Alice (The Sisters of Mercy song)

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Alice (The Sisters of Mercy song) - Wikipedia

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"Alice"

Single by The Sisters of Mercy

B-side

"Floorshow"

Released

21 November 1982

Genre

Length

3:35

The Sisters of Mercy singles chronology

"Body Electric"
(1982)

"Alice"
(1982)

"Anaconda"
(1983)

"Alice" is a song by the British rock band the Sisters of Mercy, written by vocalist Andrew Eldritch. The song was released as a non-album single by the band's own label by Merciful Release, on 21 November 1982. It was re-released in March 1983 as a 12" EP.

Recording

After one week of pre-production at Andrew Eldritch's flat in Leeds, four tracks were recorded over two weekends with producer John Ashton of the Psychedelic Furs at Kenny Giles's studio in Bridlington: "Alice", "Floorshow", Stooges cover "1969" and the unreleased "Good Things".^[1] The same four songs had been previously recorded for a BBC radio session in August 1982.^[2]

"Alice" and "Floorshow" were released as the band's third 7" single on 21 November 1982.^[3]

Alice (EP)

Alice

EP by

The Sisters of Mercy

Released

March 1983

Recorded

1982

Genre

Length

17:12

Label

Merciful Release
Brain Eater

Producer

John Ashton

The Sisters of Mercy chronology

Alice
(1983)

The Reptile House E.P.
(1983)

Singles from Alice

"Alice/Floorshow"
Released: November 1982

With two additional tracks, "1969" and the new recording "Phantom", the 12" EP Alice was released in March 1983.

Ashton financed a US release (the band's first) of the 12" EP on Island Park, New York label Brain Eater Records.^[4]^[5]

The EP was never released as a stand-alone CD, but was included on the Some Girls Wander by Mistake collection.

Track listing

7" single (1982)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Alice"	Andrew Eldritch	Eldritch	3:35
2.	"Floorshow"	Eldritch	Craig Adams, Eldritch, Gary Marx	3:41

12" EP (1983)

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Alice"	Eldritch	Eldritch	3:35
2.	"Floorshow"	Eldritch	Adams, Eldritch, Marx	3:41
3.	"Phantom"	Instrumental	Adams, Marx	7:11
4.	"1969" (Originally performed by the Stooges)	James Osterberg	Dave Alexander, Ron Asheton, Scott Asheton, Osterberg	2:45

Personnel

Andrew Eldritch – vocals
Craig Adams – bass guitar
Ben Gunn – guitar
Gary Marx – guitar
Doktor Avalanche (drum machine) – drums

Artist commentary

Andrew Eldritch (1990): “My attitude to 'Alice' has changed over the years. I wrote it in ten minutes about pills and tranks when I used to care about watching people I know get dragged down by that. Now I really don't care.”^[6]
Gary Marx (1983/2003): “Ben joined us last year. The first single that we did with him was 'Alice', which was like our break in a very small way, as it got us into the indie charts [...] The Psychedelic Furs put up all the costs so it was no skin off our noses. What happened was, Andy went to see the Furs a long time ago and gave them our first tape, which they liked and gave to various people, including their manager. So we've had a lot of help and advice from them. John Ashton, the Furs' guitarist, produced 'Alice' which was the reason why it was so good. With a bit of luck he might help us with the next one.”^[7]^[8] “The guitar sound was my old £85 Shergold in the early days, something I’d borrowed off Jon Langford or other friends of the family, or one of Andrew’s guitars [...] We’d made ‘Alice’ with John Ashton producing who did a brilliant job, and rather than invite him to work with us again Andrew believed he’d learnt everything he could from John and took sole responsibility for [the band's follow-up single] ‘Anaconda’.”^[9]
Les Mills (manager, 2004): “I arranged for them to record with John as I felt it would benefit both parties, as the Sisters' previous recorded work had been dire and John wanted to get into production.”^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Dave Thompson: Beautiful Chaos. The Psychedelic Furs. Helter Skelter Publishing 2004, page 108.
^ "Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - 25/08/1982 Sisters Of Mercy". BBC. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
^ George Gimarc: Punk Diary. Backbeat Books 2005, page 684.
^ "The Sisters of Mercy Ultimate Resource Guide - Official Releases". Ultimatesistersguide.org. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ "The Sisters Of Mercy - Alice". Discogs.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
^ David Quantick: New Boots And Panzers, New Musical Express, 15 December 1990, page 30.
^ "Two sisters, at our mercy! (part one)". Ultimatesistersguide.org. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
^ "Two sisters, at our mercy! (part two)". Ultimatesistersguide.org. Retrieved 2014-05-22.
^ Gary Marx interview, Myheartland website, 6 July 2003

v t e The Sisters of Mercy
Andrew Eldritch Ben Christo Kai Gary Marx Craig Adams Chris Catalyst Ben Gunn Wayne Hussey Patricia Morrison Tony James Tim Bricheno Chris Sheehan
Studio albums	First and Last and Always Floodland Vision Thing
Extended plays	Alice The Reptile House E.P. Body and Soul
Compilation albums	Some Girls Wander by Mistake A Slight Case of Overbombing
Singles	"Alice" "Temple of Love" "This Corrosion" "Dominion" "Lucretia My Reflection" "More" "Doctor Jeep" "Under the Gun"
Related articles	Discography Merciful Release The Sisterhood SSV The Mission Songs

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