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Customer Reviews of Gift

After the breakup of the Sisters of Mercy there was a bloody legal feud over who controlled the name: founding member Andrew Eldrtich (born Andrew Taylor) or musician/songwriters Wayne Hussey & Craig Adams. While the dispute raged on Wayne and Craig, along with new bandmates, began touring under the name The Sisterhood. Andrew believed this was more than a little too close for comfort given the unresolved issues. To further complicate matters, the record company, eager to cash in on the band's growing cult following and swell in the Goth movement, promised 25,000 British Pounds to the first of the warring factions to release anything. In a move to deal with all of these things, Andrew hastily produced "Gift" under the Sisterhood moniker. In 1 simple move he collected the 25,000 pounds and pre-empted Craig and Wayne from touring under the name any longer. Andrew eventually won legal control over the TSOM name so the others moved on as The Mission (Mission UK to us Americans).

Now concerning the specifics of "Gift" itself further explanation is required. Andrew Eldritch never sang on the album as he thought it wise not to do so until resolution of the name dispute. All vocals were done by James Ray who sounds remarkably similar to Andrew, yet they are different people. In many 80's Goth zines it was oft debated whether the vocals were actually done by Andrew and simply listed James Ray to avoid legal issues. To my knowledge it actually was JR. There was some debate that the 2 were one and the same... false. Alan Vega provided some programming on the album but never any vocals as the Amazon reviewer suggests. Despite the confusing wording of the Amazon review, Alan Vega and James Ray were never bandmates in Suicide.. I believe one of our reviewer friends misunderstood this point. Alan Vega's NYC bandmate in Suicide was always Martin Rev. James Ray was a European based Goth artist who worked under the names James Ray, James Ray's Gangwar, and James Ray & Performance. The connection between Eldritch and Vega was that the Sisters had covered Suicide's "Ghostrider". Interestingly both bands had covered Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray". It is merely coincidence that James Ray, now performing in Sisterhood, shares his name with the song... i.e. Sister (James) Ray. It is true that all of this was recorded in little more than a week. The music is not bad and some is actually quite memorable, but the rush is evident. Most consist of monotonous beats, minimal synths and spoken vocals. The only song that seems complete is the excellent "Giving Ground", which is likely why this is the only song that the band has continued to play.

Looking back Andrew pulled off quite a coup, shutting down his ex-bandmates, giving the label the finger while still collecting the cash, and moving forward with the name in tact. Observent fans will know that Andrew relocated to Germany long ago and is fluent in German. Those who speak some Deutsch themselves will also know the "Gift" in German means "Poison". Ah, now you get it....

Length of sighting line......378mm
The Sisterhood is not the The Sisters of Mercy. Not exactly.

What is this Gift? To make a long complicated story short, this was a rushed-out album that Andrew Eldritch and a crack team of sonic terrorists banged out in order to beat former bandmates Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams from having rights to The Sisters name for their future bands after the breakup. Whew. Yeah, basically, this is a bit of a joke, as one reviewer mentioned. But...

Anyway, what is this? Well, when all is said and done, I think this is actually a pretty important release, and dare I say a decent album. Eldritch penned the tracks but doesn't sing on any of them. Instead James Ray of Suicide (the NYC techno-terrorists who influenced the original Sisters) does the vocals and gives us a very nice Eldritch-esque sound (or is it the other way around?) Ray's Suicide partner Alan Vega plays on the album as well.

The music is an interesting forerunner to techno (Doktor Avalanche is working overtimes even on this short overall album) and also to some of the electronic sounds available on the later Sisters albums. Indeed, Colours would be rereleased on a future single as a b-side and then as a bonus track on the Floodland CD. The album kicks off with Jihad, a jab at Hussey and co. "2...5...0...0...0...JIHAD!" go the lyrics. And that's all they go, for about 8 minutes or so along to a faintly Middle Eastern ditty and Doktor Avalanche working overtime. Apparently the 2 5 0 0 0 in question is the 25,000 pounds that Eldritch got for releasing this thing. So he gets a laugh at the others' expense. Just knowing that little bit will make the track more interesting. It's not bad, but isn't anything terribly impressive, save for the solid drum machine work and sequencing.

Finland Red Egypt White (some title, huh) is actually a groovy Avalanche and a hypnotic 8 minute flow of...someone reading the specs of an AK-47 rifle in a monotone with slight distortion. I did like this.

You'll quickly notice the same drum machine sounds at work on each of the five tracks here. Doktor Avalanche shines on this album, folks. You'll notice a pattern of programming, as if they basically cranked this out in a month or so (which I think they actually did.) Also, let's face it, Jihad, Colours, Rain From Heaven and Finland Red, Egypt White don't really need to be as long as they are, but I guess they make this appear like something resembling a full album, in length...for vinyl that is.

It's repetitive, but the songs, sounds, and lyrics and structures can't be ignored by Sisters fan. The most indispensable song here is easily Giving Ground, which The Sisters continue to perform live today.

This is out of print and pricey. I would recommend it to Sisters fans who want everything, others may want to find a cheaper used copy or "borrow" some MP3s online.

Argh! Someone beat me to writing the first review!! Grr.....
OK, "Gift" is certainly quite the strange little dealie. If you listen to it, it seems like an utter joke - repetitive lyrics (especially since some of the songs are so LONG), repetitive beats, etc. Well, the story goes that Mr. Eldritch recorded this in a week to spite his former comrades Adams/Hussey. "Ah, OK," you say, "now it makes sense." Indeed, there is a very amateurish feel to Gift all throughout - this is due to the fact that it was created in such a short time. Well, that and Eldritch also wanted to thumb his nose at his record company ("two-five-zero-zero-zero" from the opening track refers to the fact that they paid him 25,000 pounds to record this joke).

And yet, when you get down to it, the album is really not that bad at all. The drum grooves, repetitive as they are, are certainly danceable, and to my surprise, I found some of the very evocative synth leads that characterized Eldritch's later work in tracks like "Rain From Heaven." It makes nice background music, and is really a fairly good listen. Well, and "Finland Red, Egypt White" gets some points for utter hilarity, as someone recites the AK-47 manual word-for-word.

In short, this is a necessity for Sisters fans - quite the collectors' item. For the rest of us, well, it's probably not all that special. However, Eldritch's vision and foresight must be commended - although few would think of Gift as a lost classic, it turned out to be one of the first albums (if not THE first album, period) to utilize the style that later came to be called "techno." Whodathunkit?