The 1986 Listening Post -The Mission - Gods Own Medicine

The Mission - Gods Own Medicine

#522

November 1986

The Mission

Gods Own Medicine

Genre: Goth Rock

3.75 out of 5

2 parts Sisters of Mercy, One part Red Lorry, Yellow Lorry and some others is what this record is, apparently. Seems like this was happening a lot back then. Bands getting fed up with each other, splitting off, creating new versions of the same thing but with slightly different takes. 

You know what, though? Instead of that slave-to-Bowie sound that was Sisters of Mercy, this is more accessible, more…Ocean Rain-ish/U2-ey. That just means it’s derivative of the latter instead of the former. There’s a reason I never heard of The Mission.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/gods-own-medicine/1444094589

The 1985 Listening Post - Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always

Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always

#75

March 11 1985

Sisters of Mercy

First and Last and Always

Genre: Goth Rock

3.25 out of 5

I was toying with changing the genre to “David Bowie wannabe band” but that wouldn’t be fair to Joy Division. 

At least Robert Smith was able to twist his adulation for Scary Monsters era Bowie into something interesting (to me early Cure sounds NOTHING like what they were about to become and I credit that to this particular fetish).

So, what are Sisters of Mercy bringing to the party? Well…a party, I think. This doesn’t sound like a depress-o-platter, it’s like a dance record for the disaffected or wannabe disaffected. 

I wore eyeliner for a couple weeks in college. I also bleached my hair. And wore my mother’s blouses because they seemed “pirate-y” and goth. 

Then I cut my hair and put on a blazer and went to class. 

That night I had a dream. I was standing in a black void and there was a spotlight on me and a disembodied voice that said, “Thank god you started wearing normal clothes again.”

That is a true story.

At that point Sisters of Mercy would have nothing to offer me. It has less to offer me today.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/first-and-last-and-always/1002376675