry used to work prior to the advent of internet.
SSV = Screw Stockholder Value
The original '83 version is way better.
Which award did you win? the boring video award??
Blah blah blah, cool chorus, cool verse, ruined chorus, ruined verse, blah blah blah.