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The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | 12 November 2002 | |||
Recorded | 1978–1995 | |||
Genre | Post-punk alternative rock | |||
Length | 57:13(Disc 1) 64:35 (Disc 2) | |||
Label | Polydor Geffen (US) | |||
Producer | Various | |||
Siouxsie and the Banshees compilations chronology | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Universal Music Group released The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees in 2002 as the first reissue of the Siouxsie and the Bansheesremastered back-catalogue. The most successful singles of the band were presented in a non-chronological order.
Content[edit]
This best-of includes an unreleased track 'Dizzy', only available on this CD; it was recorded in late 1994. A slightly different version of 'Dizzy' was sold at the Seven Year Itch concerts of 2002. 'Dizzy' would later feature in the film Notes on a Scandal.
The Best of also includes for the first time the complete version of 'This Wheel's on Fire' with no fade out in the end. Also, The Mark Saunders Mix of 'Stargazer' was used instead of the original album version. All except for two of the tracks had previously been included on Once Upon a Time: The Singles and Twice Upon a Time: The Singles, although there were some minor differences in song versions on this collection.
The double CD editions also contain many remixes and an unreleased extended version of a non-album single from 1987, 'Song from the Edge of the World'. The bonus DVD includes music videos for all the featured songs on the main disc excluding 'Dizzy'.
Release and reception[edit]
The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees was released on 12 November 2002. It was issued in three editions; single disc, double CD and Sound & Vision double CD + DVD (the latter version was released in 2004 and re-issued on 1 October 2007).
Singer Spoek Mathambo selected the compilation in his 12 'favourite albums', explaining he discovered it during his formative years. 'My friend gave me the Best Of album, and through college I just listened to it a lot: 'Israel', 'Dear Prudence', 'Hong Kong Garden', 'Peek-a-Boo'. [...] Siouxsie, for me, was very easy to listen to. Plus, the songs are super hooky'.[2]
Upon its release, Billboard reviewed the compilation as 'adventurous, sumptuous, and contagious pop'.[3].
Track listing[edit]
- Disc one
- 'Dear Prudence' (1983)
- 'Hong Kong Garden' (1978)
- 'Cities in Dust' (1985)
- 'Peek-a-Boo' (1988)
- 'Happy House' (1980)
- 'Kiss Them for Me' (1991)
- 'Face to Face' (1992)
- 'Dizzy' (1995)
- 'Israel' (1980)
- 'Christine' (1980)
- 'Spellbound' (1981)
- 'Stargazer' (1995)
- 'Arabian Knights' (1981)
- 'The Killing Jar' (1988)
- 'This Wheel's on Fire' (1987)
![Siouxsie Banshees Downside Up Rar Siouxsie Banshees Downside Up Rar](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fofo6hp71ww/TdgF1c58kKI/AAAAAAAAA0I/KuDvjnBqiic/s1600/Downside+Up+%25282004%2529.jpg)
![Albums Albums](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125859870/607990060.png)
- Disc two
- 'Spellbound' (extended 12' version)
- 'Song from the Edge of the World' (Columbus mix)
- 'Kiss Them for Me' (Kathak #2 mix)
- 'Peek-a-Boo' (Silver Dollar mix)
- 'The Killing Jar' (Lepidopteristic mix)
- 'Cities in Dust' (Eruption mix)
- 'Dazzle' (Glamour mix)
- 'Stargazer' (Mambo Sun remix)
- 'Face to Face' (Catatonic mix)
- DVD
- 'Dear Prudence'
- 'Hong Kong Garden'
- 'Cities in Dust'
- 'Peek-a-Boo'
- 'Happy House'
- 'Kiss Them for Me'
- 'Face to Face'
- 'Israel'
- 'Christine'
- 'Spellbound'
- 'Stargazer'
- 'Arabian Knights'
- 'The Killing Jar'
- 'This Wheel's on Fire'
A 2 cd + 1 dvd Deluxe : sound & vision edition was released in June 2004 in a long box. It was re-issued in a digipack format in October 2007.
References[edit]
- ^Wilson, MacKenzie. 'The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees – Siouxsie and the Banshees review'. AllMusic. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
- ^Phillips, Lior (30 August 2017). 'Beat Codes: Spoek Mathambo's Favourite Albums'. The Quietus. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
- ^The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Billboard, 16 November 2002, retrieved 5 May 2010
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Through the Looking Glass | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 2 March 1987 | |||
Recorded | August–September 1986 | |||
Studio | Abbey Road Studios | |||
Genre |
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Length | 43:54 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer |
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Siouxsie and the Banshees chronology | ||||
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Singles from Through the Looking Glass | ||||
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Through the Looking Glass is the eighth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The album is a collection of cover versions. It was co-produced with Mike Hedges and released in March 1987 on Polydor. Through the Looking Glass was preceded by the single 'This Wheel's on Fire'. It was the second and final album recorded with guitarist John Valentine Carruthers. Some of their cover songs were praised by the original artists themselves.
History[edit]
The title of the record, Through the Looking Glass, referred to Lewis Carroll's book of the same name. The band had already been inspired by Carroll's work when naming their label, Wonderland, which was derived from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[1] The record was also an ode to David Bowie's Pin Ups, a covers album recorded in the early 1970s. After spending more than a year working on 1986's Tinderbox, the Banshees wanted spontaneity, and quickly returned to the studio after the tour, to record their own covers album. It was a project they had been considering since recording a version of the Beatles's 'Dear Prudence' in 1983.
