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

Classic if only for Peepshow. That's one damn fine record.

Search: "Fireworks" Destroy: "Hong Kong Garden", at least the lyrics thereof. "Slanted eyes greet a new sunrise / A race of bodies small in size / Chicken chow mein and chop suey / Hong Kong Garden takeaway". I mean really.

Search -- _Nocturne_, hands down. One of my favorite live albums *and* favorite albums. Just a great performance from everyone involved.

Destroy -- well, Tom had a rather good point. ;-)

Destroy : Voodoo Dolly from JuJu

Oh it's a 'C or D' as well is it? Oh Classic for sure. Actually I must confess that I haven't listened to S+B in 5 years, and I only have the early stuff. Must have a listen to some over the weekend.

The likes of Alien Sex Fiend, Sisters, and a host of bands either in the "Batcave" scene or featured in "new" Zigzag claimed to be "goth" but it was all a bit silly really. Probably mostly ended up getting jobs as bank clerks. Go check out Mick Mercer's "Gothic Rock" book for a full rundown of that hilarious era.

Siouxsie & The Banshees, goth ?!? Frankly, that's insulting !

They probably pre-date goth, but boy oh boy do they fit in. Also, I don't see any contradiction between being a goth and becoming a bank clerk. What are "true" goths suppose to make of themselves when they grow up, anyway ?

I thought everyone knew that.

an how could anyone not like kiss them for me? that's like the best song ever, though the hindu-deity appropriation in the video was a bit tired even for 1991

Just picked up the two-discer BEST OF SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES. Despite already being utterly needless in the wake of both the singles collectoins, ONCE UPON A TIME and TWICE UPON A TIME, this "limited edition" package includes a bonus disc of "rare Remixes"....just to rope in suckers like myself. Herein my beef: Being that the perfectly sublime "Song from the Edge of the World" does *NOT* exist anywhere on compact disc, why then tease fans by including the cringe-worthy "Columbus Mix" of said song instead of the definite article?

Problem numbah two: why no inclusion of earlier gems like "Metal Postcard"? You'd never know the band ever had a harder, punkier edge if this was the only document of theirs available (and isn't that what BEST OF's are supposed to do? Provide a the widest array of a band's canon?)

Personally speaking, I would've also included their live cover of "Helter Skelter."

All the other albums really need to be sieved to varying degrees but fortunately their best tracks were generally the singles

I agree with Sundar about those early demos - when are they going to get an official release? It would be great to have Make Up To Break Up and Captain Scarlet legitimately available

Turns out according to the bio "Hong Kong Garden"'s lyrics were, says La Sioux, "mentally dedicated to my local Chinese takeaway in Chislehurst High Street, which opened when I was 12 or so and at a time when there were loads of skinheads around. I was so sorry for the racist abuse that the people who worked there used to get. I always wished I was Emma Peel and that I could beat the shit out of the skinheads." Well then.

Search: Urg, that's hard. I'll go with my personal underrated fave, "Cannons"

They actually talk about that a bit in the book, so you're not alone there. Weird thing is that even though I've heard that album any number of times I can't recall for the life of me how it goes!

I was a huge, huge fan in the 80s, saw them live several times (they were shit hot) once with Robert Smith on guitar which must be like a goth's wet dream or something. But for some reason I went right off them very quickly and don't listen to them at all now (well, apart from the nostalgic tug of "Hong Kong Garden" and "Jigsaw Feeling"). Maybe it was me, maybe it was "Dear Prudence"

I too read Paytress' book (whilst on jury duty) and enjoyed it so much that I was genuinely sad when it was over.

Has anyone heard the new Creatures record? It's been getting glowing reviews.

Am I the only one who genuinely appreciates "Kiss Them for Me"?

*Thinks it's alright* - sign me up.

chapterhouse/siouxsie sample

I do like "Kiss Them for Me," I thought it was very alluring and interesting (and I loved the subject matter). Great video too -- reminds me that a decent video collection and B-side comp is WELL overdue from them.

I LOVE THAT SONG.

_Hai!_ sounds a lot like the spacier moments of _Boomerang_ with bigger, fatter drums, which of course means that I think it's GODLIKE.

Anyone hear anything about Siouxsie?

For that matter, where is "Nightshift"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkEDe6Ljqs

they could've covered "Nightshift" in the style of Peepshow.

I'm 100% behind that list.

A, LS: your essay, along with the latest Prince developments, got it in my head that S&TB and Prince were walking oddly parallel paths through the 80s, if you exchange punk roots with funk roots. 1980-1990, both had a nearly perfect run of singles that toyed with new wave, pop, psychedelia and dance music in equal measures. They were juggling kink and camp and high art, and I see a lot of matches between the mood and production on their big singles. Like, the opening to this "Dazzle" remix could easily break into "Take Me With You"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAOOUR2KCpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMzkXdiAggs

Some of it is just the gated snare and polyrhythms that were standard in 1984, but both artists were very good at balancing the gaudy and the raw and feeling like outsiders when they were right in the middle of everything.

then it all comes apart after 1988?

