Siouxsie & The Banshees "Through the Looking Glass" 1987****

I've been away from my laptop for some time, hence my absence of late - traveling to Greece where I have family, and taking care of some business there. Coincidentally, after missing a lot of crucial elections during the years of the "debt crisis" and subsequent punishment of the country by EU and IMF, I got to vote in the national elections - twice in the space of 5 weeks! For all the good it did - worst election results of my lifetime, maybe I'll elaborate on another post. But there was a silver lining for this trip, and that was that I got to see some concerts which I'll comment on in the following weeks. One of them was the long awaited return of a favorite of my teen years, Siouxsie Sioux. Siouxsie headlined that day's Release Festival. It was the 5th time I saw her perform in 30-something years: twice with The Banshees, once with Creatures, and once before solo, 15 years ago. Which is about the same amount of time she had stayed inactive. Why? Who knows? Maybe she felt like a 15-year vacation. I know that I sometimes do. Anyway, last week she reaffirmed her status as Goth Ice Queen. Her stage presence, at least, was impeccable - even though at 66 she was more restrained in her moves, famously copied by Jenny Ortega on her iconic Wednesday dance in the Tim Burton series. Sure, her vocal performance fluctuated between strained and sublime; but that's almost always the case with music legends past their prime. It is, in any case, a rare privilege to see artists of Siouxsie's caliber perform; not to be missed, at least this is how I see it. After my return to the Netherlands I'll write more about the acts I saw live, and tie each of them with an album presentation. For today, I'm re-posting an earlier review of an older LP by Siouxsie & The Banshees.

I bought this LP around the time it came out, then couldn't resist getting it again when it was remastered and released as a digipack CD. These remasters are so good (in terms of sound, aesthetic and bonus tracks) that I ended up buying almost all of them despite already having their complete discography on vinyl. Back at the time, many goths and punks perceived this album as somewhat of a betrayal. It is at times unusually light and melodic, with intricate arrangements by Martin McCarrick who would soon permanently join the band on keyboards and cello. And, of course, cries of betrayal would multiply in the future with the release of the even poppier "Peepshow" and "Superstition". But the Banshees were always a band apart from the other punk pioneers. They may have hit the scene as Sex Pistols hanger-ons (they accompanied the Pistols on their infamous Bill Grundy interview and had Sid Vicious as a drummer in the early days) but they came from a very different place: while the Pistols were street hooligans, the Banshees were glam fans drawn towards punk which they saw as an original and extreme fashion statement. So when it came to recording a tribute to the artists that influenced them, it wasn't surprising that most of their choices came from the early 70's, the golden age of glam rock. Supposedly they got the idea of a covers album from Bowie's "Pin Ups". Remember, at the time it wasn't as common as it is now - Nick Cave beat them by a few months by releasing "Kicking Against the Pricks" but I can't think of any other band releasing an all-covers LP in the early 80's. 

(my) vinyl front and back covers

They display their impeccable taste right from the start by covering The Sparks' "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us", an intensive song that fit their style perfectly. Kraftwerk's "Hall of Mirrors" is sped-up with exotic touches that remind us of Banshees side project The Creatures, and while no one would be surprised by the inclusion of those German electronic music pioneers, who could have predicted they'd tackle Disney next? Yet, their version of "Trust In Me" from the Jungle Book movie is curiously seductive and sexual but nothing short of sublime. "This Wheel's on Fire" was chosen as lead single and rost to #14 on the UK singles chart. Apparently The Banshees were unaware of Dylan & the Band's country rock original and modeled their own version after the Julie Driscoll cover. Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" is probably one of the saddest songs ever, Siouxsie's performance doesn't send shivers up the spine the way Billie's does but it makes great use of cinematic strings and funereal New Orleans horns. The Doors' "You're Lost Little Girl" is given a more psychedelic twist, featuring a sped-up chorus, carnival sounds and strings borrowed from The Four Tops' "Reach Out". It's followed by the album's highlight, a cover of Iggy Pop's "Passenger". Siouxsie's laid-back delivery and the addition of horns improve on the original arrangement (in Iggy's words: "I wish I had thought of it. It kind of improves it"). I listen to it every day - its my wake-up ringtone! Their version of John Cale's "Gun" sticks close to the original, but I daresay is slightly superior as Siouxsie is a better vocalist than Cale... which I can't say about "Sea Breezes". The Banshees started out as huge Roxy Music fans and they give their all, but somehow they don't own the tune as they did with other covers here.

CD insert

My old vinyl LP ends with Television's "Little Johnny Jewel" saving this fine track from obscurity. The original used to be only available as a rare 7' single, until it was appended as a bonus track on the "Marquee Moon" CD. The CD version of Through the Looking Glass also adds some bonus tracks: Extended "dance" mixes of "Wheel on Fire" and "Passenger", a punk rock cover of Jonathan Richman's "She Cracked" and single-only "Song from the Edge of the World". The latter is the only original composition on the CD, a very good upbeat song featuring a new incarnation of the band with John Klein on guitar and McCarrick as a full time member on keyboards.  Overall I can say that Through the Looking Glass (named after the Lewis Carroll book) is one of the best cover albums ever: Revealing as to the band's influences and, despite the variety of its source material, consistent and recognizably Banshees-like. To end the review with a piece of interesting trivia, the album title is only one of Siouxsie's many references to Alice in Wonderland, e.g. naming their record company "Wonderland" and including Alice sketches in the weirdest kids' TV show ever, in which they starred alongside The Cure's Robert Smith. Not surprising, really, for those who've delved into their cryptical and surrealistic lyrics.

***** for Trust in Me (The Jungle Book), This Wheel's on Fire (Bob Dylan & The Band), Strange Fruit (Billie Holiday), The Passenger (Iggy Pop)

**** for This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us (Sparks), Hall of Mirrors (Kraftwerk),Song from the Edge of the World, The Passenger Locomotion Mix

*** for You're Lost Little Girl (The Doors), Gun (John Cale), Sea Breezes (Roxy Music), Little Johnny Jewel (Television), She Cracked (Jonathan Richman/Modern Lovers