For the Looking Glass sessions, which took place in September and October 1986, they chose material mainly dating from the first half of the 1970s, from an era preceding the 1976 formation of their band. Most of the songs were from artists who had influenced them: Roxy Music, John Cale, Iggy Pop, the Doors and Kraftwerk. Producer Mike Hedges, who hadn't worked with them since 1984, was called back. The instrumentation was different; for this album, they hired other instrumentalists including a brass section and a harpist. Musician Martin McCarrick, who would become an official member of the Banshees after this album, created string arrangements for several tracks.
The band's version of Iggy Pop song 'The Passenger' featured brass arrangements played by Pete Thoms and Luke Tunney, whom had already worked with Siouxsie and Budgie on the Creatures' single 'Right Now'.
Release[edit]
Through the Looking Glass was released on 2 March 1987 on Polydor. A few weeks after, Bowie contacted them to be the special guests at two shows on his Glass Spider Tour in Anaheim.[2]
The album was reissued on CD with bonus tracks in October 2014.[3]
A 180g vinyl reissue of the album, remastered from the original ¼” tapes and cut half-speed at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell, was released in August 2018.[4]
Reception[edit]
Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [5] |
LA Times | very favourable[6] |
Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk lauded the version of 'Hall of Mirrors' and stated: 'In general, we consider cover versions as an appreciation of our work. The version of 'Hall of Mirrors' by Siouxsie and the Banshees is extraordinary'.[7] Iggy Pop praised their cover of 'The Passenger', saying: 'That's good. She sings it well and she threw a little note in when she sings it, that I wish I had thought of. It kind of improves it [...]. The horn thing is good'.[8]
LA Times hailed the album in their contemporary review saying: 'These songs are superbly rearranged, retaining enough of what was special about the originals and adding just the right new twists.' Critic Terry Atkinson wrote about their cover of 'Strange Fruit': 'Only someone as brash as Siouxsie Sioux would re-record Lewis Allan's 'Strange Fruit,' a song so strongly identified with Billie Holiday. And only someone as serious and sensitive could bring it off like this. A solemn string section behind the vocals and--best of all--a bridge of New Orleans funeral-march jazz enhance Siouxsie's evocative interpretation'. Atkinson then concluded emphazing, 'Such inventive touches permeate a great album'.[6]Sounds praised the rendition of 'Trust in Me' as 'quite astonishing. Whereas once it was about a python getting ready to crush a little boy to death, now it's a harp-laden lullaby of rampant, swirling eroticism'.[9]Mojo retrospectively praised their version of 'Strange Fruit' by selecting it for a 2007 CD called Music Is Love: 15 Tracks That Changed the World Recovered By....[10] In a retrospective review, AllMusic hailed the album, saying: 'The inspired range of covers reaches from glam-era landmarks (Roxy Music's 'Sea Breezes', John Cale's 'Gun') to Billie Holiday's sorrowful touchstone 'Strange Fruit' to, in one of the best such efforts ever (and a year before Hal Willner's Stay Awake project), a Disney classic—namely the slinky 'Trust in Me', originally from The Jungle Book and given a spare, mostly-Budgie backing that could almost be a sparkling Creatures outtake'.[5]
Track listing[edit]
Side one | ||||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist | Length |
1. | 'This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us' | Ron Mael | Sparks | 3:09 |
2. | 'Hall of Mirrors' | Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Emil Schult | Kraftwerk | 5:03 |
3. | 'Trust in Me' | Sherman Brothers | Kaa (voice by Sterling Holloway) in The Jungle Book | 4:06 |
4. | 'This Wheel's on Fire' | Rick Danko, Bob Dylan | Bob Dylan & The Band | 5:17 |
5. | 'Strange Fruit' | Lewis Allan | Billie Holiday | 3:53 |
Side two | ||||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist | Length |
6. | 'You're Lost Little Girl' | John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison | The Doors | 2:57 |
7. | 'The Passenger' | Iggy Pop, Ricky Gardiner | Iggy Pop | 5:10 |
8. | 'Gun' | John Cale | John Cale | 5:06 |
9. | 'Sea Breezes' | Bryan Ferry | Roxy Music | 4:15 |
10. | 'Little Johnny Jewel' | Tom Verlaine | Television | 4:56 |
2014 CD remastered reissue bonus tracks | ||||
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No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original artist | Length |
11. | 'She Cracked' | Jonathan Richman | The Modern Lovers | 3:07 |
12. | 'Song from the Edge of the World (Single Version)' | Siouxsie and the Banshees | 3:45 | |
13. | 'This Wheel's on Fire (Incendiary Mix)' | 7:27 | ||
14. | 'The Passenger (Locomotion Mix)' | 8:05 |
Personnel[edit]
- Siouxsie Sioux - vocals
- Steven Severin - electric bass and keyboards
- Budgie - drums and percussion
- John Valentine Carruthers - guitars and keyboards
- Additional personnel
- Martin McCarrick - cello, keyboards, string arrangements
- Jocelyn Pook - viola
- Gini Ball - violin
- Pete Thoms - trombone
- Luke Tunney - trumpet
- Martin Dobson - saxophone
- Julie Aliss - harp
- Mike Hedges - producer, engineer
Charts[edit]
References[edit]
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