On September 29th The Mission release Singles A’s & B’s through Universal Music Catalogue.

Singles A’s & B’s features all 15 of the band’s charting singles and includes seven that reached the UK Top 30, including Wasteland (No.11), Tower Of Strength (No.12) and Butterfly On A Wheel (also No.12).  It is the first time these recordings have been collected together in one comprehensive 2-disc set and also includes unreleased edits.

In late 1985 Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams left The Sisters Of Mercy to form The Mission, immediately embarking upon their first European tour supporting The Cult. They released two singles independently, both of which reached No.1 in the UK Alternative Chart, before signing a worldwide record deal with Phonogram (now part of Universal Music’s Virgin EMI label group).

Their first single for Phonogram, ‘Stay With Me’, went straight into the UK chart at No. 30 followed by the debut album ‘God’s Own Medicine’, in at No. 14. Over the next eight years The Mission released six more albums and had a further 12 hits including the doom-rock anthems ‘Wasteland’, ‘Tower Of Strength’, ‘Beyond The Pale’, ‘Deliverance’ and ‘Butterfly On A Wheel’. Total worldwide album sales to date for the band have now exceeded well in advance of 3 million.

During the electrifying period covered by the collection The Mission enhanced their reputation as one of the best and most exciting live bands in the world, garnering countless accolades and inspiring lurid media stories and a fanatical following.  In fact, they toured almost constantly, notching up seven sold-out consecutive shows at the Astoria Theatre in London, headlining Reading Festival twice, and playing with U2, The Cure and Robert Plant.

To pre-order ‘Singles A’s & B’s go to http://po.st/d3Y261

The band’s final single release on Phonogram Records was a new song, ‘Afterglow’, which showed the band returning to a more guitar rock sound.  Both A and B-sides were remixed versions from the ‘Sum & Substance’ compilation.