Album of the Day 7/19/11
Off our home turf again, back on the road: but this time it’s all business. Lots of new stuff coming tomorrow. In the meantime, as we do every day, our 1000 best albums of all time countdown continues all the way to #1. Tuesday’s album is #560:
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Join Hands
Over the course of their long career, Siouxsie & the Banshees have pushed the envelope with punk rock, goth, psychedelia and gamelan-inspired experimental sounds. This 1979 album, their second, is where Siouxsie Sioux crystallized her inimitable microtonal vocal style, along with her outraged-witness persona. Side one of this album follows a loosely thematic World War I theme, beginning with the acidic, atonal Poppy Day (sort of a punk version of the famous antiwar poem In Flanders Field). Guitarist John McKay hits his chords like he’s swinging a machete, through the scorching Regal Zone and Placebo Effect, while bassist Steven Severin’s minimalist chords fuel the fires in the savagely menacing Icon (which kicks off with the distant rumble of cannon fire). Premature Burial is as morbidly memorable as the band ever got; Playground Twist a vivid look at the cruelty children inflict on each other; Mother, a horror-movie music-box theme. The album ends with the eleven-minute, dadaist sacrilege of The Lord’s Prayer, originally done by Sid Vicious’ first band the Flowers of Romance. It’s most likely the only instance ever where anyone called Muhammad Ali a “fucking dick” on vinyl. Here’s a random torrent.
Song of the Day 7/10/09
Every day, our top 666 songs of alltime countdown gets one step closer to #1. Friday’s song is #383:
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Bring Me the Head of the Preacher Man
Strong case for the argument that this band’s best period was around 1983-86 with Robert Smith from the Cure moonlighting on guitar. This is a marriage made in heaven, Siouxsie at the absolute top of her game as outraged witness, Smith tossing off one eerie Arabesque after another in this absolutely hypnotic, macabre, epic masterpiece from the Hyaena lp, 1983.
Song of the Day 6/10/09
Every day, our top 666 songs of alltime countdown gets one step closer to #1. Wednesday’s song is #413:
Public Image Ltd. – Think Tank
After Keith Levene left the band, John Lydon’s post-Pistols project floundered, the noise-rock pioneers running through a forgettable series of guitarists that included Steve Vai for one album! But toward the end, former Banshee John McGeoch did some time in the band, and it’s his ferocious, distorted chords and completely unhinged solo that make this anti-fascist anthem so brutally potent. Kiss this, Heritage Foundation. From their surprisingly good swan song That What Is Not, 1992; mp3s are everywhere.
Song of the Day 6/5/09
Every day, our top 666 songs of alltime countdown gets one step closer to #1. Friday’s song is #418:
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Playground Twist
Throughout the best years of the punk icon’s career, her persona was that of an outraged witness and this is characteristic and offhandedly savage. As Margaret Atwood put it, to little girls, other little girls aren’t cute. They’re lifesize. From the classic Join Hands lp, 1979; mp3s are everywhere.
Song of the Day 5/17/09
Every day, our top 666 songs of alltime countdown gets one step closer to #1. Sunday’s song is #437:
The Creatures – Venus Sands
When Siouxsie and Budgie aren’t busy with Siouxsie & the Banshees, they do this frequently scary minimalist project. This is that group’s best song, a ghastly, marimba-driven, atmospheric evocation of death from above that actually succeeds at what Hitchcock was trying to do with The Birds. From the Boomerang cd, 1989; mp3s are everywhere. The link above is the stream at last.fm.
Song of the Day 4/30/09
Every day, our top 666 songs of alltime countdown gets one step closer to #1. Thursday’s song is #454:
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Arabian Nights
John McGeoch’s beautiful, haunting, watery guitar floating floating over a pounding rhythm section, carrying Siouxsie’s eerily microtonal, accusatory vocals. From the Juju album, 1982; the link above is a youtube stream of the original video. Mp3s are everywhere.
Lucid Culture 