SSV - Go Figure (1997)

SSV-NSMABAAOTWMODAACOTIATW (abbreviated to SSV, but rumoured to stand for Screw Shareholder Value - Not So Much A Band As Another Opportunity To Waste Money On Drugs And Ammunition Courtesy Of The Idiots At Time Warner) was a short-lived musical project formed by Sisters of Mercy singer Andrew Eldritch in 1997, in collaboration with the Hamburg-based techno producers Peter Bellendir (formerly of Xmal Deutschland) and T. Schroeder. It was mainly a vehicle for Eldritch to meet long-standing commitments to his record label EastWest without actually having to record new Sisters Of Mercy songs for them, as following the release of the last Sisters Of Mercy studio album 'Vision Thing' in 1990, Eldritch had grown tired of the label and had postponed the production of two impending studio albums for several years. In the meantime Bellendir had produced 'a very perverse techno record without drums' that happens to feature sampled vocals from Eldritch, and scenting a fast buck to be made the label bought the record without having heard it, and agreed to release Eldridge from his recording contract in exchange for this one album, rather than the two that it originally wanted. The Sisters celebrated with a tour and promised 'the release of a stonking new Sisters single on the day after Mr Eldritch’s contract officially expires', but that single never came, although the SSV album was scheduled for release, and was given a catalogue number and release date of 14th November 1997. Presumably, at some point the label must have actually listened to the album, and horrified at what they heard they pulled its release, and it has never been officially issued. The Sisters seemed to have treated the whole thing as a joke, as they freely allowed downloads of the tracks from various websites, and if you weren't happy with the 128kbps mp3's you could request a lossless CDR from them! This copy was ripped from one of these band-sourced CDR's, and so is probably the best quality that we'll find, although there are still a few slips and jumps here and there. If you're expecting to find some previously unheard Sisters Of Mercy tracks here then you will be sorely disappointed, but it's certainly not as bad a contract-filler as 'Metal Machine Music', and I actually like it simply for the techno/trance album that it is.  

Track listing

01 Nice
02 Knife, Paper, Stone & Guns
03 Two In The Nose
04 Bad Vultee
05 Gone
06 Drugsar
07 High School
08 Feel No Pain
09 Go Figure
10 Shut The Fuck Up

Suggested by 'The Greatest Albums You'll Never Hear' by Bruno MacDonald