Editing First and Last and Always (section)

==Recording==
===Demo sessions===
After intense songwriting sessions, Gary Marx entered Parkside Studios, "a tiny studio in a rehearsal complex off Armley Road where I'd been with Wayne to record some new demos with him singing." The recordings were engineered by Steve Allen.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ghostdance.co.uk/discography/diaries.php?id=river |title=Ghost Dance Discography : Recording Diaries (River of No Return) |website=GhostDance.co.uk |access-date=6 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207002353/http://www.ghostdance.co.uk/discography/diaries.php?id=river |archive-date=7 February 2009}}</ref> Eldritch was enthusiastic about the new material, and played some instrumental demos to ''[[Melody Maker]]'' journalist [[Adam Sweeting]]: "I think this stuff's gonna be incredible, like nothing we've ever done before".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Sweeting |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Sweeting |year=1984 |title=Ballad of a Thin Man |magazine=[[Melody Maker]] |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/ballad_of_a_thin_man.jpg |type=JPEG |access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref>

===Strawberry sessions===
At the end of June 1984, the Sisters of Mercy went with producer Dave Allen into the Strawberry Recording Studios in [[Stockport]], near [[Manchester]], for five weeks to record their first studio album. Studio costs were £500 a day and £3,250 a week.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.strawberrynorth.co.uk/picture1980s.htm |title=Strawberry North – ... |work=strawberrynorth.co.uk |access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref> Eldritch spent the whole five weeks inside the studio and, according to Dave Allen, used large amounts of [[amphetamine]] on a daily basis.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} In Stockport, backing tracks and vocals were to be recorded. Additional vocals, overdubs and the final mix were planned for August at Genetic Studios. The finished album was to be released in the third week of October 1984.<ref name="Serpent's Kiss!">{{cite magazine |date=January 1989 |title=Serpent's Kiss! |magazine=Spiral Scratch}}</ref> The band immediately started to record, with Hussey and Marx often providing guide vocals with their own lyrics which later showed up on bootlegs. Both Hussey and Marx later used some of these lyrics for their own bands, [[The Mission (band)|The Mission]] and [[Ghost Dance (band)|Ghost Dance]]. An early recording of "First and Last and Always", which, according to Gary Marx, was "previously called 'The Scottish One'", was "completed pretty early on".<ref name="myheartland2004">{{cite web |url=https://myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=6178 |title=View Topic – Nine While Nine Demo!?! :: Heartland :: The Sisters of Mercy Forum |date=20 October 2004 |work=myheartland.co.uk |access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref> Marx sang an early draft of the later Ghost Dance lyric of "When I Call", which mentioned the name of a friend of the band's from Hamburg; Marianne.<ref name="Burchardt">{{cite magazine |last=Burchardt |first=Alf |date=November 1984 |title=Im Takte des Doktors |magazine=[[Spex (magazine)|SPEX]] |page=23}}</ref>

On "Nine While Nine", which, according to Marx, was "recorded at the same time" and "had the working title 'Child of Light",<ref name="myheartland2004"/> Gary Marx sang a guide vocal which he reused later for the Ghost Dance song "A Deeper Blue". The title of this song is derived from [[Yorkshire dialect]] where "while" is used to mean "until". "Black Planet" exists in the form of an early version with a Wayne Hussey lyric which he later used for the [[The Mission (band)|Mission]] songs "Dance on Glass" and "Naked and Savage". Additional songs which were left unused were the later Mission song "Garden of Delight" and later Ghost Dance song "Yesterday Again". Eldritch later sang his own version of "Garden of Delight" which remained unused as well: "There are a few bootlegs in existence of me trying to sing Wayne's words, and you can hear that I'm not convinced by them. I can't breathe any meaning into them."<ref>Andrew Eldritch TV interview (ZTV, Sweden 1993)</ref> "The guy didn't have a clue – he'd just string buzz words together."<ref name="ultimatesistersguide1987">{{cite magazine |last=Sutherland |first=Steve |date=5 September 1987 |title=His Master's Voice |magazine=[[Melody Maker]] |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/His_Masters_Voice.jpg |type=JPEG |access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref>

