Ghost Dance - River Of No Return 12"

Ghost Dance were a Gothic rock and post-punk band, formed in 1985 by Gary Marx guitar (ex-The Sisters of Mercy) and Anne-Marie Hurst vocals (ex-Skeletal Family) as both were leaving their respective bands at approximately the same time. They knew each other by sight from the Leeds/Bradford music scene and had toured together when the Skeletal Family supported the Sisters on their Black October UK tour in 1984. Bassist Paul ‘Etch’ Etchells was hired, and with a drum machine nicknamed 'Pandora', the band set about releasing their debut 12" single, "River of No Return", featuring a cover of Roxy Music's song "Both Ends Burning". By Marx's own admission, the sound quality was poor; nevertheless, the single was released in early 1986 on Nick Jones' record label, Karbon Records. 

Ghost Dance - A Word To The Wise

A Word To The Wise, don’t think that this is just a 12”EP…it’s way more than that. What you have here is a limited MP3 @ 320 download that was made available in 2013 by the Rdeg Record label. The download is a 14 track compilation of every track available on the final 3 Ghost Dance singles A and B sides. Is it a bootleg?? I dunno, but who cares, it has the four track 12” EP “A Word To The Wise”, the single “Celebrate” with its four B sides and their final single “Down To The Wire” with its four B sides where “Gathering Dust” is a live performance from 26th November 1988 at Bradford University, and includes “The Grip Of Love”, “Last Train” and “Celebrate”. Dissolution came just over a year later after the final gig was performed in Amsterdam on December 4th 1989.

Ghost Dance - A Heart Full Of Soul 12"

No matter how you slice it, Ghost Dance were far less than the sum of their respective parts. Anne-Marie Hurst on vocals, from the legendary Skeletal Family and Gary Marx, guitar swinging maestro, from T’Sisters, what more could a Goth want? Well, less covers and more original songs might be up there in the request pile. Following on from their stunning debut 12”EP (muddy sound and everything) the band found themselves releasing a less than satisfactory three track single of cover versions! Tongue firmly planted in the left cheek, there seems to be a sly smile here, a nod towards the idea of Goths having a good time. I mean, Com’On! It’s the summer of 1986 and T’Mission had just released Serpents Kiss, Vonn Eldritch had a Gift up his sleeve…where’s the fun in that??