Tuesday, November 13, 2007

80’s Psychedelic Death Rock group Soul Merchants reissues legendary discography.

Soul Merchants’ music is best described as the band dubbed it 20 years ago: psychedelic death rock. On the surface, one could consider the quartet Denver’s version of Sisters of Mercy, but even in the ‘80s these guys were too old to be the new hip goth act and their ‘60s psych and ‘70s glam influences shined brightly over the darkness. Too punk for the goths and too goth for the punks, Soul Merchants never fit well into the scene yet still collected a devoted fan-base during its brief 1985-’87 tenure. After an exhausting two years with over a hundred songs recorded, Soul Merchants threw in the towel and performed its final show at the inaugural South By Southwest music festival in Austin, TX.

This double disc set (a 15-track sampler has been issued to the media) contains 80 minutes of music on each disc, compiling the best material from the group’s four-track recording sessions. The songs come from Soul Merchants’ cassette releases only, as the Gates of Heaven LP will likely be reissued as its own entity in the future. Each song was remixed and remastered from the original tapes at Absinthe Studio by former Soul Merchant Bob Ferbrache.

Ferbrache also performed in the experimental band Human Head Transplant simultaneously with Soul Merchants. He subsequently went on to create most music in Blood Axis (a collaboration with Lords of Chaos author Michael Moynihan), joined 16 Horsepower and Tarantella, and filled in for Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. However, he is perhaps best known for his production work for NON, Death In June, Berlin, Bow Wow Wow, and, in Soul Merchant days, The Fluid, Warlock Pinchers and Bum Kon (whose highly-collectible early recordings will also be reissued in early 2008 on Smooch Records.)

1985-1987 Full Album Tracklisting:
Release Date: October 23rd, 2007
Stream The Sampler Disc HERE

Disc One:
01. Crown of Glory
02. Joanna
03. It Hurts
04. Mary Had
05. Lady Godiva’s Diary
06. Save My Soul
07. Mental Clay
08. Anthem
09. Carelessly a Boy
10. Marianne
11. Just One More Favor
12. When I Smile
13. Valentine’s Day
14. Roten Rose
15. The Meek
16. Patrick McCarren
17. Still Waters
18. In the Light
19. Ceremony
20. Atomic Reign

Disc Two:
01. Blue Light
02. Beating Heart
03. Armoured Factions
04. Out of the Shadows
05. The Sea
06. Cold Dark Bed
07. Love
08. Web of Illusion
09. Within Josephine
10. Lucifer’s Gunn
11. Joshua’s Song
12. Nowhere Land
13. I Regret
14. Attics
15. Black Rain
16. Speedboat
17. Say It Isn’t So
18. Cold
19. Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die
20. On Cloudy Days

Tools and Hi-Res Photos:
www.fanaticpromotion.com/current/soul_1985.html

On The Web:
www.myspace.com/soulmerchants85
www.smoochrecords.com
www.myspace.com/smoochrecords

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