Customer Reviews

Some Girls Wander By Mistake

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

First thing's first. I'm writing this review for SoM fans that are familiar with the standard SoM fare (FALAA, Floodland, VT), but not with these earlier recordings. So, before you buy this, you have been warned: this album is nothing like the others.

It's a great album, but very different. The songs here were written before Eldritch's infamous breakup with his only love. This breakup dramatically influenced FALAA, Floodland, and VT to a lesser degree. You won't find any of his trademark scathing insights here. What you will find, basically, is mood music. And I don't mean that in a bad way. As Eldritch himself says of the music in the accompanying booklet, their shows were a place where you could find, or more likely lose, yourself.

Absent in this album are the biting observations on love and the general state of the world. In fact, these songs sound more like they were taken from a journal of random musings rather than written with any particular message in mind (which is almost always the case with the later songs). But it should be said that all SoM albums are very different from one another.

Even still, in my opinion, there are more danceable songs here (if it interests you) than on any other album. The highlights in that respect are Alice, Floorshow, Temple of Love (although I still prefer the Ofra Haza version), and Heartland.

I think the songs that really shine on this album are Alice, Floorshow, Lights, Valentine, ToL, Heartland, and Body Electric. The album is worth it for those alone. However, you're also getting their first attempt at music (The Damage Done), the very amusing (to me, anyhow) Kiss the Carpet (which is about exactly what you might assume), a great cover of the Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter, all the original album art for these songs (in the insert), and a brief bit from Eldritch on the origin of the band and these songs.

This album is worth every penny, but I would say it will appeal more to veteran SoM fans.

This album earns its 5 stars with its moments of excellence, its ability to show all sides of the early Sisters and by the sheer rarity of the songs contained. Be forewarned, they are not all gems and this is a poor place to start if you don't know the band in depth; start with Floodland, then get get FALAA, and then get this... you really don't ever need "Vision Thing" in my opinion but that's your call.

The centerpieces are "Alice" and "Temple of Love" with other standouts "Anaconda", "Adrenochrome", "Body Electric" and Floorshow" close behind. The Stones cover "Gimme Shelter is fantastic as is the Stooges (Iggy Pop) cover "1969" which seems like metal by comparison to the other tracks. After hearing the quality of these tracks you will be baffled as to how the band never managed to compile these into a debut album; It would have been as good as their others. Equally baffling however is the exclusion of the "Body & Soul" single which would have fit the timing and quality perfectly; if you don't have that one you are missing something (ah, there's a reason we weenies collected all of those 12" vinyl singles after all). Given the '92 release date it would have been nice if certain later-period Sisters b-sides had been included. "Poison Door" and "Train" would be nice things to have on CD too but alas.

Maybe the coolest thing about this album though is the inclusion of the entire "Reptile House" EP. These songs are not as directly listenable as many of the other tracks but they offer the Sisters at their most somber and intimidating, surpassing even the Cure's "Pornography" on the dreaded darkness meter. If you thought that other Sisters was jet black to the center then you need to hear the "Kiss the Carpet" through "Burn" section of this disc. "Fix" is a straight shot to the bowels of your own personal hell. You'll also probably come to the rapid conclusion that Eldritch had a sinister, despairing battle with meth-amphetamine addiction, but then who didn't.

In summary, a great collection of the early material of a masterful band despite its minor misses. My compilation would have been worthy of 6 stars, but then again I knew that (it's a joke).

Ah, the wonder of this CD. For far too long, the majority of the songs on this album could only be found individually on scarce 45's in the most out-of-the-way record stores. And to complete this collection, you'd have to shell out big bucks: one could easily pay upwards of twenty bucks PER TUNE!!!! But now they're all here on one glorious shining disc.

With very few exceptions, the songs on this album reflect the brilliance of these lords of Gothic Rock. The infectious rhythms and showering, noise-drenched guitars accompany Andrew Eldritch's poignant lyrics perfectly, and for a precious few minutes per song, they join together to perfectly voice the angst we've all felt at one time or another.

The Sisters of Mercy have had a second coming of sorts with albums like "Floodland" and "Vision Thing," but this CD represents the original Sisters, the true Sisters, the Sisters who ruled the Gothic Rock scene of the early- to mid-eighties. Some Girls Wander By Mistake is a must-have for old fans, as well as fans of Marilyn Manson and his ilk, who want to hear where he got his ideas and styles.

I remember when this compilation was released I was ecstatic about finally having all their early vinyl on one CD. As some reviewers here mentioned, there is a lot more early material available on B-sides from the FALAA era and of course the Body And Soul EP, but this has all the official releases before their first album and said EP. I regard this era as their best, with classic goth anthems such as "Alice" and "Temple Of Love", "Gimme Shelter", "Body Electric", "Floorshow" (the list goes on...), and my favourite EP, "Reptile House" featuring the dark, slow, passionate numbers "Fix" and "Valentine". This is memory lane (early eighties), GOOD memories, emotional stuff! The Sisters of Mercy represent the part of "goth" I choose to remember, timeless music that still sells by the truckload, and for good reason. This compilation is a must, together with the albums "First, Last And Always" and "Floodland".

I distinctly remember listening to this cd in a store in Gothenburg in the summer of 1992.I had just turned 18 a month or so ago and I thouhgt it was astounding. I had never heard anything like it. So untamed and out of control and very cutting edge and different. Even though I do not dress like that anymore and my palate has grown considerably I still consider it to be a grand album with amazing tracks such as the extended temple of love, heartland and 1969. The book-let is great with all the images of the the singles and eps. The story written by Eldritch is hillarious and inteligent at the same time. This is a very well done compilation from the very intriguing mind of a certain Andrew Eldritch.

Some Girls Wander By Mistake is by far my favorite CD. Perhaps I am partial because the Sisters are my favorite band, but this record, more than a documentation of their early years, resounds with a overarching sound. From the dark Light to the strangely happy Temple of Love, these songs bear witness to the foundations of gothic rock- and deliver truly great songs. The sound is melancholy, but the strong baselines meld with the wistful guitar to produce intense results that go beyond simple gloom. I personally believe that this CD deserves six stars, and is a must for anyone who does not want to spend a fortune collecting their vinyl albums. Many, or should I say all, of the singles and eps assembled on this record are out of print and in varying degrees of diffuculty to find and purchase.

One word best describes this early material: Raw. If you have only heard the polished club songs on Floodland, then be warned! Some Girls Wander might be quite a surprise (like if you have Never seen a certain someone without their makeup on, and then one day...)
But SoM is beautiful underneath their studio production, in their unique way, of course; Some Girls Wander shows off this natural beauty...the minimalism is wherein the beauty lies.
I remember La Nausee [amazing club that was in Montreal] playing at least one song from Floodland pretty much every night in 1991, but even as black and foggy as that club was, they rarely played the songs now found on Some Girls Wander. Why? Well, most of these songs just aren't...clubby.
But So What! Most of the goth kids I knew in the States were too young to get into the cool clubs, which were (and probably still are) few and far between to begin with -- so the poor devils would console themselves by listening to these Sisters songs on scratchy vinyl in the wee hours of the night.

THIS IS THE REAL STUFF; these songs were some of the seeds of the Goth movement, and while ya can't dance to many of them, they immortalized Goth -- so give 'em credit where it's due.