A Merciful Release

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A 12" vinyl LP mainly featuring tracks from Hunky Dory, Detmold, West Germany 1984 plus one further live track and a studio outtake from The Sisters' second single Body Electric.

A Merciful Release - Cover (front)


This bootleg is often referred to as Merciful Release only, omitting the article, or as simply The Sisters Of Mercy. It should not be confused with another bootleg titled Mercyful Release with identical content, but very different cover.

In addition, A Merciful Release sometimes gets confused with the double-LP bootleg The Lights Shine Clear Through The Sodium Haze, which also has a similar cover art and contains among others the same tracks from Hunky Dory. The Lights Shine Clear Through The Sodium Haze was quite likely the orignal from which the present bootleg (and some others) was copied, unfortunately in clearly inferior sound quality.


Release Notes
The present bootleg was released in at least two issue by different labels:

* Label: Boss * Label: Reptile Records Inc.
* Catalogue#: Boss 81087 * Catalogue#: MR035L
* Format: 12" vinyl LP * Format: 12" vinyl LP
* Matrix / Runouts: * Matrix / Runouts:
  - Side A: BOSS 81087 SOM -A-           - unknown -
  - Side B: BOSS 81087 SOM -B-
* Released: unknown * Released: unknown,
  but most likely after the Boss release




Remarks

  • The covers of both releases are fully identical and do not mention the bootleg title.
  • The cover front is white and shows a large head and star logo with the band name printed across it.
For this reason, this bootleg is also known as The Sisters Of Mercy. Due to the main content
it is also mentioned as Live In Detmold, time and again.
  • The back cover is plain white without any print.
  • The bootleg comes on black vinyl with very pale yellow-white or plain white labels:


Differences between releases

  • The Boss release is a limited edition of 200 copies that comes with an A4 hand-numbered insert sheet,
which also gives the bootleg title, a full track list including references to the track origins
and some further information on the intends of the release.
planned to accompany the shelved Reverberation Across The Nation bootleg
on page 20/21 under the title of The Sisters Of Mercy
  • The Reptile Records Inc. edition is not limited.
It comes with a postcard-size information on the bootleg title, a track list and references to track origins.
This looks very much like a snippet copied from the above mentioned Boss inlay sheet.


Sources

NOTE: it is not 100% clear, where these tracks were recorded.

- Discogs attributes B1-B3 to Odeon, Münster 1983, which is most likely wrong.
- In fact, Kir Club, Hamburg, West Germany, 31 August 1983 is the correct recording date for this track.
recorded in February 1982 at Kenny Giles Music Studios, Bridlington, England, see Body Electric Demos


For recent price developments see sistersbootlegs/A Merciful Release or popsike/A Merciful Release.


Track List

Side A Side B
A1.  Burn B1.  Body Electric
A2.  Heartland B2.  Gimme Shelter
A3.  Body And Soul                                     B3.  Ghostrider / Sister Ray
A4.  Anaconda B4.  Temple Of Love
A5.  Walk Away B5.  Body Electric
A6.  Emma
A7.  Floorshow
A8.  Adrenochrome


Additional Pictures

- Please click into files for larger views -

Boss Release

A Merciful Release - Limited Edition with Hand-Numbered Insert Sheet (Boss release)
A Merciful Release - Vinyl with pale yellow-white label
Hand-numbered A4 Insert Sheet

Reptile Records Inc. Release

A Merciful Release - Overview (back)
A Merciful Release - Overview (front)
A Merciful Release - Postcard-sized insert