siouxsie and the banshees: classic or dud? search and destroy

Conversely, every version of "Helter Skelter" is awesome, including U2's.

(This could only have improved Rattle and Hum.)

Everything in this paragraph makes my head spin

[Also that Jon Klein was sacked for hair-loss...Before reading that I always thought there was a rock'n'roll gene that somehow ensured that an unlikely percentage of males in the music business (except Elton John & Phil Collins) keeps a full head of hair.]

This is kind of all the reasons why I hate people encapsulated in an evil little parable.

I've been wanting to buy A Kiss in the Dreamhouse for years and years but keep waiting for the remaster and it never seems to come. *frowns*

Everything up to the "Song From the Edge Of The World" 12" has much merit.

Not too familiar with their output post - "Peek A Boo"

They had some problems with lyrics, for example this one from Arabian Knights:

Whilst you conquer more orifices
Of boys, goats and things

(oh 'things' - that'll do)

but the texture of their music is fantastic.

you have to forgive them for 'things' since the previous line uses Whilst and orifices. I always like how often SATB use the word 'Whilst'

"Waiting FOOOOOOR a sign..."

Listening to a okay-enough sounding recording from Southampton on the Juju tour in 1981 right now. Such a great band.

From 1983 until 1986 the only (then) new music i bothered with was the Banshees.

Nothing else seemed even vaguely interesting, although there was much hilarity.

I was just thinking of Siouxsie the other day -- I saw the 4CD box set used the other day, wondered if i shouldn't go ahead and pick it up. i have all but maybe two of the studio albums. is this worth my money?

Yeah, I think it's well worth it. It's got a lot of totally classic b-sides I remember, sprinkled with plenty of other stuff that wasn't quite as good but almost always interesting. It's also got a lot less of the earliest punk-style stuff than I suspected, which I was glad about.

I was thinking of them just the other day too! Some lyric came into my head..."you're not seeing/what meant to believe in/your non-excuse for a human being..." I think that was it.

i wonder if the rest of the remasters will ever come out.

Hah, I was thinking that the other day.

Box set is totally worth it for the B-sides.

Given that I've just really started getting into Siouxsie and The Banshees recently I thought I'd ressurect this thread.

I had 'Hyena' for a while which I'd bought because of the Robert Smith collection. I recently picked up 'Nocturne' on the basis of Ned's recommendation. Since then I've been super hooked. Bought "Kaleidoscope", "Juju" and "A Kiss in the Dreamhouse" which are all great as well. Will pick up "The Scream" and "Join Hands" this weekend. Given that I've started with live stuff I'm thinking about getting the BBC box when I get paid. What about the remaining albums? What should I prioritise?

I quite like the b-sides boxset: full of oddities and "experiments", but it is great great fun.

I'd pick up the remainder as they get reissued.

I think Severin confirmed somewhere that the rest of the reissues have been cancelled.

WAHT

oh that is BULLSHIT

http://stevenseverin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=557&sid=e7a3abfd7462317614a72f1d472f348e

Unacceptable.

this sucks a lot

Siouxsie and the Banshees Benched Reissues-ees?

i'm not sure those records really need to be remastered. they sound fine. it would be nice to have a full set of the whole catalogue and some other bonus tracks, but I think the critical albums were done. whether you like the mastering job on them is another thing entirely I suppose.

I was using the reissues as an excuse to build up my Banshee catalogue; before now, I had cassette copies of Hyaena, Tinderbox and Peepshow and a copy of Superstition on CD. Now I have them all up through Kiss in the Dreamhouse.

Just buy the damn things, Dan, they are super cheap used at a ton of stores.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_i_0?rh=i%3Apopular%2Ck%3Asiouxsie&keywords=siouxsie&ie=UTF8&qid=1266439875

http://www.secondspin.com/search.jsp?page=1&type=music.keyword.buy&query=siouxsie

Through The Looking Glass... great covers album or the greatest covers album?

It's the covers album that, when I was 14, turned me on to lots of bands by virtue of making me look for them. Back before the internet, that took a certain amount of work...and they didn't make it easy, not listing the original artists in the liner notes and all.

it was years before I knew that "wheel's on fire" was a cover. siouxsie's still sounds like the right one to me.

Hello. So a few weeks back there was that photo of Siouxsie, Steve Severin and Marc Almond at the _Hannibal_ season premiere event in the UK, and that was cool and all. Apparently it's just been announced that's there's a whole new Siouxsie and the Banshees track for the season finale!

https://twitter.com/TVKevLance/status/620028442172481536

I would certainly be up for some new Siouxsie with Banshees in tow!

Been playing a lot of Siouxsie lately. I don't know why this stuff never really clicked for me sixteen or seventeen years ago when I was really getting into the Cure for the first time. I certainly gave them a chance around that time — guess I just kind of glossed it all over. I was possibly wanting more of a melodic sound similar to the Cure. But, the guitar work has revealed itself on those early records to be, yes a bit more atonal, but ultimately just fantastic throughout.

And such a solid run up through and including Peepshow.

Think my fav banshees atm is a kiss in the dreamhouse

That one has some truly great material on it ('Cascade', 'Painted Bird' and especially 'Slowdive'), but it kind of feels second tier to me when surrounded by Juju and Hyæna.

Curiously, I too admire them more now than I did then. A top twenty-five.

Awesome list! Cool to see "Dazzle" on here - particularly like the "Baby Piano" version

yes!

Good summary. Their best overlooked song is "Fireworks". And "The Thorn EP" is their hidden gem.

<3 "Slowdive", it really is a disorienting listen. Agreed about the peak 3 albums, they were a big deal to me in the 80's.

Um. Where is "Night Shift"? Also, "Suburban Relapse", "Icon", "Playground Twist", "Monitor", "92 Degrees", "Land's End", "Voodoo Dolly"