I Met You In High Places…

ON THE MUSIC BOX:
- Saturn Strip – ALAN VEGA (1983)

I interviewed ANDREW ELDRITCH from THE SISTERS OF MERCY the other day. I thought he’d be a bit of fun. Since I was a teenager, I’ve had it in my head that The Sisters of Mercy cover ‘Sisters are Doin’ it for Themselves’. But I’ve never been able to find any trace of it anywhere even though I am sure I know what it sounds like. They do brilliant covers: ‘Jolene’ by DOLLY PARTON, ‘Gimme Shelter’ by the ROLLING STONES. Not in a daft and ironic way, just wonderful straight up covers of really great songs that they obviously love.

Being a longtime fan, I wasn’t nervous at all until I was gently told that there were certain things I wasn’t allowed to mention. Rules. The magic, unspoken words were:
Goth
Dark
Doom
Patricia Morrison
I wasn’t going to talk about any of those things anyway, but figued the guy must be pretty serious to go out of his way to have a list of rules. How very Spinal Tap.

We were laughing about how we both love THE FALL but hate Fall fans. We talked about how we both adore the group SUICIDE. Eldritch told me he has very strong man-love feelings for ALAN VEGA but then he muttered, “But Vega should never have hooked up with RIC OCASEK.”

I said, “Hang on, no way. Saturn Strip is a terrific record! I love that song ‘Wipeout Beat.” And I pointed out that like The Sisters of Mercy who cover ‘Emma’ by HOT CHOCOLATE, Vega covers ‘Every1′s a Winner’ on Saturn Strip. Eldritch remained unmoved and said that “We’ll just have to agree to disagree on that one, Kiran.”

When I finally got around to asking Eldritch about whether I had imagined their cover of ‘Sisters are Doin’ it for Themselves’ or not, he confirmed that I had. I was most disappointed.

Like this:

Be the first to like this post.

About this entry

You’re currently reading “I Met You In High Places…,” an entry on Nick Bollinger Is Away

Published:: July 22, 2011 / 2:37 pm

Category:: Uncategorized

Tags:

DPS 7.22.11 / 3pm

“”Disco, fast action, … ”

In 1985, ultra-conservative trad-rock weekly Sounds voted ‘Saturn Strip’ the 96th best LP of all time:

http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/sound100.html

At aged 15 this struck me as being totally weird, and it still does to this day. The rest of the listing is so, so obvious – in a very Mojo way – and then suddenly this ultra-obscure record appears, sandwiched between Buffalo Springfield (yawn) and Bruce Springsteen (double yawn). A record that even the most hardcore Suicide fans I knew have never heard.

It’s one of those strange anomalies that keeps life worth living.

Over the years, ‘Saturn Strip’ took on mythical proportions. When we finally found a copy sometime in the mid-90s, we all went “Oh fuck, its Billy Idol”. I love it now though, a total classic. Many thanks, Sounds.

And many thanks KD for the link – Keep those dreams burning, baby.

mediascum 7.22.11 / 3pm

Yay! It’s DPS! Love your insight, as always. I’m relieved that you like ‘Saturn Strip’, too. Thanks for the link!

DPS, have been meaning to ask you for ages, so will do so while I remember – what do you think of the song ‘Skin Deep’ by The Stranglers? Some people I know think it’s wimpy but I am totally in love with it…

Progger 7.24.11 / 1pm

<3 Alan Vega so much… I also kinda want to be the guy down the back of the crowd in the studs and leather and 'daddy' hat, pumping his fist!

Progger 7.24.11 / 2pm

Also, which Sisters of Mercy records do you like? Do you listen to “Vision Thing”? That was the huge one everyone had when I was coming up, but I think I like “First and Last and Always” the most.

And, if you like S.o.M. do you also like my secret shame bands like Gene Loves Jezebel, Clan of Xymox, Xmal Deutschland, Fields of the Nephilim, and Bauhaus? That would be very encouraging

mediascum 7.24.11 / 3pm

I loved Gene Loves Jezebel, The Mission, Fields of The Nephilim (FotN for about 5 minutes until I realised they sucked) and Xmal Deutschland when I was 15 but haven’t listened to them in recent years! That was a long long time ago – and to be frank, back then I actually preferred (and still do) Tones on Tail, Love and Rockets, The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees – the stuff that wasn’t goth at all. I love/d elements of ‘First and Last and Always’, ‘Floodland’ and ‘Vision Things’. Some awesome songs, but some dungers, too!

1. DPS 7.25.11 / 11am
  
  “… dismissing thoughts of progress as the mark of devilry”
  
  Oh, God, please terminate this discussion immediately. The Cure have to be one of the top ten worst bands ever, up there with the likes of Doors, Oasis, Led Zep, Radiohead, U2, … As for the rest, I can’t even summon up the energy to despise them anymore. Eighties England was totally overrun by these horrible goth-types from Yorkshire, and I’m lucky to have survived it. I once agreed to go on a first date with a girl to a Gene Loves Jezebel concert – it was the lowest I have ever sunk, I felt dirty and degraded for months afterwards. Do yourselves a favour, and burn all this insular, reactionary filth immediately.
  
  And I don’t understand how you can link the often brilliant Banshees with this vile goth movement. Mind you, even the Banshees became shit when Fat Bob Smith joined …
2. mediascum 7.25.11 / 12pm
  
  Oh DPS, you’ve misunderstood me. What I mean, is that I liked groups that aren’t ‘goth’ at all (but got lumped into it), and that I don’t actually like the groups that called themselves ‘goth’. I love The Cure’s Seventeen Seconds. That is up there with Scott 4 for me! So take that! Also, I love the first three U2 albums NOW but hated, hated, hated them when I was younger.
  
  I cannot imagine you at a Gene Loves Jezebel show at all. The thought makes me laugh! I once went on a second date with an indie boy I met at a Terminals show to an Architecture in Helsinki show. (What was he doing at The Terminals?!) Architecture in Helsinki was a horrible show (despite them covering ‘Live it Up’ by Mental as Anything) and that was the only time I’ve ever done anything like that. People saw me there and were like, “What are you doing here? Oh, you’re on a date? You must really like that guy.” Me and an indie kid? It was never going to work. I took him to a The Stumps show. He really like me too, you see.

DPS 7.27.11 / 1pm

Yes … I could sense that her circle of cider-swilling goth mates thought I was a right twat. Shame. She was a very beautiful girl. Hazel – she looked like Brigitte Neilsen in Red Sonja. But dressed in faded black denim and a shoddy Bauhaus t-shirt … fair to say, the relationship didn’t last.

Nick Bollinger Is Away

I Met You In High Places…

Like this:

About this entry

9 Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

About

Recently

Categories

Follow “Nick Bollinger Is Away”