That's How It Sounded In The Beginning

 

Flashback: London in the mid-1970s. Studded leather jackets and mohawks, Doc Martens boots and ripped jeans, safety pins and canned beer push the Empire to the brink of a national crisis. It all started with punk and the Sex Pistols, in whose orbit Susan Ballion—aka Siouxsie Sioux—also moved. And as was common back then, she, too, was convinced that she could make music with very little money. 

And indeed, in 1978 they released the single Hong Kong Garden, which immediately caused a stir. Not only did they slow down the tempo of punk, but they also gave it a much darker edge, which caught people’s attention.

That same year, they released their debut album, The Scream, which further explored this dark side. John McKay’s razor-sharp guitar, Budgie’s voodoo drums, and Siouxsie Sioux’s echoing vocals made this album a blueprint for many post-punk bands.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Suburban Relaps

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Nicotine Stain

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Jigsaw Feeling

Sixes And Sevens

 

Earlier this week the news arrived that a new album by John McKay was released, McKay was the leading figure behind Siouxsie and the Banshees and co-author of most of their songs. He was responsible for the band's dark and dangerous guitar sound.

He left the band in 1979 after their second album in order to focus on his own music. During the following years he recorded various songs but he never released an album. The tapes were stored at his home until they were retrieved and remixed last year.

The result is a journey through time that catapults you back to the late 1970's. The music is a logical progression from The Scream, the masterpiece by Siouxsie and the Banshees. He has a talent of playing the guitar like no one else. Not a guitar slinger like many others because he brought chords and rhythm to a unique sound that influenced many other band in the following years.

Peek A Boo

 

No, this not about the song with the same name by Siouxsie and the Banshees. It is my favorite track from the new album by Pretty Lightning, a band from Saarbrücken, Germany. Christian Berghoff and Sebastian Haas built the duo that moves since a couple of years between psychedelic blues, fuzz and jangle pop.

Now they released their second instrumental album. They describe the album as an imaginary walk through a dark and mysterious wood where can hear the sound of 60's psyche, krautrock, delta-blues and drone. Sometimes the beauty of the soundtrack from Paris, Texas and Ry Cooder shimmers through their songs.

Bristol's Goth

 

Once again, Bristol Archive Records have dug deep into musical history and created a monument to the local music scene with The Bristol Goth Explosion. Many of the bands played at The Bastille, a club in Bristol that was something of a scene meeting place.

Goth can be described as the darker side of punk, was very bass-heavy and peppered with sharp guitars. At the beginning of the 80's, both the musicians and the followers of Gothic adopted a dark and gloomy outfit and some, like a school friend of mine, still celebrate this today and meet every year at the biggest Gothic event in Europe in Leipzig. 

This compilation clearly shows that there were other bands besides The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees who had the potential for more. 

Forgotten Alternative Part II

 

Another few files I found from a compilation I made a few years ago. First one is a song from Siouxsie And The Banshees from their later period. They became famous in the first wave of punk and their debut is still a classic. On Peek-A-Boo they tried to combine their late post-punk sounds with samples like many others did. Not their best song but in the context of time a good one.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Peek-A-Boo

From Athens, Georgia in 1979 The B-52's appeared on the scene and their self-titled debut was one of the records of the year. A new wave band that played just a retro sound with a Rickenbacker guitar, organs and harmonies was the big thing this year. And Planet Claire is probably one of the best opening tracks of a debut album.

The B-52's - Planet Claire 

In 1987 Andrew Eldritch and his band Sisters Of Mercy released Floodland their second album. The lead single was This Corrosion a melange of gothic meets Meat Loaf with a 50-piece choir. It is a song that worked at this time and was played in many places and brings back memories. Nothing more or less.

Sisters Of Mercy - This Corrosion

XTC were on of the finest new wave bands from their beginnings in the late 70's until the mid 80's. Always on the search for the perfect pop song and always very close to it. I don't know many other bands that made so many remarkable albums in this ear. Still a pleasure to listen to them after decades.

XTC - Senses Working Overtime

I entered the cosmos of Julian Cope with his third album Saint Julian and the lead single World Shut Your Mouth. This song was the beginning of a long lasting fondness to him and his music.

Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth

- True New Sound

It is only one week to work until I get my usual time-out over the turn of the year and I am looking back what music touched my soul this year. Making a list is difficult but I am sure I will finish it these days and present the result to you all. Listening to this years music I also got aware of music that I used to listen to 40 years ago. That is the cause I came back to one of the first and probably groundbreaking bands off early punk and pre-post-punk. Siouxsie and the Banshees were the project formed in 1978 by Siouxsie Sioux and Steve Severin under the influence of the very early punk movement. Their first album The Scream was one of those albums that lead me into a new kind of music. Weird sounds, somehow a bit of industrial, cold and without soul when you listen the first time to it were groundbreaking and influenced many other bands that referred to this sound. It is still a pleasure listening to them after all this years and getting goose bumps.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Jigsaw Feeling
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Suburban Relapes

A few years later she released probably one of the best ballads from these days.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Last Beat Of My Heart

Hong Kong Garden

I was not the one who bought singles in former times but when I visited my local record shop back in 1978 this single came appeared when I searched the newest incoming records. It was in these days when almost every week another great song was released but it was hard to get the singles at my hometown. Hong Kong Garden was one of these singles I bought without any listening to it - just because the cover fascinated me. Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees was one of the hottest bands in 1978 and they still are one of those artists from the punk era that stood the test of time for me. I don't know how much I listened to this song but I still get goose bumps when I listen to it after all these years.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden

A few weeks later they released their debut album The Scream a manifest in punk/pre-post punk. Learned a lot by Velvet Underground and obscure Krautrock they made one of the sounds of they year. This record is still a classic and worth to be played today.

Metal Postcard
Suburban Relapse

Surrender

After a week of absence tomorrow I will start working again. It was necessary to get a few days off to recreate. Doing nothing special than taking a few excursions, going to a wellness place for a day and hanging around doing things at home I should have done earlier. After work we will go supporting Stuttgart on the way back to Bundesliga. Stuttgart is now at the top of the table and we will play against a direct rival Union Berlin. I think when we win this game we have a real good chance for promotion.

Today's song is by The Veil a London four-piece post-punk band that was very close to the sound of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Their records were re-released these days and they sound as fresh as they did in the mid 80's. Frankly they can't beat the Banshees but they have a very unique sound with fiery guitars and high-octave basslines.