Hot Dogma Sing Sing Sessions (Vinyl) (Reissue)

TISM’s 1990 album is revered by TISM fans as a masterpiece. The perceived commercial failure of the album resulted ultimately in many changes for the band, but doesn’t detract from the fact that TISM created an eclectic mix of scorching guitar, thumping bass, majestic keyboards and big big melodies, all whilst retaining the incisive wit, bombastic social commentary, and self-deprecatory eccentricity for which the band is renown.

What is less known, is that the band delivered their new record company many more demos than were eventually selected to be recorded for the finished album. Furthermore, the selection process can only be described as somewhat dubious, with some of the best new material discarded for what can, in retrospect, only be viewed as craven trepidation exhibited by the multinational recording corporation to whom the band had recently signed.

A scant half dozen of the unreleased recordings appeared in the Collected Recordings CD Box Set which was released in 1995, but have not been available since. Some songs vary dramatically from the arrangements presented on Hot Dogma and a few songs are totally new to the TISM canon.

Whilst the search continues for the original piece of art which adorned the Hot Dogma album jacket, here for the faithful are those demos. A might-have-been album. 75 minutes of genius, with only a handful of the recordings having been heard by anybody in over thirty years.