Nocturne is a live double album and video by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 25 November 1983 by Polydor Records. Co-produced by Mike Hedges, Nocturne featured performances recorded at two shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, on 30 September and 1 October 1983, featuring Robert Smith (of the Cure) on guitar.
Most of the material came from 1981's Juju and 1982's A Kiss in the Dreamhouse. It also contained a couple of B-sides ("Pulled to Bits" and "Eve White/Eve Black") as well as a live version of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence", a song the Banshees had recorded in the studio earlier that year in Stockholm and issued as a single in September.
The music heard at the introduction of "Israel" is an excerpt from The Rite of Spring, composed in 1913 by Igor Stravinsky.
At the BBC is a live box set containing three CDs and a DVD by alternative rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in June 2009 by record label Universal International.
The physical version is sold out; the boxset is hence only available on audio streaming and media services such as Amazon Prime Music, iTunes, Spotify and Deezer.
At the BBC consists of four discs containing 84 digitally remastered tracks of BBC sessions, live concert tracks and TV performances recorded between 1977 and 1991 split across three CDs and a DVD, as well has a hard-back book.
The DVD featured several live sessions filmed for The Old Grey Whistle Test and Oxford Road Show, and for the first time, a previously-unreleased concert filmed in Warwick in March 1981, prior to their Juju album, with John McGeoch on guitar. Robert Smith was also featured on guitar on nine songs, including a TV session in 1979 and all the TV appearances from November 1982 through March 1984.
The Scream is the debut studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 13 November 1978 by Polydor Records. The album is considered a landmark recording: its innovative combination of angular guitar with a bass-led rhythm and machine-like drums played mostly on toms, made it a pioneering work of the post-punk genre.
The Scream was met with widespread acclaim and was hailed by critics as an original musical development in rock music. It has been cited as a key influence on a number of succeeding post-punk, noise rock and alternative rock acts, including Joy Division, Killing Joke, the Cure, Big Black, Sonic Youth, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Faith No More and Massive Attack.
Join Hands is the second studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in September 1979 by the record label Polydor. Upon its release, it was praised by the British press, including Melody Maker, Sounds, NME and Record Mirror.
Join Hands took the topic of the First World War as its inspiration. Musically, it is darker than the band's debut album The Scream: it sounds more claustrophobic and more haunting. It was the last album with the band's first recorded line-up, as guitarist John McKay and drummer Kenny Morris quit the group after a disagreement at the beginning of the British Join Hands tour, on the day of the album's release.
The record peaked at No. 13 on the UK Albums Chart. "Playground Twist" was the only single released from the album. Join Hands was reissued on vinyl in 2015, along with the very first artwork that the band had presented to Polydor in 1979.
Kaleidoscope is the third studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1980 by record label Polydor. With the departure of John McKay and Kenny Morris and their replacement by two new musicians, Budgie on drums and John McGeoch on guitars, the band changed their musical direction and offered an album containing a wide variety of colors. "It was almost a different band", said Siouxsie.
The album was preceded by the hit singles "Happy House" and "Christine". In the UK, Kaleidoscope quickly became their most successful album to date, climbing to No. 5 in the albums chart.
Juju is the fourth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was recorded at Surrey Sound studio with Nigel Gray as co-producer, and was released on 19 June 1981 by record label Polydor. Two singles were released from Juju: "Spellbound" and "Arabian Knights".
The album was commercially successful in the UK. It was acclaimed by critics upon its release, with praise given particularly to John McGeoch's unconventional guitar playing and Siouxsie's vocal performances. It remains a critical favourite and is seen as a landmark album of post-punk.
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse is the fifth studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released on 5 November 1982 by Polydor Records. The record marked a change of musical direction, as the group used strings for the first time and experimented in the studio. Guitarist John McGeoch played more instruments, including recorder and piano. For Julian Marszalek of The Quietus, the release proved the Banshees to be "one of the great British psychedelic bands."
Both a critical and commercial success, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse peaked at No. 11 on the UK Albums Chart. In August 2007 it was ranked No. 1 on Mojo magazine's list of the best albums of 1982. A 180g vinyl LP reissue of the album, remastered from the original ¼” tapes and cut half-speed at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell, was released in September 2018.
