Blood Money (bootleg)
One of the rarer 12" vinyl bootlegs featuring an incomplete recording of The Sisters of Mercy's famous final 1980ies gig at the Royal Albert Hall.
The album was released in two different covers - a white generic one with a black/white A4-xerox glued to it; and another fully printed and glossy one,
that has a more professional appearance. The first mentioned one has a text printed in Japanese characters in the lower left corner and is therefore
commonly known as "the Japanese Cover". It is also the more sought-after album of the two as it is much rarer. Nowadays it achives high prices that
can reach into the hundreds of Euros in the online auctions.
Release Notes
- Label: unknown
- Catalogue#: S.O.M. 666
- Format: 12" vinyl LP
- Released: 1985 / 1987
- According to the Reverberation Across The Nation booklet, the album was released in 1985
- before the official Wake video. Other authors give 1987 as the release date.
- Place of release: England / France
- The Reverberation booklet states that this bootleg is an English product,
- while the "Japanese issue" was a second release manufactured in France.
- Other authors maintain it were entirely a French release. Their opinion might derive from logo of
- SACEM (Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique) on the label, a French company
- (see the pictures further down).
General Remarks
- Good sound quality
- The bootleg is focussed upon the final encore of the concert,
consisting of Train and the medley of Ghostrider / Louie Louie,
which is omitted in the official concert video Wake.
- All versions are pressed on black vinyl.
- The track infos on both covers and labels are full of mistakes.
Remarks concerning the labels
- The vinyls and the labels that come in the two different covers are identical.
- The labels give the impression that the issue were an official French release.
- Label notes: Bootleg title, catalogue number, erroneous track list with wrong track times (see Track List)
- 33 tours, SIDE I/II, Stéréo, SACEMlogo;
- and printed in a circle around border of the label:
- TOUS DROITS DU PRODUCTEUR DE L'OEUVRE PHONOGRAPHIQUE ET DU PROPRIÉTAIRE
- DE L'OEUVRE ENREGISTRÉE RÉSERVÉS, SAUF AUTORISATION, LA DUPLICATION,
- LA LOCATION, LE PRÊT, DU L'UTILISATION DE CE DISQUE POUR EXÉCUTION PUBLIQUE
- ET RADIODIFFUSION SONT INTERDITS. MADE IN FRANCE
Remarks on the standard cover
- The cover front shows a picture of a "burning" red pentagramm within some American or Canadian traditional-like wood inlaid work
- on a dark brown background. The pentagramm is bounded by an inlaid circle giving the band name and the bootleg title in also red capital letters.
- The back cover, too, simulates a wooden surface and gives only the erroneous track list and the venue dates.
- Apart from the song titles, the lettering on the cover reverse comes in a script typeface, i.e. looking like handwriting.
- The spine is blank and does not give any further information about this release.
Remarks on the "Japanese" cover
- The cover consits of a generic white sleeve with a black and white copied A4 sheet glued to it.
- The image that was used for the cover art was used before on the famous Floorshow EP.
- It was originally published with an ELEKTRA biography and information pack in 1985.
- The photo is credited to Tom Sheehan 1985.
- The bootleg title is omitted on the cover.
- Cover notes beside the track list and the band's name:
- "STEREO" in the upper right corner and
- a Japanese text field in the lower left corner.
Source
- Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 18th June 1985
For recent price developments see sistersbootlegs/Blood Money
or popsike/bloodmoney or, alternatively, rootsvinylguide/Sisters of Mercy - Blood Money.
Track List
| Real Titels | Writing on labels | Common cover | Japanese cover | ||
| A1 A Rock And A Hard Place | 3'30 | A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE | 2'29 | A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE | A rock & a hard place |
| A2 Floorshow | 3'52 | FLOOR SHOW | 2'15 | FLOOR SHOW | Floor show |
| A3 Knockin' On Heaven's Door | 6'51 | KNOCKIN ON | 3'05 | KNOCKIN ON HEAVENS DOOR | Knockin on heaven's door |
| A4 Train | 2'39 | GHOST TRAIN | 2'08 | Omitted | Omitted |
| A5 Body And Soul | 3'35 | BODY AND SOUL | 3'27 | BODY AND SOUL | Body & soul |
| B1 Possession | 4'32 | POSSESSION | 2'46 | POSSESSION | Possession |
| B2 Emma | 6'18 | EMILY | 3'43 | EMILY | Emily |
| B3 Amphetamine Logic | 4'14 | AMPHETAMINE LOGIC | 2'36 | AMPHETAMINE LOGIC | Amphetamine logic |
| B4 Ghostrider | --- | Omitted | LOVIE LOVIE | Omitted | |
| B5 Louie Louie |
7'28 (Medley) |
LOUIE |
2'58 |
GHOST TRAIN |
Louie louie |
Additional Pictures
- Please click into files for larger views -
