First And Last And Always

Preceded by the singles "Walk Away" & "No Time To Cry", "First And Last And Always" is the debut album by The Sisters Of Mercy and the only one to feature this line-up. It was released on 11 March 1985 through the band's own Merciful Release label.
In July 1985, Warner-Pioneer Corporation in Japan released a version of the album that contained different mixes of some tracks ("Black Planet" features slightly different instrumentation and is 10 seconds longer, "No Time To Cry" has different opening and ending instrumentation & sound effects, "A Rock And A Hard Place" has additional guitar tracks and a slightly different drum track, while "First And Last And Always" has a completely different drum track as well as a totally different arrangement and has an intro that is 15 seconds longer; the remaining tracks are identical to the standard vinyl release). In March 1988, the album was released on CD for the first time, but it was the Japanese version that was used. In May 1992, a digitally remastered version of the CD was released, again using the Japanese version. In October 2006, a remastered version of the original vinyl album was released for the first time on CD and included 6 bonus tracks, 4 of which were the b-sides for the album's 2 singles.