Sisters of Mercy - All three LPs remastered with bonus tracks

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Has anyone heard these remastered releases?

Side-Line: Re-issued Sisters Of Mercy albums to hit streets

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Out on November 3rd in Europe (and October 30th in the USA) via Wea International are three Sisters Of Mercy reissues: "First And Last And Always" (1985), "Floodland" (1987) and "Vision Thing" (1990). All of these classic SOM albums will contain bonus tracks which have been available on other releases (offical ones and bootlegs) for years already albeit remastered now.

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No, but I am ordering "First And last And Always" from AmazonUk <cheaper than AmazonUSA> lickety-split. Hope it hasn't been "remastered" tooo much!
Still, a landmark lp that I don't own on cd anyway so it's a no-brainer. I'll let you guys know when it arrives. "ear-bleeder or keeper", that seems to be "the" question these days when it comes to remasters....

 

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I already have all the bonus tracks on 12" vinyl, and on CD from a bootleg needle drop. I am curious to know the quality of these.


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Floodland rates in my top 10 albums of all-time so i'll be buying it (again)

 

I wouldn't hold out too much hope for a good sounding version of First Last and Always. The original U.S. cd sounds bad and I am dubious that a remaster will help it. Even Andrew Eldritch has commented on the lousy production of that album on his website.

Depending on the bonus tracks these could be interesting. I have never come a cross a reasonably priced copy of Some Girls Wander By Mistake (or the bootleg Some Boys), so I am missing a lot of interesting singles.

 

Awesome! I was never impressed with the original cd's. My band used to do spot on covers of:
This Corrosion (we sampled the choir, everything else 100% live)
More
Lucretia
Vision Thing &
Ribbons

(I played bass and did all the chick voices... oh it was fun)

Been thinking about seeking out the vinyl but may go for these instead....

 

As I was the reissue producer on the Sisters reissues, I may be able to enlighten you somewhat. Everything on the reissues was sourced from original tapes and mastered in a fashion that I am sure readers of this forum will appreciate (no NR, no maximization, etc.) This is the first time that First And Last And Always has been correctly presented on CD as it appeared on its original vinyl release (incorrect tapes were used on every previous CD edition).

If you're planning on buying Vision Thing, you might wish to wait a few weeks. There's a mastering glitch on the last bonus track which has already been corrected, but the corrected version may not be available yet through retail channels.

Also: these are UK/European issues only. Rhino US has no plans to release them in the United States.

 

And what about Japan?

Thank you for the information!

 

Well, hopefully I stand corrected and the sound of First And Last and Always can be substantially improved.

Did Eldritch have any involvement in this project? (I'm guessing not given his relationship with the record company and his previous opposition to bonus tracks being added to the original cd of Floodland.)

 

Serj: I have no concrete information about Japan; it's certainly possible that they could emerge there at some point. (The Warner Music affiliates in each territory make their own decisions about such things.)

 

No, but I'd be looking to pick up First and Last, and Floodland.

 

I just ordered them from Amazon UK.

 

Welcome to the forum, Andy! Thanks for your response. I'll be ordering the 1st cd <FL&A> from AmazonUK right away after reading your report on the mastering!

 

Great news certainly ... but I don't quite understand why the single track Body & Soul will not be included on the First & Last & Always re-issue??

I can appreciate there would be the usual 74-80 minute cd-length to consider -- & that this title already has a ton of bonus tracks added; but I would prefer Body & Soul included here, rather than just available on the Slight Case of Overbombing: Greatest Hits Volume One release.

Oh, well ... guess ya just can't please everybody ...

 

1) The "Body & Soul" EP tracks are from an earlier time period than the FALAA album.
2) There wasn't enough room on the FALAA CD for all of them.
3) All four of the tracks will appear elsewhere on CD in the not-terribly-distant future...

 

Even better news then!!!!!!!!!

Maybe something that will pick up where Some Girls Wander ... left off perhaps?

In any case, I'd still be happy after all -- so I guess I was wrong when i said you can't please everybody

Thanks for the response, Andy. I truly appreciate it.

 

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I appreciate your contribution to this thread. I'm also pleased to see that there is more interest on this forum in the Sisters than I would have anticipated when I first made this post.

cheers,


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One of my favorite relics from my misspent youth

I still love to crank "This Corrosion". Never gets old.

 

This sounds terrific, I'll put these on my shopping list immediately! Thanks to andyzax for the heads-up on the Vision Thing bonus track issue.

Is this rare? I've had a copy for years that came in a larger slipcase with a set of postcards of the original single covers but I never knew it was particularly difficult to come by.

 

Nah, it's not especially rare. In fact it's still in print as an import, although I'm not sure if it still comes with the slipcase and postcards. I'm just too cheap to pay the import price and most used sellers have it overpriced, too.

 

Is it just me or are the Volume levels a bit crazy here on the new First and last and always cd?????!!!!!

I got First and Last And Always and Floodland on Sunday and they are both great. However i have a bit of a puzzle on First And Last....

The 1st 5 tracks sound really fine, quieter than your average compressed cd's these days, however the volume really noticeably jumps up from track 6 the title track, onwards (side 2 of the old vinyl). Andy....was side 2 mixed louder on the original masters or is this a mistake on the new mastering. The volume jumps even louder when it hits the bonus tracks (11 onwards). Its makes it an odd listening experience as it sounds like the volume level has been exponentially cranked up a couple of notches at 2 points on the cd!!!

 

just curious - is the chorus sound on Floodland cleaned up? The original US cd of this sounds absolutley dreadfull...

thanks!

 

I noticed this myself this morning...odd for sure!

 

Dont mean to threadjack but was there ever a SOM box set? My girl insists there used to be one but I cant find mention of it anywhere. Also are the remasters coming out on cd?

 

I seem to recall seeing the FALAA, Floodland, and Vision Thing collected together in some kind of set in an Amazon import listing once. Didn't appear to be anything special, just the 3 albums packaged together.