Editing First and Last and Always (section)

===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.