 |
| |
|
| |
Album Review
by Scott Sterling-Wilder
7-12-2004
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
More on: Siouxsie and The Banshees
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Siouxsie & the Banshees' 'Downside Up' |
|
Siouxsie and The Banshees: 'Downside Up - B-sides and Rarities'
(Polydor)
Siouxsie and The Banshees’ anti-mediocrity box-set
Nirvana, Michael Jackson, ‘Live Aid’, even Tony Bennett’s got a box-set… And you’d think the list stops there but it goes on and on; all supported by the newly concocted 10th Aniversary reissues - NIN’s ‘Downward Spiral’, Manic Street Preacher’s ‘The Holly Bible’, Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace - Legacy Edition’ or the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Clash’s ‘London Calling’…
That’s on top of all the compilation albums that appear to multiply with every passing year… With all these flooding the Chrimbo season, there are some releases that need more exposure for the simple reason they are better than 90 per cent of what is being advertised. In particular, a box-set by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Named ‘Downside Up - B-sides and Rarities’, it offers 55 tracks spread across four discs, some of which have not previously appeared on CD. The resulting collection thus turn out to be much more revealing by offering an alternative history rather than the usual ‘Greatest Hits’ package.
Siouxsie Sioux first came to prominence as part of the Bromley contingent [that also included Billy Idol] - a proto punk ‘groupies’ - who stood behind the Sex Pistols members during their notorious TV interview with Bill Grundy that contained profanities that shook, and shocked, the nation back in 1976.
Soon afterward she assembled a motley crew of Sid Vicious on drums, Marco Pirroni [later of Adam and the Ants] on guitar and Steven Severin on bass, for a live debut at the famed punk festival at the 100 Club. Still, their debut album didn’t appear until 1978, long after punk had become a spent force. In meantime, Siouxsie and her musicians, Severin on bass being the only permanent feature until arrival of drummer Budgie [in ‘80] developed a style that was not really a post-punk, New Wave, Goth or whatever classed as.
The Banshees produced music that was intelligent, poppy at times but mainly discordant and yet full of adventurous rhythmic, sonic and lyrical experimentation. The feeling is that the band’s always been underrated in favour of some lesser pretenders although nobody could ever touch Siouxsie, the Ice Queen of Punk. She still is, as two recent shows in London - one, stripped down, at 100 Club, the other with a full orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall - proved: the lady is still of a mind to explore without any loss of charisma, spirit or sex appeal.
There are so many goodies here and picking tracks is a futile job but if you’re yet to get ‘Spellbound’ by this lot, ‘Drop Dead/Celebration’, ‘Eve White/Eve Black’, ‘Tattoo’, are most startling points. Deeper investigation will also reveal that this band’s B-sides are marvels in themselves: they used them for some of their most radical and challenging work.
‘Downside Up’ simply demonstrates that the Banshees stand proudly alongside Public Image Ltd, Gang of Four and The Fall, as some of the most daring and obdurate purveyors of the post-punk era sounds. Subverting it much more from within rather than the fringes…
And Siouxsie’s story continues with a long-term project [alongside husband Budgie] The Creatures that, alike The Banshees’ output, forever opposes the mainstream’s mediocrity.
9/10
Scott Sterling-Wilder
29-10-2002
Siouxsie and The Banshees' box-set ‘Downside Up - B-sides and Rarities’
|
|
|