Recordings were delayed, to the frustration of the band as Eldritch was still working on lyrics. Gary Marx: "He'd got far too caught up in the business and had lost his edge as a writer. We wasted weeks at a time in the studio, waiting for him to come up with a handful of lyrics. It was very painful and very expensive."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.premonition.org/premor.php3?lien=actu/actu.php3X1Xactuid=216003&ta=10 |title=Premonition |last=Labussière |first=Christophe |work=premonition.org |access-date=9 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312225843/http://www.premonition.org/premor.php3?lien=actu%2Factu.php3X1Xactuid%3D216003&ta=10 |archive-date=12 March 2012}}</ref> A notable exception was "Marian". Eldritch, inspired by Gary Marx's original lyrics to "First and Last and Always", wrote new words to a Wayne Hussey composition which contained a few passages sung in German. "'Marian' is a very special song; it's not like any of the other songs. I wrote it in ten minutes, usually the lyrics take me up to half a year."<ref name="Hartmann">{{cite magazine |last=Hartmann |first=Markus |date=November 1990 |title=...And the Wind Blows Wild Again... |magazine=Zillo |page=12}}</ref> The vocal takes proved to be time-consumingly elaborate. Marx said, "After each session Andy would say, 'But is it epic?', and we'd go, 'Yeah Andy, it's great!' And he'd go back and do it again. Andy's a complete perfectionist."<ref name="ultimatesistersguide1984">{{cite magazine |year=1984 |title=<nowiki>[</nowiki>''Rise and Reverberate'' article<nowiki>]</nowiki> |magazine=Rise and Reverberate |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/Marx_int_1.jpg |type=JPEG |access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref> He added, "We could write and record a double album in the time it took him to get the headphone mix to his liking."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Sampson |first=Chris |url=http://gps.tsom.org/06%20draft%200.5_rights.pdf |title=Interview [2]: Gary Marx |magazine=Glasperlenspiel |issue=6 |date=June 2003 |page=11 |access-date=6 January 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728131705/http://gps.tsom.org/06%20draft%200.5_rights.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2011}}</ref>

At the end of July 1984, recordings were finished and the band had completed raw mixes of 18 songs on ten analogue [[master reel]]s:
* '''Reel 1''': "Tones"/"No Time to Cry"
* '''Reel 2''': "[[Emma (Hot Chocolate song)|Emma]]"/"Walk Away"
* '''Reel 3''': "Poison Door"/"A Rock and a Hard Place"
* '''Reel 4''': "First and Last and Always" (album version)/"First and Last and Always" (Japan version){{efn|Listed under their working titles "Scottish One A" and "Scottish One B"}}
* '''Reel 5''': "Possession"/"Spit on Your Grave"/"Evil Come Evil Go"
* '''Reel 6''': "Marian"{{efn|Listed under its working title "Marianne"}}/"Wide Receiver"
* '''Reel 7''': "Nine While Nine"
* '''Reel 8''': "Some Kind of Stranger"{{efn|Listed under its working title "Little Wing"}}
* '''Reel 9''': "Some Kind of Stranger" (early){{efn|Listed under its working title "Andy's Little Wing"}}
* '''Reel 10''': "Down to E....."/"On the Wire"

According to Dave Allen "Tones", "Spit on Your Grave", "Evil Come Evil Go" and "Down to E....." are working titles for known songs. "Amphetamine Logic", according to Gary Marx, had the working title "Horned One Stabs", which indicates that this song was not recorded at Strawberry but at later sessions.{{citation needed|date=February 2013}} In early August 1984, the band flew to the US to play two concerts in New York.

