| "Spiritwalker" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by The Cult | ||||
| from the album Dreamtime | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | 11 May 1984 | |||
| Genre | Gothic rock | |||
| Label | Situation Two (SIT 33) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ian Astbury Billy Duffy | |||
| Producer(s) | John Brand | |||
| The Cult singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Spiritwalker" is a single by the English rock band The Cult and was released on 11 May 1984. "Spiritwalker" is the lead single from the Dreamtime album, although it was released nearly five months before the album was released.
"Spiritwalker" was written while the group was still called Death Cult. It was never recorded by the group but was integrated into their set list during their second United Kingdom tour in late 1983. The song, musically, was much different, but, lyrically, it was nearly the same as the final recorded version.
The song has its origins in Ian Astbury's earlier group, Southern Death Cult. On 29 October 1981, at the group's second live performance ever, Southern Death Cult played Queen's Hall in Bradford, England. During their set they performed an untitled song (later referred to as "The War Song") that featured many of the same lyrics as "Spiritwalker". The song was never performed by Southern Death Cult again.
Apparently, Astbury incorporated the lyrics of "The War Song" into the creation of "Spiritwalker" but no credit was given to the other members of Southern Death Cult and it is unknown whether they contributed to the writing of the original version.
The B-side of the seven-inch single is a radio session of "A Flower in the Desert" recorded while the group was still Death Cult. The song, an acoustic version, was recorded for the David Jensen show on BBC Radio One and was engineered by Dale Griffin. The song was first broadcast on 27 October 1983. The song "A Flower in the Desert" is a re-written version of "Flowers in the Forest" originally recorded by Astbury's earlier group Southern Death Cult. Thus the song is credited as Astbury/Jepson/Burroughs/Qureshi (the members of Southern Death Cult). The song, along with the entire radio session, was later released on the compact disc collection of Death Cult recordings entitled Ghost Dance .
The B-side to the twelve-inch single is also "A Flower in the Desert" along with the song "Bone Bag" (which was recorded during the Dreamtime album sessions). "Bone Bag" (often erroneously spelled "Bonebag") was later, in 1986, included on the first United Kingdom compact disc versions of the Dreamtime album (Beggars Banquet catalogue number BEGA 57CD) as a bonus track.
No "official" music video was recorded for the song "Spiritwalker". When the group released the music video collection Pure Cult: The Singles 1984-1995 (the companion to the Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995 album) their live performance of "Spiritwalker" on The Tube was included in place of a "proper" music video. The performance is one of notoriety as it was broadcast live on 13 January 1984, and announcer Jools Holland introduced the group as "...just now The Cult". [1] The group, prior to the performance, had decided to change its name from Death Cult to simply The Cult. [1]
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Indie Chart | 1 [1] |
| UK Singles Chart | 77 [2] |
Release information pertains to the United Kingdom release only.
Also credited:
The Cult are an English rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury's previous band Southern Death Cult. They gained a dedicated following in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s as a post-punk and gothic rock band, with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking into the mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s establishing themselves as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love Removal Machine". Since its initial formation in 1983, the band have had various line-ups; the longest-serving members are Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, who are also the band's two main songwriters.
Southern Death Cult were a British post-punk/gothic rock band that formed in Bradford during the early 1980s. They are now primarily known for having given their lead vocalist and parts of the name to the multi-platinum hard rock band the Cult. Despite the similarities in the names, "Southern Death Cult" were distinct from "Death Cult"/"the Cult".
Ian Robert Astbury is an English singer who is the lead vocalist, frontman and a founding member of the rock band the Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury fronted the short-lived Holy Barbarians in 1996, and later from 2002 to 2007 served as the lead singer of Riders on the Storm, a Doors tribute band that also featured Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger from the original Doors. He replaced Rob Tyner during an MC5 reunion in 2003, as well as appearing on several one-off guest vocal performances on other artists' songs.
Dreamtime is the debut studio album by English rock band the Cult. Released on 31 August 1984 by Beggars Banquet Records, it peaked at No. 21 on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified silver by the BPI after having sold 60,000 copies. The first single, "Spiritwalker", peaked at No. 1 on the UK Indie Chart. Dreamtime has subsequently been reissued in roughly 30 countries worldwide.
Love is the second studio album by English rock band the Cult, released on 18 October 1985 by Beggars Banquet Records. The album was the band's commercial breakthrough, reaching number four in the UK and staying on the chart for 22 weeks. It produced three Top 40 singles in the UK, "She Sells Sanctuary", "Rain", and "Revolution". It has been released in nearly 30 countries and sold an estimated 2.5 million copies. Love was recorded at Jacob's Studios in Farnham, Surrey, in July and August 1985.
William Henry Duffy is an English rock musician, best known as the guitarist of the band The Cult.
Beyond Good and Evil is the seventh studio album by English rock band The Cult. Released in 2001, it marked their first new recording in six and a half years. The record debuted at No. 37 on the charts in the United States, No. 22 in Canada, No. 25 in Spain.
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James Alec Stewart is a retired British musician who was the bassist of the post-punk/hard rock band The Cult. He recorded on The Cult's first four albums, Dreamtime, Love, Electric and Sonic Temple.
Live at the Lyceum is a live album by The Cult, recorded live at the Lyceum Ballroom in London on 20 May 1984. The band performed 15 songs at the concert, which was edited down to nine songs for this release. In the UK, it was released with the first 30,000 copies of the Dreamtime LP, and also found on side 2 of the Dreamtime cassette. It was released separately as a live LP in Canada and Japan. The live version of "Bone Bag" was released as a videosingle in Argentina.
Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995 is a singles compilation by The Cult, authorized by the band to replace the previous unauthorized High Octane Cult. It is also a reissue of the 1993 compilation Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners, with minor changes.
High Octane Cult is a United States and Japan greatest hits compilation featuring every single The Cult had released at the time, with the additional "Beauty's on the Street" and "In the Clouds". It was released by The Cult's then record company Beggars Banquet Records without The Cult's participation. In the years since its release, singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy have occasionally been vocal about their dislike of this release, with Astbury calling it "sad" on their official website in 2006. Beggars Banquet had planned on using handmade drawings by Ian Astbury for the album's artwork, but when the drawings were lost, the record company subsequently replaced it with less than stellar car photos, and the band photo from The Cult's Sonic Temple record was used in the jacket sleeve, along with a short bio about the band, which guitarist Billy Duffy publicly expressed his disapproval about.
Manzarek–Krieger was an American rock band formed by two former members of the Doors, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger, in 2002. They were also known as "The Doors of the 21st Century", "D21C", and "Riders on the Storm" after the Doors song of the same name. They settled on using "Manzarek–Krieger" or "Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors" for legal reasons, after acrimonious debates and court battles between the two musicians and Doors co-founder/ drummer John Densmore. They performed Doors material exclusively until the death of Manzarek in 2013.
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