Halloween In Arkham
From SistersWiki.org - The Sisters Of Mercy Fan Wiki
<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 and 523-A and 523-B, respectively, etched into the run-outs.
- 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".
Sources
- Tracks A1 - B1 recorded live at Brixton Ace, London 19.2.1983
- The back cover wrongly notes: SIDE ONE - Brixton Ace, London 17.03.1983
- Tracks B2 - B5 recorded at the John Peel Session 11.7.1984
Track List
Side One
| A1 Alice |
| A2 Valentine |
| A3 Anaconda |
| A4 Body Electric |
| A5 1969 |
Side Two
| B1 Sister Ray |
| B2 Poison Door |
| B3 No Time To Cry |
| B4 Walk Away |
| B5 Emma |
For recent price developments see sistersbootlegs/HalloweenArkham or popsike/Halloween In Arkham.
| This page is Work in Progress and going to be extended as soon as ever possible |
Evaluation in Sisters Bootlegs History
The above information provides some evidence with regard to the release date and the significance of this album.
- 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 and Knocking On Heavens Door feature live versions of the then "unreleased" No Time To Cry, and The Dancer's Reward has the same 1984 John Peel Session track on Side B it as is available here.
- Armageddon Outtakes, Disguised In Black, Stonehenge and Tune In ... Turn Off ... Burn Out ... contain recordings from concerts performed 1985. These gigs took place after the release of No Time To Cry and the bootlegs do not all feature the song. So, in conclucion, all of these eight albums were released later than the present one. - Can that be true? No.
- 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 that it 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.
Additional Pictures
- Please click into files for larger views -