Fascinating analysis – thanks!

Yeah, 88 is where it gets shaky. Their respective landscapes get taken over by sample-heavy hip hop and shoegaze, trends that owed a lot to them but they were too established to comfortably capitalize upon. 3 Feet High and Rising, Isn't Anything owe them tons.

"Night Shift" is my all-time Siouxsie track

It's totally alien to me -- the omission of The Lord's Prayer from any list or overarching discussion about this band's history

I think "The Lord's Prayer" is more interesting as an artifact than it is enjoyable to listen to. I feel that way about large sections of Join Hands actually, unless I happen to be super pissed off and hating everything in which case the whole album slides into focus and is perfect.

^^^ otm

That said, "Playground Twist" and "Icon" rule

I think "The Lord's Prayer" is more interesting as an artifact than it is enjoyable to listen to.

totally disagree, but it's one of those things like tunafish sandwiches, where I acknowledge and respect the popularity of the opposite viewpoint, even though I'm shaking my head dolefully as I type.

is "The Lord's Prayer" the tuna fish sandwich

the opposite.

Jake Tapper ‏@jaketapper
A friend of Harward's says he was reluctant to take NSA job bc the WH seems so chaotic; says Harward called the offer a "shit sandwich."

Do wish there was a decent recording of their original take on Lord's Prayer from the 100 Club. Different line up improvising on the spot. May have been a better idea than execution but seems archetypal.
Marco Pirroni on guitar, was it Sid on drums?

iirc yes

Jake Tapper ‏@jaketapper
A friend of Harward's says he was reluctant to take NSA job bc the WH seems so chaotic; says Harward called the offer a "shit sandwich."

― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.),

is this what "This Wheel's On Fire" is about

Icons falling from the spiiiiiirrrrrrrres

Join Hands totally slays

You know, there's no handy Banshees anthology. I think most bands benefit from a 30-40 track roundup of their best material. Sure there's the two singles collections but that's not the same.

What about this: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Siouxsie-Banshees/dp/B00006IJXN

Looks pretty good!

It needs to be twice as long! I know there's a 2 disc version but the second disc is all remixes.

oh that's actually pretty cool, I wasn't aware that all those 12" versions were on CD

Didn't they add contemporary singles including 12" mixes to the relevant lps when they did the remasters over the last decade?

Was going to come over and say for me the John McGeoch era is the greatest in its psychy folky otherness.
There's a load of live stuff around from the era including a Rockpalast.

They didn't include anything from the "Downside Up" box when they did the reissues, only some demos and the occasional 12" mix - those are strewn about various releases as well.

This performance still sends shivers down my spine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK1ny-YPV4U

Happy belated 60th birthday Siouxsie. Your albums mean more to me the older I get. I hope you perform once again.

I will happily echo that.

Siouxsie, Love and Rockets, Iggy Pop, Echo & The Bunnymen, Adam Ant, Billy Idol playing Cruel World 2023. Details: https://t.co/IjadKbfmUP pic.twitter.com/53xUZO8FoJ

— Slicing Up Eyeballs (@slicingeyeballs) January 23, 2023

'[Siouxsie's] father was a bacteriologist who milked venom from snakes' is a joyous wikipedia fact.

While we're on this tangent, Siouxsie was included last week in a quiz round I compiled on famous Belgians (she qualifies via her father).

Cruel World is only a 20 minute drive (w/o traffic) from my house. Legit excited at dad goth lineup.

Xp hah, never knew. Saw her in Brussels on her solo tour but that was quite a detached performance

Bob Geldof too, sort of.

Come to think of it, 'milked venom from snakes' sounds like a line from the Banshees' early 80s heyday

Cruel World is only a 20 minute drive (w/o traffic) from my house. Legit excited at dad goth lineup.

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, January 24, 2023 2:18 AM

I'm in the OC so it's a bit further for me but would love to go to this. Not sure tho as I think my festival days are behind me.

Wow, Billy Love and Echo AND Idol Rockets?

poor Gang of Four, they don't deserve the 5th line

It's a great eye chart for a punk rock ophthalmologist's office

Looks like I'm going, I have been convinced.

I heard horror stories about the heat last year so as tempting as this is, going to pass and pray she does a bay area stop (love and rockets too; I imagine they might, does david J still live here or did he move to LA?)

AFAIK, David J has been in LA for awhile now.

Drugs -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoZivXDGgYM

I love this one

Somehow always puts me in the mind of The Aloof - Abuse

I think it's how the dutdutdut is often matched by a slowly descending double. E rush kosmische or something.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-05-22/cruel-world-siouxsie-iggy-pop-festival

I forget which thread the cruel world fest was discussed on, but here’s Simon Reynolds review