First and Last and Always

First and Last and Always is the debut studio album by English gothic rock band the Sisters of Mercy, first released on 11 March 1985 through the band's Merciful Release label. Prior to recording sessions for a debut album, the band started off by releasing multiple extended plays and singles from 1980 through 1984. Guitarist Ben Gunn departed the band in October 1983 and was subsequently replaced by Dead or Alive member Wayne Hussey. This created one of the band's most iconic line-ups, comprising Hussey with frontman Andrew Eldritch, guitarist Gary Marx, and bassist Craig Adams. After touring for two months and releasing the single "Body and Soul", recording sessions with producer David M. Allen began at Strawberry Studios in Stockport during June 1984, with sessions also taking place at Genetic Studios in Reading. The sessions were prolonged due to Eldritch's drug use and extended time spent on writing lyrics, though recording was eventually completed in November 1984. As with the band's previous releases they used a drum machine referred to as "Doktor Avalanche", this time being an Oberheim DMX. From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_a...) under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)