second 1986 album release

The band garnered an increased following due to a second 1986 album release, Your Funeral, My Trial , which coincided with Adamson’s departure. Due to Adamson’s departure and an injury which made Wydler unable to play the drums, Harvey recorded the bulk of the album’s instrumentation with the only other member who contributed instruments on every track being Bargeld. Tender Prey , the dark, brooding 1988 follow-up, saw the arrival of American guitarist and The Gun Club stalwart Kid Congo Powers —Harvey made the transition to bass—and short-tenured German keyboardist Roland Wolf . The single ” The Mercy Seat ” chronicled an unrepentant prisoner on death row and further increased the group’s critical acclaim and commercial attention. The track was later covered by Johnny Cash on his 2000 album American III: Solitary Man . Despite the increasing level of success, the drug-related issues of band members became problematic. The documentary film The Road to God Knows Where , directed by Uli M Schueppel , depicts a five-week period of the United States leg of their 1989 tour.