===Genetic sessions===
After the US gigs, the band went into Genetic Studios near [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] with producer Dave Allen as planned to complete the album with [[Audio engineering|engineer]] Tim Baldwin. But the sessions at Genetic Studios dissolved, according to Gary Marx, into "madness of Eldritch walking into walls between vocal takes and us generally losing the plot. [Baldwin] seemed to remember it fondly enough."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ghostdance.co.uk/discography/diaries.php?id=stop |title=Ghost Dance Discography : Recording Diaries (Stop the World) |website=GhostDance.co.uk |access-date=6 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207002449/http://www.ghostdance.co.uk/discography/diaries.php?id=stop |archive-date=7 February 2009}}</ref> Weakened by continuous amphetamine use, insomnia, malnutrition and [[hypoglycaemia]], Eldritch collapsed in the studio one night. Marx: "He was completely exhausted; hallucinating. Despite this, part of him still wanted to carry on, although the other part knew that he had to stop because he was so ill."<ref name="ultimatesistersguide1984">{{cite magazine |year=1984 |title=<nowiki>[</nowiki>''Rise and Reverberate'' article<nowiki>]</nowiki> |magazine=Rise and Reverberate |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/Marx_int_1.jpg |type=JPEG |access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref> Eldritch: "I enjoy it so much, being strung out for a very long time. I'm told you can't do it for that long."<ref name="ultimatesistersguide1985">{{cite magazine |last=Sutherland |first=Steve |date=16 March 1985 |title=Careless Whispers |magazine=[[Melody Maker]] |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/careless_whispers.jpg |type=[[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]] |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref> Eldritch was rushed to the nearest hospital where he had to stay for a while because of heart complications and reduced general and nutritional condition.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=M. |first=Dave |year=1984 |title=The Sisters of Mercy |magazine=NITV |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/NITV_Interview_part_2.jpg |type=JPEG |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="Du Noyer">{{cite magazine |last=Du Noyer |first=Paul |date=March 1985 |title=Mister Sister – From a Murmur to a Moan |magazine=[[NME]] |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/mister_sister.jpg |type=JPEG |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref> In time for two festival appearances in Germany in early September 1984, Eldritch was released from hospital, but the band couldn't meet the scheduled release date of the album. During an interview in [[Ahlen]] on 8 September, Eldritch said the release had been postponed to the beginning of the next year.<ref name="Burchardt"/>

The band then returned to Genetic Studios to put the finishing touches on the album. It was possibly at these sessions that the band recorded a studio version of the [[Bob Dylan]] song "[[Knockin' on Heaven's Door]]"; an indication of the band's black humour. Studio versions of the two later [[The Mission (band)|Mission]] songs, "Serpents Kiss" and "Wake", exist. Wayne Hussey: "Both of these songs were actually first recorded during the sessions for [''First and Last and Always''], but weren't completed at that time."<ref>{{cite book |last=Hussey |first=Wayne |author-link=Wayne Hussey |date=April 2007 |title=The First Chapter |type=CD liner notes}}</ref> It's not clear whether these two songs were recorded at Strawberry or at Genetic Studios. On 22 September 1984, the band made an appearance at a festival in [[York]] and then went on the ''Black October'' tour through the UK and Europe from 4 October till 18 November 1984, which was originally set up to coincide with the release of the album. To coincide with the tour, a first single off the album was released on 8 October 1984, "Walk Away", which included a limited edition flexidisc featuring an "Amphetamix" of the song "Train". With the release schedule disrupted and the album postponed to the next year, the record company unsuccessfully requested to postpone "Walk Away" too.<ref name="ultimatesistersguide2">{{cite magazine |year=1984 |title=<nowiki>[</nowiki>''Rise and Reverberate'' article<nowiki>]</nowiki> |magazine=Rise and Reverberate |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/Marx_int_2.jpg |type=JPEG |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref> "Walk Away", like its predecessor, failed to reach the UK top 40, reaching No. 45.<ref name="occ"/>

After the end of the tour, the band returned to Genetic Studios without bassist Craig Adams or producer Dave Allen to mix the album.<ref name="Serpent's Kiss!"/> On this occasion two new songs were recorded, "Blood Money" and "Bury Me Deep", which were produced by Eldritch and were intended as [[A-side and B-side|B-sides]] for the next single, "No Time to Cry". At the end of 1984, Eldritch also produced the mini-album ''Clash of Dreams'' by Salvation at Strawberry Recording Studios in Stockport, which was intended for a March 1985 release on his Merciful Release label. The album was shelved.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://salvationhq.co.uk/discography/albums/clash-of-dreams/ |title=''Clash of Dreams'' <nowiki>|</nowiki> Salvation HQ |work=salvationhq.co.uk |date=22 September 2011 |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref> After the Christmas break, the band spent January and February 1985 with preparations for the album release, which again had been postponed to March. The artwork was completed and delivered, and various tapes with different mixes to pick circulated at the WEA offices.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} Additionally, the band negotiated the release of a live video on [[PolyGram]] which was to be filmed on Gary Marx's birthday on 18 June 1985 at the [[Royal Albert Hall]]. Around that time, lead guitarist and band co-founder Gary Marx decided to leave the group. "My relationship to all three of them was completely shattered."<ref name="MarxInterview2003"/> "As a songwriter it was a frustrating time in The Sisters. I wrote a lot of songs but they weren't used."{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} It had been presumed that Hussey should switch to keyboards,<ref name="Serpent's Kiss!"/> a step which Hussey would never have tolerated.