The Cult - She sells Sanctuary

[Howyoudoin]

Live in Brixton 1987.

Bloody love this record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh4voSyJfOo

HYD

[stooz]

For for random one hit wonder classics I'm still listening to Eloise by the damned. Just love that

[MaraMan]

Yes a classic that I still listen to today. I remember when I first heard it. I was standing in the pouring rain at the Milton Keynes Bowl on 22nd June 1985 where the headliner that evening was U2 (Unforgetable Fire Tour I think), but during day (it rained all day) they played She Sells Sanctuary on the PA system several times between support acts, which included REM and the Ramones. As soon I got home I went out and bought the single, still have it somewhere.

MM

PS - I think the guitar sound on this track is very reminiscent of The Edge.

[DiamondEcho]

Yes a classic that I still listen to today. I remember when I first heard it. I was standing in the pouring rain at the Milton Keynes Bowl on 22nd June 1985 where the headliner that evening was U2 (Unforgetable Fire Tour I think), but during day (it rained all day) they played She Sells Sanctuary on the PA system several times between support acts, which included REM and the Ramones. As soon I got home I went out and bought the single, still have it somewhere.
MM PS - I think the guitar sound on this track is very reminiscent of The Edge.

Eloise by the Damned has all the hallmarks of a late-year Damned song written by Dave Vanian. 1986, well into their latter years and hey-day., more thoughtful less outright angry. You'd need to go back 10 years prior for their most influential songs New Rose, Neat Neat Neat, Love song and smash it up. But the latter were punk songs, and punks and their music (as a rule) were born of hard times and poverty and didn't have the money to buy enough records to get them into the top-10. (The Pistols did, but that's a reflection on quite how good their publicity was. The Pistols were not innovators, they followed the Damned, but it was the Pistols who made a major commercial success of punk in the UK, perhaps thanks to Malcolm McLaren an arch-manipulator).
I've seen U2 live a couple of times, and apart from having to remortgage my home for the tickets, they're absolutely nothing special live; in fact they can be outright tedious with their politics which seems to come down to 'Give us your money, NOW!' 'a la Geldoff'. They're the only band I've seen boo'd off by a significant section of the audience, and that's when the cheapest seats have been $100 (in the US, 20 years ago) - a hell of an achievement!!

The Cult I've also seen live, mid-80s, Leeds Uni or Poly; and that was epic. I agree with your parallel vs 'The Edge' (pretentious or what). Maybe the technique has a name, 'skimming within a short range'? I suspect it's simply an accousticaly catchy structure, and certainly simple to play, that's a parallel of the almost sublimal 4-chord hook. Actually, maybe that's simply what they are?...

Meanwhile [U2]: 'Here's a song about all the mega-millionaire rock-bands who arrange their tax-affairs such that they pay almost zero taxes. Who put on concerts and rather than simply play music, charge a fortune for tickets and turn them into political events. In which they hector and bully the 'little people' who have paid often very significant money, to give even more money to them and their causes...
The flipside => RIP Lemmy and Motorhead and their £10-20[max] ticket prices, and Lemmy's policy of pitching it so 'Even the guy on minimum wage can afford to come and enjoy seeing us!'. Bravo to that rare spirit...

[MaraMan]

Well each to their own, I have seen U2 numerous times going back to the War tour in 1982 and have always found them to be fantastic live, as indeed have many others judging by the global success of their tours over the past 30+ years. I have never, ever heard any boo's. I guess though you can't please all the people all the time.

I agree about the Damned, I was a great fan, but found Eloise tedious. Neat, neat, was their high point for me. I was in my late teens at the height of punk and embraced many bands, including Damned, Generation X, Clash, Jam (Met Paul Weller in Osaka once, but that's another story) X Ray Spex, Suzie and the Banshees et al, although not so much the Pistols.

Glad we don't all enjoy the same stuff.

MM

PS - I will always remember seeing Motorhead at the Reading festival in 1982 when I managed to blag some back stage passes.We were right in front of the stage by Lemmy in the press area and the noise.............................fantastic!

[CryptoPlankton]

Eloise by the Damned has all the hallmarks of a late-year Damned song written by Dave Vanian. 1986, well into their latter years and hey-day., more thoughtful less outright angry. You'd need to go back 10 years prior for their most influential songs New Rose, Neat Neat Neat, Love song and smash it up...

Except it was actually written by Paul Ryan and was originally a hit for his brother, Barry, back in 1968...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9md5oW00q4

[BrummieDave]

Haven't we already covered all this 'Billy Duffy' guitar licks stuff in the 'Nice Music Thread' back in October?

I saw Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury on the same stage for different bands prior to them forming 'Death Cult' and subsequently 'The Cult', when Astbury's first band 'Southern Death Cult' supported 'Theatre of Hate' during the short period Duffy was playing with Kirk Brandon, Stan Stammers et al. It was during this tour that Astbury and Duffy's friendship grew leading to them leaving their respective bands to form 'Death Cult' and hence 'The Cult'.

For any fans of the latter, more recently James Stephenson toured with 'Holy Holy' (Woody Woodmansey and Tony Visconti's Bowie Supergroup, with Glenn Gregory on vocals) and looked like he enjoyed himself tremendously playing Mick Ronson's early 70s solos.

For completeness perhaps, my most recent 'The Damned' gig was last February and they did, indeed, play the aforementioned cover version 'Eloise'.

[Gaggsy]

I think the guitar sound on this track is very reminiscent of The Edge

When I used to play in a band we did a cover of She Sells Sanctuary. We only had one guitarist so I had to play the opening riff on keyboards. The Yamaha DX100 "Sitar" preset was a pretty close match (if a tad weedy sounding!)

I've seen U2 live a couple of times, and ... they're absolutely nothing special live

I have seen U2 numerous times going back to the War tour in 1982 and have always found them to be fantastic live

I saw them around '82 at Portsmouth Guildhall. Bono running around the parapet of the dress circle - without a safety net - certainly made things exciting. Hey, they were always political, but if I remember rightly at that time it stayed in the song lyrics and not in the banter between songs.

I will always remember seeing Motorhead at the Reading festival in 1982 when I managed to blag some back stage passes.We were right in front of the stage by Lemmy in the press area and the noise.............................fantastic!

Another time at Portsmouth Guildhall and I was on the stage crew (the Ents Committee from the Poly got us involved). After the 'get-in' I stayed all day and helped out. I painted Lemmy's bass cab with a fresh coat of black, then screwed back on the optics for his gin and orange. At which point lemmy offered me a drink. Top man!

Except it was actually written by Paul Ryan and was originally a hit for his brother, Barry, back in 1968...

My siblings and I were given a huge stack of 7" singles by our uncle when we were kids, and Barry Ryan's Eloise was amongst them. I remember it as a massive sound - epic almost and quite unlike the rest of the pop stuff. The Damned's version was OK but not a patch on the original.

[BrummieDave]

U2 are a real divider, some people love' em, some don't.

I last saw them in October 1981 when they were touring 'October' appropriately enough. Prior to that it was 1980 at the Hammersmith Palais, when they supported 'Talking Heads'.

So you can probably work out which camp I'm in.