Customer Reviews

Nineteen Ninety Five And Nowhere

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Short Story:

This is the Sisters of Mercy album that never quite happened. I can go on and on about the politics and splinter groups created by the disintegration of the Sister of Mercy as a band, after First and Last and Always. I will just say that if you like First and Last and Always you will definitely like Nineteen Ninety Five and Nowhere. If you are like me and love early Sisters of Mercy and/or Ghost Dance, then this is a true gem worth digging for until your fingers bleed.

The Long Story:

Eldritch contacted Marx about a new Sisters album and then, apparently wordlessly, backed out of the project in '95, after Marx had recorded most of the music for it - hence the title. You can tell that in the intervening years a certain amount of anger had been simmering. It took some time, but eventually Marx realized that his work had worth on it's own merits - and now he had total creative control. A certain amount of (righteous) rage informs Marx's lyrics, and this is why, in my opinion, this album is even better than his more mature follow up, Pretty Black Dots. Nothing fuels rock and roll like anger! As track 5 says: "Hey! It's open season, God knows I've a reason to shoot you down."

I have nothing against Marx' follow up, Pretty Black Dots, but I am an ex-Goth from the days before we heard the word in the S.F. Bay Area. Nineteen Ninety Five and Nowhere was written in the vein of the Sisters of Mercy at their peak, and the element of betrayal by a close partner is so "Goth" I feel like a fool even pointing it out. This could well by Gary Marx's creative peak. I hope he proves me wrong!

Anyroad, this album gets my highest recommendation!

-Eric

I heard about this cd purely by accident, and I'm glad I did. It was supposed to be the new Sisters of Mercy cd in the late nineties. However, Andrew Eldritch backed out of it, leaving Gary Marx with the tracks. It took years to get this project up and running, and I think it's better without Andrew. In fact, if this is an indication of the talent of the band without Andrew, the rest of the band should just get back together and continue on.