Hyæna is the sixth studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1984 by Polydor. The opening track, "Dazzle", featured strings played by musicians of the (LSO) London Symphonic Orchestra, a 27-piece orchestra called the "Chandos Players"; it was scored from a tune that Siouxsie Sioux had composed on piano.[2] Hyæna is the only studio album that guitarist Robert Smith of the Cure composed and recorded with Siouxsie and the Banshees.
In the United States, Hyæna was the first Banshees studio album to be released on Geffen Records, which also signed to reissue the rest of the band's catalog. Prior to that, "Dear Prudence" had become the band's biggest hit in the UK, reaching number 3 in September of the previous year. The song initially released as a stand-alone single in Europe, was issued in North America in May 1984. Consequently, it was finally added to the track listing of the US album version. Hyæna was the first Siouxsie and the Banshees album to enter the Billboard 200 in the US.
Hyæna was reissued on CD in a remastered, expanded edition in 2009. A 180 gram 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 December 2018.
Tinderbox is the seventh studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released on 21 April 1986 by Wonderland and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and by Geffen Records in the United States. It was the band's first full-length effort recorded with then-new guitarist John Valentine Carruthers; Carruthers had previously only added a few parts on the 1984 EP The Thorn. The first recording sessions for the album took place at Hansa by the Wall in Berlin in May 1985.
Two songs were released as singles between late 1985 and early 1986, "Cities in Dust" and "Candyman". Tinderbox peaked at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart and at number 88 on the US Billboard 200.
PopMatters included it on their list of the "12 essential alternative rock albums from the 1980s", and alternative rock artists including Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle, Jean-Benoît Dunckel of Air, Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rachel Goswell of Slowdive, have cited it as an inspiration.
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Tinderbox, a burgundy color vinyl edition was released in October 2021.
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.
Peepshow is the ninth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in September 1988 on Polydor. It was their first record as a quintet. With the arrival of multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick and guitarist Jon Klein, the group recorded a multifaceted album with a variety of influences. It included the singles "Peek-a-Boo", "the Killing Jar" and "The Last Beat of My Heart". The record was a commercial success, peaking at No. 20 in the UK, and No. 68 on the US Billboard 200 chart in the week of 3 December 1988. It spent a total of 20 weeks on that chart. "Peek-a-Boo" reached number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and "the Killing Jar" got the number two spot.
Praise centred around the unpredictability of the orchestrations and new nuances in Siouxsie's voice. The album was later remastered and reissued on CD with bonus tracks in October 2014. A 180g vinyl reissue, remastered from the original ¼” tapes and cut half-speed at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell, was released in December 2018.
It is the subject of the 2018 book Peepshow by Samantha Bennett, part of the 33 1/3 series.
Superstition is the 10th studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1991. The first single, "Kiss Them for Me," gave the band its first top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit in the United States, peaking at No. 23, with the album peaking at No. 65 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band widened its musical influences with the arrival of Indian musician Talvin Singh, who played tablas on the songs "Kiss Them for Me" and "Silver Waterfalls."
The Rapture is the 11th and final studio album by English alternative rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The songs with cello arrangements, including the title track as well as "Fall from Grace" and "Not Forgotten", were produced by the band on their own in 1993. John Cale later produced the remaining songs in mid-1994.
After composing songs in Siouxsie and Budgie's house near Toulouse, France, in March and April 1993, the band went to Léon near Biarritz. They produced the first part of the album at Studio du Manoir in May. At the beginning of 1994, they recorded the final songs in London, this time with producer and former Velvet Underground member John Cale, who had previously produced albums that the band liked such as Patti Smith's Horses and the first Modern Lovers album. Cale also mixed one track, "Fall from Grace", from the previous recording session.
In the UK, Polydor only released the album on both CD and cassette, whereas in the US, Geffen also released it on vinyl LP.
This album was remastered for CD in 2014 with three bonus tracks, including a previously unreleased song called "FGM", and "New Skin", a song recorded for the Showgirls soundtrack of the Paul Verhoeven film of the same name. "New Skin" has got a different mix and is longer than on the original Showgirls album. From then and on all further reissues, "Stargazer" has got a different mix: the Mark Saunders mix was included instead of the original mix initially made by the band.
A double vinyl reissue of the album, half-speed mastered from the original ¼” tapes by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, was released in December 2018.
