Wayne Hussey describes the latest album by The Mission as “the lost link between The Sisters Of Mercy’s ‘First And Last And Always’ and The Mission’s ‘God's Own Medicine’”. It’s one hell of a claim. Let’s unpack this: there are various takes on the Sisters’ infamous split in 1985, which do, indeed, centre around the cliché of ‘musical direction’. Various
contemporaneous press articles suggest that Eldritch rejected all of Hussey’s offerings, which included ‘Garden of Delight’ and other tracks which would subsequently appear on The Mission’ debut album (the extant demo of Eldritch providing vocals to a demo version of the aforementioned track does indeed sound awkward, albeit as much tonally as lyrically), but these are countered by recollections of Adams and Hussey walking out after being presented with the chord sequence for ‘Torch’. There was talk of a Sisters / Sisterhood album ‘Left on Mission and Revenge’, from which many assume Hussey and Adams took their moniker after infinite legal wranglings and the emergence of the Eldritch-affiliated, James Ray vocalised Sisterhood album ‘Gift’.
There are also interviews from around the time of the split published in mainland Europe, which indicate that Eldritch felt the band had run its course in its (then) current incarnation, and always intended to disband the Sisters to pursue a more electronic direction, as first manifested as the supposed ‘spoiler’ Sisterhood album, and, subsequently, ‘Floodland’.
So I’d always assumed that The Mission’s debut and ‘Gift’ were equally the ‘missing link’ between ‘First and Last and Always’ and, well, everything which followed, as the bands followed their very different trajectories.
As with any split, there are sides. Me, I’ve always been torn. I discovered, and adored, The Mission first. I was born in 1975 and effectively discovered alternative music through The Mission’s infiltration of the singles charts in 86/87. They provided the route to The Sisters, a harder and lyrically superior, drug. But despite a particularly poor patch, as represented by ‘Masque’ and a clutch of less than perfect albums in the late 90s, I never completely abandoned The Mission. Each of their latter-day releases has been so-so or better and there have been moments of brilliance on each. And this, I suspect, is why their fans have kept the faith.
But why should they choose to position an album as such now? There’s been a lot of water under the bridge. Does Hussey perhaps have regrets? While his contributions to the seminal ‘First and Last and Always’ have divided the super-hardcore Sisters fans, some of whom see the Hussey-oriented side one as being poppier and therefore weaker than the Marx-orientated ide two, there’s little dispute over the fact that it’s a truly classic album.
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Over the course of their 30-year career, the Mission have produced some decent tunes, and some absolute belters, and Hussey’s picked guitar sound is highly distinctive. At the very least, ‘Another Fall from Grace’ reminds us of these things. With Tim Palmer back on production duties and backing vocal credits including Gary Numan, Martin Gore, Ville Valo, Julianne Regan and Evi Vine, there are numerous reasons to take note: yes, The Mish are celebrating 30 years in style and are going to party like it’s 1985.
The title track opens the album with an intro that’s very like the intro to The Sisters’ version of ‘Emma’. ‘Met-Amor-Phosis’ has heavy echoes of ‘Dominion’ ‘Can’t See the Ocean for the Rain’ and ‘Tyranny of Secrets’ do very much have a ‘First and Last and Always’ era Sisters vibe about them, but also a rare, dark vigour, with the latter finding Hussey giving a full throated vocal over a riff that calls to mind ‘Blood Money’. It’s probably the best song The Mission have recorded since their debut album. Elsewhere, ‘Bullets and Bayonets’ finds the band in territories simultaneously familiar and new, incorporating arabesque guitar motifs with a dreamy, drum-machine led stroll. This is, undoubtedly, one of the unexpected strengths of ‘Another Fall From Grace’: for all the claims of a return to the band’s roots, it’s also an album which reveals a band still facing forward and still looking to develop in new directions.
The Mission Online
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