Merciful Release
{{Short description|Record label}}
{{Refimprove|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
Merciful Release is a record label started by Andrew Eldritch, frontman with Leeds band the Sisters of Mercy. As Eldritch stated in an early interview, he wanted to hear himself on the radio. He and Gary Marx (Mark Pairman) played and recorded on the Sisters of Mercy's initial single "Damage Done" and pressed one thousand copies. This record was something of a collector's item.
Throughout the early 1980s, the band released several singles on Merciful Release, controlling the format and image of the records, typically in a black sleeve with artwork centrally mounted and a head and star logo on the rear of sleeves. A notable example of this being Henri Matisse's Blue Nude in gold on black for the single Alice.
By 1984, the band had signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Records (Elektra in the US) whilst still maintaining control of Merciful Release.{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The encyclopedia of popular music |date=2007 |publisher=Omnibus |location=London |isbn=9781846098567 |page=1,273}}
In the 1990s, a number of CDs were released on the Merciful Release label for the MK Ultra: their Beluga Pop and This Is This albums, and German band Scoda Blush.
List of releases
| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" border="1;" style="border:solid 1px #cccccc; border-collapse:collapse;"
|+ | Date: | Group: | Title: | Type: | Comments: |
| ??/80
| 7-inch EP | 1000x only, deleted |
| 04/82
| 7-inch single | deleted |
| 08/82
| Religious As Hell | 7-inch single | |
| 11/82
| Alice | 7-inch single | |
| 01/83
| Grooving in Green | 7-inch single | |
| 03/83
| Anaconda | 7-inch single | |
| 03/83
| 12-inch single | |
| 05/83
| 12-inch EP | |
| 07/83
| Salvation | Girlsoul | 7-inch single | |
| 07/83
| Salvation | Girlsoul | 12-inch single | |
| 10/83
| 7-inch single | |
| 10/83
| 12-inch single | |
| 06/84
| 7-inch single | |
| 06/84
| 12-inch single | |
| Unreleased
| Salvation | Clash of Dreams | 12-inch LP | Issued on CD in 2015 in expanded edition |
| 10/84
| 7-inch single | |
| 10/84
| 12-inch single | contains limited edition flexible 7-inch single |
| 02/85
| 7-inch single | |
| 02/85
| 12-inch single | |
| 03/85
| 12-inch LP | |
| 03/85
| Cassette | |
| 01/86
| 7-inch single | |
| 06/86
| Gift | 12-inch LP | |
| 07/86
| James Ray and the Performance | Mexico Sundown Blues | 12-inch LP | |
| 07/86
| James Ray and the Performance | Mexico Sundown Blues | 7-inch radio promo | |
| 06/87
| James Ray and the Performance | Texas | 7-inch single | |
| 06/87
| James Ray and the Performance | Texas | 12-inch single | |
| 09/87
| 7-inch single | |
| 09/87
| 12-inch single | |
| 09/87
| cassette | |
| 09/87
| CD-single | |
| 09/87
| 7-inch boxed set | |
| 11/87
| 12-inch LP | |
| 11/87
| Cassette | |
| 11/87
| CD | |
| 02/88
| Dominion | 7-inch single | |
| 02/88
| Dominion | 12-inch single | |
| 02/88
| Dominion | CD-single | |
| 02/88
| Dominion | Cassette box set | |
| 02/88
| Dominion | 12-inch box set | |
| 06/88
| 7-inch single | |
| 06/88
| 12-inch single | |
| 06/88
| CD-single | |
| ??/88
| CD Album | |
| 10/89
| James Ray and the Performance | Dust Boat | 7-inch single | |
| ??/89
| James Ray and the Performance | A New Kind of Assassin | CD Album | |
| ??/90
| Another Million Dollars | 12-inch single | |
| ??/90
| Without Conscience | 7-inch single | |
| ??/90
| Without Conscience | 12-inch single | |
| ??/90
| Without Conscience | CD-single | |
| 10/90
| More | 7-inch single | |
| 10/90
| More | 12-inch single | |
| 10/90
| More | CD-single | |
| 10/90
| More | CD-single | 12-inch gatefold cover 5000x |
| 10/90
| 12-inch LP | |
| 10/90
| Cassette | |
| 10/90
| CD Album | |
| 10/90
| CD Album | lim. ed. 10000x |
| 12/90
| 7-inch single | |
| 12/90
| 12-inch single | |
| 12/90
| CD-single | |
| 12/90
| 12-inch single | lim. ed. 5000x |
| 02/91
| 7-inch single | |
| 02/91
| 12-inch single | |
| 02/91
| CD-single | |
| 02/91
| 12-inch single | lim. ed. 5000x |
| 04/92
| 7-inch single | |
| 04/92
| 12-inch single | |
| 04/92
| 12-inch single | limited edition |
| 04/92
| CD-single | |
| 04/92
| CD-single | limited edition |
| 04/92
| Some Girls Wander By Mistake | 12-inch LP | |
| 04/92
| Some Girls Wander By Mistake | Cassette | |
| 04/92
| Some Girls Wander By Mistake | CD Album | |
| 04/92
| Some Girls Wander By Mistake | CD Album | numbered lim. ed. of 500 |
| /92
| CD | digitally remastered |
| ??/92
| Dios Esta De Nuestro Lado | CD Album | (tr: God Is on Our Side) |
| ??/93
| 7-inch single | |
| ??/93
| 12-inch single | |
| ??/93
| CD-single | |
| ??/93
| CD-single lim. ed. | |
| ??/93
| A Slight Case of Overbombing | 12-inch double-LP | |
| ??/93
| A Slight Case of Overbombing | Cassette | |
| ??/93
| A Slight Case of Overbombing | CD Album | |
| 16 May 1994
| La Costa Rasa | Autopilot | CD | |
| ??/94
| This Is This | CD | The MK Ultra is another James Ray incarnation |
| ??/95
| Beluga Pop | CD | |
| 01/98
| CD | |