Cryptic Flowers

Dorothy Tree, Geraldine Dvorak and Cornelia Thaw
in Dracula

Cryptic Flowers - glossy light blue/white cover (front)

A live bootleg from late 1984 recorded during the Black October Tour.

Release Notes

Label: Metropol Records Inc.

Catalogue#: MERCY

Format: 12" vinyl LP

Released: 1985 (Italy)

Run-outs: MERCY / A and MERCY / B

Other Identifiers: EAN# 8 711500 011497

Remarks

According to backsleeve:

For promotion only

Cover by Atlan Productions / Artwork by Qubert

Cryptic Flowers - b/w Cover (front)

The picture on the front of the cover is a movie scene from

Dracula (1931 feat. Bela Lugosi) showing Dorothy Tree,

Geraldine Dvorak and Cornelia Thaw

The cover spine names "Sister of Mercy" as the performing artist.

Cryptic Flowers - Cover (spine)

The recording is very incomplete. Burn, Emma, A Rock And A Hard Place, Floorshow, Alice, Body Electric,

Gimme Shelter, Adrenochrome and the first part of the final medley Ghostrider are missing.

Although the bootleg seems to be based on an audience recording, the sound quality is good.

Cryptic Flowers - Blue Cover (front), no sticker

Varieties

Exists in at least four or more editions:

According to discogs the fully printed glossy, dark blue and white front cover version with "Limited Edition on colored vinyl" sticker is the first edition and comes with white/multicoloured splattered vinyl. The back cover of this and all other blue cover versions has a pink background and pink lettering on dark violet background. A photo showing the band around the time of the recording is fully tinted in blue. No picture of a dark blue cover with sticker has surfaced to date.

A cover version with light blue and white print including limited edition sticker on front does exist as well. One of these has surfaced with a red vinyl with printed labels giving completely unconnected details (see first picture down below, possibly there's simply a wrong vinyl in the picture).

Both covers do exist without a sticker as well and come with coloured, multicoloured, or black vinyl.

Back covers are all the same as above.

Beyond that, there is a b/w cover version with a blue and b/w backsleeve and coloured or multicoloured vinyl, mostly though, with red splattered vinyl. The latter has to be treated with caution, as several red black-splattered vinyls with identical "MERCY A / MERCY B" run-outs have surfaced in b/w Cryptic Flowers covers, while featuring a part of the concert at Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL of August 1983. That record is, in fact, Record One of the Possession 2LP bootleg as pictured here.

Cryptic Flowers - Dark Blue Cover (front), no sticker

Another blue cover version has a print of the cover motive glued on front while the cover back is just blue without any print or information. The accompanying is vinyl black and has printed labels giving the unconnected details:

"THE BAD - (Lyrics by The Bad) - HD017 - PART ONE" (or PART TWO, resp.)

The same black vinyls have been seen with "normal" blue cover versions as well.

Known vinyl colours are black, yellow, white, blue, red, and multicoloured (splattered) white, red and clear.

NOTE: Several copies of the yellow vinyl have proved to be Record One of the Possession 2LP bootleg, just like some of the red black-splattered vinyls mentioned above. We recommend checking this thread @The Heartland Forums for further information and discussions on this issue.

Sources