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SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES

Laurence Hedges

Journey’s End - Siouxsie And The Banshees 1987-1996

    With Jon Klein and Martin McCarrick now full-blown members, Siouxsie and The Banshees embarkon one of its most creative and ambitious odysseys, culminating in the multi-dimensional complexities of the 1988 album 'Peepshow'. Both lyricallyand musically, the Banshees continue to confound expectation with their progressively sophisticated and erudite artistry, yielding the groundbreaking single ‘Peek-A-Boo’ and propelling the Banshees to number one on the American Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Live, the Banshees continue to be a breathtaking entity; the theatricality of their stage shows paralleling the grandiosity of their songs.

    However, the revolving door of personnel changes again threatens to derail the band, this time in the form of their (mis)management, until Tim Collins starts to unpick and stabilise the Banshees’ shambolic financial affairs. Amplifying the strained relations, the first major rupture between founder members Siouxsie and Steven Severin, while on tour, leads to the Banshees’ hiatus between the end of the Peepshow gigs in December 1988 and the release of ‘Kiss Them For Me’ in May 1991, reaching the Modern Rock Tracks number one slot for the second time; a noticeable divergence from their volatile chart fortunes in the UK. There is a resurgence of The Creatures’ activity, and the album 'Boomerang' is released in 1989.

    At the same time, Severin composes the film score for director Nigel Wingrove’s Visions Of Ecstasy film. Invited to play the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in July and August 1991 alongside bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction and Butthole Surfers, the Banshees consolidate their growing popularity in the USA and go down a storm! Convening for two more studio albums, 'Superstition' (1991) and 'The Rapture' (1995), as well as the 1992 'Twice Upon A Time:The Singles' compilation album, the Banshees go to Hollywood, co-writing thesong ‘Face To Face’ with composer Danny Efman for the 1992 Tim Burton-directed film Batman Returns. With tranches of time between activities becoming increasingly prolonged, it begs the question: have Siouxsie and The Banshees, a band that have stayed the course against often insurmountable odds since 1976, finally reached their journey’s end?

    Samantha Bennett

    Siouxsie And The Banshees' Peepshow - 33 1/3

      In 1978, Siouxsie and the Banshees declared ‘We don’t see ourselves in the same context as other rock'n'roll bands.’ A decade later, and in the stark aftermath of a devastating storm, the band retreated to a 17th-century mansion house in the deracinated Sussex countryside to write their ninth studio album, Peepshow. Here, the band absorbed the bygone, rural atmosphere and its inspirational mise en scène, thus framing the record cinematically, as Siouxsie Sioux recalled, ‘It was as if we were doing the whole thing on the set of The Wicker Man’. Samantha Bennett looks at how Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Peepshow is better understood in the context of film and film music (as opposed to popular music studies or, indeed, the works of other rock'n'roll bands).

      Drawing upon more than one hundred films and film scores, this book focuses on Peepshow’s deeply embedded historical and aesthetic (para)cinematic influences: How is each track a reflection of genre film? Who are the various featured protagonists? And how does Peepshow’s diverse orchestration, complex musical forms, atypical narratives and evocative soundscapes reveal an inherently cinematic record? Ultimately, Peepshow can be read as a soundtrack to all the films Siouxsie and the Banshees ever saw. Or perhaps it was the soundtrack to the greatest film they never made.


      Laurence Hedges

      Into The Light : Siouxsie And The Banshees 1980-1987

        In 1980, with their highest charting album to date, Kaleidoscope and two successful singles, ‘Happy House’ and ‘Christine’, and a packed tour schedule, Siouxsie and The Banshees are at the top of their game. Swimming in their own stream, the Banshees defy musical categorisation and are head and shoulders above their peers, with one objective: to be the best band in the world. The band’s 1981 90-gig tour included 25 dates in the US, showcasing the exhilarating ‘Spellbound’, grotesque ‘Night Shift’ and the clandestine frisson of ‘Into The Light’, forming the sonic backbone of what is considered to be the Banshees’ magnum opus, Juju, their fourth studio album, released in June 1981.

        Ushering in a new chapter in Siouxsie and The Banshees’ evolution the opulent fifth studio album A Kiss In The Dreamhouse, marks another change in direction, and sees producer Mike Hedges superseding Kaleidoscope and Juju producer Nigel Gray. Released 5th November 1982, several days after guitarist John McGeoch is ousted from the band after two near calamitous performances at the Rock-Ola Club in Madrid, it was the album that marked a potential dip in the band’s fortunes. However the Banshees regroup, calling again on the services of The Cure’s Robert Smith, whose fractured relationship with his own band made the offer of becoming a touring Banshee too attractive to refuse.

        As for what happens next, this in-depth and authoritative account of one of the most original, creative, imaginative and mercurial bands in the history of rock music surveys the twists, turns and episodes of brilliance that define Siouxsie and The Banshees’ evolution from 1980 to 1987, including ancillary ventures ‘The Creatures’ and ‘The Glove’, and the making of the albums Juju and A Kiss In The Dreamhouse, as well as Nocturne, Hyaena, Tinderbox and Through The Looking Glass.

        Siouxsie And The Banshees

        Kaleidoscope - 2018 Vinyl Reissue

          UMC are proud to announce the final batch of Siouxsie and the Banshees vinyl reissues. Remastered from the original ¼” tapes and cut at half speed at Abbey Road studios, London. Both artwork and audio have personally been overseen and orchestrated by Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin.

          The Banshees’ third studio album landed in summer 1980 and introduced two new members ‘Budgie’ on drums and ‘McGeoch’ on guitar. Kaleidoscope would give the group their first hit album peaking at No’5 in the charts. Hits such as ‘Happy House’ and ‘Christine’ are atmospheric and dripping with sarcasm, the album swirls with synths and programmed drum loops for the first time. 

          Siouxsie & The Banshees

          The Scream - 2018 Reissue

            Siouxsie And The Banshees – The Scream debuted in November 1978 born out of part sweet suburbia and part grey Orwellian uber state. The Scream was unlike anything else released that year.

            Remastered from the original ¼” tapes and cut at half speed at Abbey Road studios, London. Both artwork and audio have personally been overseen and orchestrated by Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin.

            TRACK LISTING

            SIDE ONE
            1. Pure
            2. Jigsaw Feeling
            3. Overground
            4. Carcass
            5. Helter Skelter

            SIDE TWO
            1. Mirage
            2. Metal Postcard
            3. Nicotine Stain
            4. Suburban Relapse
            5. Switch

            Siouxsie & The Banshees

            Juju - 2018 Reissue

              An absolute classic from 1981. Budgie’s tribal drums and John McGeoch’s swirling guitars provide the perfect backdrop for Siouxsie’s distinctive vocals.

              This is one of four albums released by taken from the Siouxsie And The Banshees extensive studio catalog, each album appearing as it should on glorious 180-gram black vinyl.

              Siouxsie & The Banshees

              Tinderbox

                Originally release in 1986, this is one of four albums released by UMC from the Siouxsie And The Banshees extensive studio catalog, each album appearing as it should on glorious 180-gram black vinyl.


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