Halloween In Arkham

Halloween In Arkham - Cover (front)

Halloween In Arkham - Cover (back)

<br(> One of the earliest 12" vinyl Sisters bootlegs.

Remarkably, Halloween In Arkham, which features the song No Time To Cry, was released before the official single, published on March 8th, 1985.

The version available here is, however, the one of the John Peel Session 1984, the first time the song was performed live.

Release Notes

Label: Arche Noire Records

Catalogue#: ANR 024

Format: 12" vinyl LP

Released: 1985

Remarks

Released in two editions

The first edition is limited to 500 hand-numbered copies.

The second edition is limited to 300 copies.

Vinyls have plain white labels with Cat# 523 etched into the run-out groove.

The cover of the first edition has a copper/gold-like coloured print, while the second edition comes with a pasted b/w copy instead.

The picture on the front is a low resolution copy of the art work "Dreams in the Witch House" by Harry O. Morris Jr., a contemporary American artist.

It is part of a serial of 15 grafics titled "Halloween in Arkham" created in 1979, which seems to be the origen of the name of the present album.

The artwork itself has got its title from a short story of the same name by H. P. Lovecraft, published first in 1933.

On the cover back No Time To Cry is marked as "UNRELEASED".

This information provides the basis for some evidence concerning the release date and the significance of this item.

First - as far as we know, three 12" bootlegs were released in 1984:

Live At Brixton Ace, Psychedelic Sessions 1984 and The Lights Shine Clear Through The Sodium Haze (with its derivatives Mercyful Release and A Merciful Release).

These three were the Sisters bootlegs that started everything. Then, in 1985, many more new bootlegs followed - with some significant ones among them. Nowadays it is difficult to figure out in which order they were released, but considering the remark about No Time To Cry, one can fairly conclude that Halloween in Arkham was one of the first bootlegs ever.

Cryptic Flowers, Halloween's Day, Knocking On Heavens Door and The Dancer's Reward do also feature No Time To Cry that was said unreleased at that time.

Armageddon Outtakes, Disguised In Black, Stonehenge and Tune In ... Turn Off ... Burn Out ... contain recordings from concerts performed in May, April or, accordingly, on the 16th or 13th of March 1985. These gigs took place after the release of No Time To Cry. So, in conclucion, all of these eight albums were released later than the present one.

This still doesn't give us a clue for the exact release dates of the bootlegs Live In The Troyan Horse and Possession, though the name of the latter album suggests is was release late in 1985 as the song Possession from which the bootleg title might be derived, was first released on March 11th, 1985 on First And Last And Always and performed live for the first time during the Tune In - Turn On - Burn Out tour. That tour started on March 9th 1985. Unfortunately we can`t proof this coherence, but at least we can reasonably conclude that Halloween in Arkham was among the first six 12" bootlegs ever released for The Sisters Of Mercy.

Second - it was the first time that a proper song of the The Sisters Of Mercy was publicated prior to the official release.

The '84 bootlegs offered so far had contained alternative versions like the Psychedelic Sessions 1984 album, or live recordings like Live At Brixton Ace and The Lights Shine Clear Through The Sodium Haze, the latter in combination with two studio recordings released earlier). Having all these features together on one Sisters bootleg and in addition even an unpublished Sisters composition, that was something totally new, and - of course - the bootleg became immediately sought-after. Insofar, Halloween in Arkham was right from the start an essential and significant collectors' item.

Its significance is also reflected in the fact that over many years Halloween in Arkham was "blindly" taken as the source of information on the setlist of a concert that didn't even take place, just because the back cover gives the wrong date for the performance. See the Gigography page for further details.

Beyond that, the bootleg regarding the 10th Anniversary gig for Reptile House members on 16 February 1991 at Leeds University is titled "The Return To Arkham". Perhaps, this name was chosen to render homage to the present album.