The Grief

The Grief - Cover (front)

A 12" vinyl bootleg featuring various live tracks from 1982 and 1984 as well as, allegedly,

the Utrecht 1984 soundcheck. Anyway, the Klub Foot Hammersmith concert featured here

was the first full gig by The Sisters of Mercy that made its way onto a bootleg.

Release Notes

• Label: Merciful Release/Leeds/England (according to cover note) ***

• Catalogue#: MR029

• Format: 12" Vinyl LP

• Released: 1989

 *** this as much as the catalogue# can of course not be true,
      since those refer to the Body And Soul (single).

Remarks

• Released in three editions.

• The first is limited to 1.000 copies and comes black vinyl,
  most likely with yellow labels as in the first picture down below.

• The second edition is limited to 500 copies on black, clear, yellow and grey or multi-coloured vinyl.
  These items do partly have a red sticker on the cover front which indicates:
  LIMITED EDITION IN COLORED VINYL.

The Grief - Clear golden vinyl with cover and hand-numbered booklet

• Other copies of the second edition do have a numbered limited edition rubber stamp
  similar to this one but in red colour on the cover front (see also the picture bottom left).

This stamp contains a small image of a grinning Joker holding a Batman mask
and was later used to number the first edition of the bootleg Heidelberg, Rhein Neckar Halle, 22 November 1990

• The third edition is limited to 60 hand-numbered copies.
  The first 50 of these include a hand-numbered booklet with the band and label discography.

• As far as we know, the vinyls of the latter two have either white or pale yellow labels.

Sources:

• A1 - B2 Live at Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982

• B3 - B5 Live instrumental soundcheck *** at Tivoli, Utrecht, NL, 6th November 1984

• B6 - B7 Live at Polytechnic, Oxford, UK, 18th May 1984

*** NOTE:
It is not verified whether any, and if so which, members of The Sisters of Mercy actually participated

in the alleged Utrecht 1984 soundcheck.

Possibly, the bootlegger only added these tracks in order to serve potential buyer's curiosity.

The facts supporting the latter theory are that there is no singing, while one can hear a real drummer play.

For recent price developments see sistersbootlegs/The Grief or popsike/thegrief.

The Grief - Cover (back)

Track List

Song		Recorded at
A1	Kiss The Carpet	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982
A2	Floorshow	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982
A3	Adrenochrome	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982
A4	Alice	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982
A5	Watch	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982
A6	Valentine	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982
A7	Anaconda	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982

B1	Body Electric	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982
B2	Sister Ray	Klub Foot, Hammersmith, London, UK 23rd December 1982
B3	Black Night	Tivoli, Utrecht, NL, 6th November 1984
B4	Untitled	Tivoli, Utrecht, NL, 6th November 1984
B5	Untitled	Tivoli, Utrecht, NL, 6th November 1984
B6	Body And Soul	Polytechnic, Oxford, UK, 18th May 1984
B7	Gimme Shelter	Polytechnic, Oxford, UK, 18th May 1984

Additional Pictures

- Please click into files for larger views -

The Grief - Black vinyl, yellow labels

The Grief - with pale yellow label

The Grief - Splattered black vinyl (with booklet and cover)

The Grief - Dark splattered vinyl, cover with "limited editon" sticker