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, there were three 12" bootlegs 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 ones with which everything started.

Then in 1985 a lot of new bootlegs were released - with some significant ones among them. Nowadays it is difficult to figure out

in which order they were released, but considering the remark on 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 feature No Time To Cry, which was said to be unreleased at that time.

- Armageddon Outtakes, Disguised In Black, Stonehenge and Tune In ... Turn Off ... Burn Out ...

contain recordings from concerts that were 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 these eight albums were released after the present one.

We still don't have any hint about the exact release dates of the bootlegs Live In The Troyan Horse and Possession (although it seems that the name of this last album arose from the song Possession, which first appeared on the album First And Last And Always released the 11th of March 1985 and was performed live first during the Tune In - Turn On - Burn Out tour, which started on the 9th of March - unfortunately we can`t proof this coherence), but at least we can assure that Halloween in Arkham was within 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 so far offered alternative versions like the Psychedelic Sessions 1984 album do or live recordings (Live At Brixton Ace and The Lights Shine Clear Through The Sodium Haze - the latter in combination with two afore released studio recordings). But to have all this together and moreover an unpublished Sisters composition on one record was totally new, and - of course - immediately sought-after.

Therefore Halloween in Arkham was right from the start an essential and significant bootleg.

Its significance is also reflected in the fact that throughout several years Halloween in Arkham was "blindly" taken as the source of information about the set list of a concert that didn't even take place, just because the back cover notes give the wrong date of the performance. See the Gigography page for further details.

The bootleg of the 10th Anniversary gig for Reptile House members on 16 February 1991 at Leeds University was titeled "The Return To Arkham". Possibly this title was chosen to render homage to the present album.