Some Girls Wander By Mistake [Import]

The Sisters Of Mercy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Wea Int'l
• ASIN: B000005RMY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,992 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Alice

2. Floorshow

3. Phantom

4. 1969

5. Kiss The Carpet

6. Lights

7. Valentine

8. Fix

9. Burn

10. Kiss The Carpet (Reprise)

11. Temple Of Love (Extended Version)

12. Heartland

13. Gimme Shelter

14. The Damage Done

15. Watch

16. Home Of The Hit-Men

17. Body Electric

18. Adrenochrome

19. Anaconda

Editorial Reviews

Out of print in the U.S.! Collection of all five early seven inch and twelve inch singles, both A and B-sides, released between 1980-1983 before the band signed to a major label. 19 tracks including the extremely rare 'The Damage Done', 'Watch' and 'Home Of The Hit-Men', as well as the original extended version of 'Temple Of Love', their covers of The Rolling Stones' 'Gimme Shelter' and The Stooges' '1969', plus 'Alice', 'Kiss The Carpet', 'Valentine', 'Floorshow', 'Phantom' and more. Warner.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doktor Avalanche strikes..., June 12, 2002

By 

N. P. Stathoulopoulos "nick9155" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Some Girls Wander By Mistake (Audio CD)

This is 100% essential for any Sisters fan, period. Forget the import price, buy it. If you have even half a passing interest in this band, this is still worth the price. Intrigued by goth? Alice, Adrenochrome, Body Electric, Temple of Love, Valentine--these are the highlights that will stay with you. Most of them instantly likable and memorable.

The EP tracks are in order, but the order of the EPs is off. (In other words, The Damage Done and Home of the Hitmen, the first record, are together as a and b-sides, but they don't appear until later in the disc.) Perhaps all the better that this disc starts with Alice, an instantly catchy and driving goth classic. Midway through we get perhaps the best achievement of this album--Temple of Love Extended Version. Amazing--driving, dancy, deep, broad vocals from Eldritch. This is preceded by the Reptile House EP: 5 songs that are deep, dark, dark, and dark. Keep the knives away from yourself. Great songs. All in all the collection is very balances.

This was basically put together so that fans didn't have to hunt down the original singles or buy shoddy bootlegs. A great idea. They cover Gimme Shelter and 1969, though it's strange that they didn't record studio versions of some of the other tunes they constantly covered (making them part of every set) like Emma, Sister Ray, Ghostrider, etc. They would have sounded great in the more raw studio form of the time. (Emma would appear as a b-side non-lp track in 1988.)

Sure, the sound quality on all of the tracks is not up to Floodland, of course, but there's a lot to appreciate here. Marvel at Eldritch's drumming on The Damage Done. He described himself as the worst drummer in Leeds, and...he's right.

Not to fear--you get to hear the evolution of Dr. Avalanche from drum machine to the rig he is now.

Buy this album. Buy it now. Worth the extra import dollars; it's essential Sisters.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic 80s Goth-Rock, July 30, 2002

By 

eRgO (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Some Girls Wander By Mistake (Audio CD)

The Sisters of Mercy in their short life (they only put out 3 proper albums in their existence) had tremendous influence on the Goth genre. This album spans their early, and nearly impossible to find, singles. There are some real gems here, namely Alice, Valentine, Lights, and Temple of Love. The cover of Gimme Shelter is heavy-handed but great fun nonetheless. If you liked Vision Thing and Floodland, be aware that this does not have the same production quality of those later efforts. However, the Sister's power and energy are still there, and Andrew's vocals are steadfast, except for on a couple songs like The Damage Done (where he sounds like a deranged Elvis), one of the worst songs on the album (along with Home of the Hit-Men). But the other songs more than make up it.

If you like bands like Bauhaus or even early Cranes, you'll find this CD worth your 30 bux. If you're more into the high production albums (Vision Thing), or heavy guitars, you might want to hear some of the songs before parting with your hard-earned money.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost able to complete your collection . . . . almost., May 23, 2006

By 

Frankland S. Strickland (Memphis, Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Some Girls Wander By Mistake (Audio CD)

I remember when I first saw this album in the "New Release" section of the "Alternative" aisle at my local record store (which was over 10 years ago, by the way). I about flipped my wig because I thought the Sisters had . . . finally . . . followed up "Vision Thing" with a surprise new release! Well, I was still pleasantly surprised to see that it was merely a collection of their early singles and EPs, but I was admittedly a bit let down that it wasn't a shiny new release. Still, "Some Girls Wander By Mistake" is ESSENTIAL for your Sisters collection.

Prior to this very inclusive collection, the only format many of the Sisters' early releases were available on was vinyl. This certainly wasn't a problem for me as I had a rather nice Thorens turntable at the time. The problem was, however, that these early singles and EPs were quite hard to find---not impossible---just a bit hard to track down. For those who didn't have a turntable, or didn't want the hassle of one, simply had to live without such stellar songs as "Alice," "1969," or "Gimme Shelter." The release of "Some Girls Wander by Mistake" changed all of that . . . well, almost. But I'll get to that later. Okay, so what DO you get with this CD? Well, I'll give you the list:

1. 1980's "The Damage Done" 3-track single.
2. 1982's "Body Electric/Adrenochrome" single.
3. 1983's "Anaconda/Phantom" single.
4. 1983's "Alice" 4-track single (more like an EP).
5. 1983's "The Reptile House E.P." with 6 tracks.
6. 1983's "Temple of Love" 3-track single.

This is, as you can easily tell, quite an extensive collection. Now, on one convenient CD, you can own what would likely have set you back between $50 to $100 (or maybe even more) from searching out all of these original songs on vinyl.

Will this complete your Sisters collection? Nope! For God only knows what reason, the wonderful 1984 single, "Body and Soul," is completely missing. Also found on this single was the phenomenal "Afterhours," which could easily rival Bauhaus' "Bela Lugosi's Dead" as the ultimate Goth anthem. Of course, none of the "other" songs (B-sides) included on the singles from the Sisters' three studio albums are found here either. We all remember such classics from "The First and Last and Always" as "Walk Away" and "No Time to Cry" don't we? If you just so happen to own these singles, then you also can partake of such aural delights as "On the Wire," "Poison Door," "Blood Money," and "Bury Me Deep." If not, too bad for you because they are not on the album. And guess what--- these B-sides are as good as the singles!!!

So what is a poor Sisters of Mercy fan to do? Why, buy a bootleg of course! True, you can continue to hunt down ALL of the vinyl and CD singles from all three albums but you will pay a king's ransom . . . believe me. I just spent almost $40 for the "Dominion" CD single on Ebay. Then I discovered a clever little bootleg out there aptly named "Some Boys Wander by Mistake." Owning this will indeed supply you with everything that "Some Girls Wander by Mistake" left off, including extended versions of some of the better-known singles. I found my CD copy on Ebay and it set me back about $30. The sound quality is pretty good, but I do hear a few crackles and pops on some tracks so it's very obvious that it was recorded directly from the vinyl singles. As I said though, it is a bootleg so ignore the "official" appearance of this CD.

In the meantime, buy "Some Girls Wander by Mistake" until you can track down the elusive bootleg I mentioned, or begin your expensive quest of finding all of the Sisters CD singles.