FLOODLAND is the second album by "The Sisters of Mercy", released in 1987. Composed and produced by Andrew Eldritch, it marked a change of direction from guitar-oriented rock towards synthesizer-based productions. The record peaked at number 9 in UK album charts.
The first Sisters album after the original dissolution of the band. Former members Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams formed 'The Mission', while Gary Marx went on to form the band 'Ghost Dance'. While far from a concept album, Floodland still has many recurring themes and images. 'Floodland' places the guitars of the first album (First and Last and Always) against a backdrop of keyboards inspired by the experimentation of The Sisterhood album 'Gift' (more about this album below in the TOP Friends).
A fifth-generation Doktor Avalanche drives a body of songs which highlight Eldritch's maturity as a singer and songwriter. Patricia Morrison (Bags / The Gun Club / The Damned), who helped and was credited for work on the Sisterhood 'Gift' album, has continued. Since they never toured for the album, the band played a string of television performances. Also continuing on are James Ray (and his band The Performance) and Alan Vega (Suicide). Keyboards are played by Rodney Orpheus (Cassandra Complex).
Andrew Eldritch himself described Floodland as "a fine album". Despite Eldritch's rather insistent objections to the designation "GOTH", Floodland has been lauded by some press as a classic Goth album; Alternative Press ranked it at 43 of the "Top 99 of '85 - '89" and included it in their list of "10 Essential Goth Albums".
Video is a gratuitous and expensive medium which the band has traditionally scorned. Nevertheless, on TV screens all over the planet, the torrential rain of 'This Corrosion' is about to set the pace for a series of spectacular videos.
The single "This Corrosion with B Side Tracks : Torch / Colours" is released by WEA charting the UK at 7 in September of 87 and becomes the number 1 Alternative Record in America.
The single "Dominion with B Side Tracks : Untitled (Instrumental) / Sandstorm / Ozymandias (CD only)" charts at 13 in the UK in February of 88. A dramatic video set in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra was filmed for the official video.
The single "Lucretia, My Reflection with B Side Track : Long Train" then provides the Sisters with their third and final single from the 'Floodland' LP. Followed with a video, the single charts in the UK at 20 in June of 88.
A compilation video "Shot" is issued, featuring the three singles from 'Floodland' and an additional clip of "1959" which was filmed in India during the shooting of 'Lucretia, My Reflection'.
The driving dance-floor hit "Lucretia, My Reflection", with its repeating bassline, has become something of a nightclub staple, as has "This Corrosion", whose apparently nonsensical lyrics are alleged to be an attack on Wayne Hussey. The song was originally intended to appear on The Sisterhood album, in its entirety a stab against Hussey's troupe, but the exclusion left Eldritch with more time to refine it into the behemoth we get to hear. Eldritch said that "Lucretia .." was written for Morrison, who "always strikes me as a Lucretia-type person".
It has been said that Floodland "explored new territory for the Sisters and redefined what people thought of as Gothic music" or that it "sent the gothic music genre spiralling away from the guitar-driven sound of the early-to-mid 1980's and inspired the next wave of synthesized goth bands such as 'London After Midnight' and 'Switchblade Symphony'."
Eldritch claims that bassist Patricia Morrison, the only other official member of The Sisters of Mercy at the time, did not perform on the album and was hired only for the purpose of promotional appearances. This claim is contested by Morrison. She is not credited on the album's sleeve, although her image appears in its artwork. Morrison did perform on The Sisterhood's album.
"Top of the Pops", also known as "TOTP", was a long-running British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC One, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC Two in 2005. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. Although the weekly show was cancelled, the Christmas special has continued.
"The Montreux Rock Festival" was a venture jointly organised by the BBC and the Swiss Television Channel TSR (Television Suisse Romande), with the help of the Montreux Tourist Office of Switzerland.
"The Roxy" was a British television music programme that was broadcast on ITV in the late 1980s. It was produced by Tyne Tees Television following the demise a few months earlier of its more successful music show The Tube. After an industrial dispute which saw the end of live performances and failing to compete with its long running BBC counterpart, Top of the Pops, The Roxy was cancelled. The programme lasted for just over a year. The final edition of The Roxy was broadcast on Tuesday April 5, 1988.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat page and info! Floodland is one of the albums which influenced me the most. A classic and as brilliant today as always! Cheers! Paul ^v^
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