Editing First and Last and Always (section)

==Reception==
{{album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/first-and-last-and-always-mw0000195250 |title=''First and Last and Always'' – The Sisters of Mercy |last=Hanson |first=Amy |publisher=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|4|10}}<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Classic Rock (magazine)|Classic Rock]] |author=Sleazegrinder |title=The Sisters of Mercy Reissues |date=December 2006 |page=101}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev3score = Favourable<ref>''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''. December 1999. p. 171.</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]''
| rev4Score = 8/10<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Bonner |first=Michael |date=September 2015 |title=The Sisters Of Mercy: ''First And Last And Always'' |magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]] |page=96}}</ref>
}}
===Critical===
{{Expand section|date=May 2023}}
[[John Leland (journalist)|John Leland]] of ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' wrote, "Their songs are all dark, funereal—slow or fast, they all have the same relentlessly overcast timbre. They're a talented bunch trapped inside a clichéd strategy. ''First and Last and Always'' isn't bad, but it sure doesn't reward attentive listening."<ref>{{cite magazine| magazine= [[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] | title=Spins|author=John Leland| date=July 1985|issue=3|page=32}}</ref>

Amy Hanson of [[AllMusic]] praised the album and its influence on the goth scene that was prominent in the mid 80s, praising the mood of the album, saying, "With static drumbeats and jangle-angled guitars backing Andrew Eldritch's atonic, graveyard vocals, the songs on First and Last and Always paid to play alongside the ghosts of myriad forgotten post-punkers as well as the band's own goth forebears." She praised the moods within the album,  observing, "From the opening air-fire claustrophobia of "Black Planet" to the melancholy "No Time to Cry,"" and concluded "Copied to death, its brilliance has never been replicated. Indeed, the entire album remains unequalled in the genre, permanently granted top place on a pedestal from which it cannot be toppled."<ref>{{Citation |title=The Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always Album Reviews, Songs & More {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/first-and-last-and-always-mw0000195250 |access-date=28 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

In a retrospective review, Julian Marszalek of [[The Quietus]] observed the lyrics, on the opening track "Black Planet" to be very on the nose, with regards to the [[political climate]] of the mid 80s along with the [[Cold War]], saying. "Lyrically, the track finds Eldtrich in a post-apocalyptic world polluted by radiation and acid rain."... "But while Eldritch is bang on the money capturing the zeitgeist, the music was something of a damp squib focusing as it does on Hussey's sound while paying scant regard to concepts such as memorable and powerful riffs." and praised the sound of the album saying "With ''First And Last And Always'', The Sisters Of Mercy delivered a document that fulfilled the promise of those earlier releases, ten tracks marked by Armageddon, women, drugs, cowboy hats and Marlboro Reds." and concluded "Only The Sisters Of Mercy could've thought up the idea of [[rock music]] as an ironic vehicle for their bile. And only The Sisters Of Mercy could've been consumed by the very thing they were mocking. But regardless of what came next – and certainly the whip smart music that preceded it – The Sisters Of Mercy's debut album is a mighty full stop and crowning statement that's weathered the years well since its release. For some of us, at least, this really is first and last and always."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Quietus {{!}} Features {{!}} Anniversary {{!}} 35 Years On: The Sisters Of Mercy's First And Last And Always Revisited |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/17433-sisters-of-mercy-first-and-last-and-always-review |access-date=28 August 2023 |website=The Quietus |language=en-us}}</ref>

===Commercial===
The production of the album left the band in enormous debt.<ref name="ultimatesistersguide2"/> According to Eldritch, the album recouped the production costs in 1988.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Dickson |first=Dave |date=June 1991 |title=On Eldritch Boulevard |magazine=Heartland |issue=4 |page=46}}</ref> The album peaked at No. 14 on the [[UK Albums Chart]],<ref name="uk"/> with strong regional sales in the north of England.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rees |first1=Dafydd  |last2=Crampton |first2=Luke |title=The Q Encyclopedia of Rock Stars |publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]] |year=1999 |page=914}}</ref> It was certified silver (with 60,000 sold) on 30 October 1987 and gold (with 100,000 sold) on 8 May 1989 by the [[British Phonographic Industry]] (BPI).<ref name="BPI"/> In Germany, the group's second largest market after the UK, the album peaked at No. 40 and was certified gold (with 250,000 sold) in 2011.<ref name="ger"/><ref name="BVMI"/> In the US, the album did not enter the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]. Regarding the failure of the band's singles to crack the UK top 40, Eldritch later commented: "We came close. Our failure to crack it wasn't anything to do with us. I think the band did everything required, although we weren't prepared to package ourselves in the way other acts were".<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Spencer |first=Neil |date=22 February 1986 |title=The Sisterhood |magazine=[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]] |url=http://www.ultimatesistersguide.org/images/mag/the_sisterhood-a_family_fued_2.jpg |type=JPEG |access-date=10 March 2013}}</ref>