As we first reported last month, the final four titles in Siouxsie and the Banshees’ catalog (1987′s Through the Looking Glass 1988′s Peepshow, 1991′s Superstition and 1995′s The Rapture) finally will receive expanded-and-remastered CD reissues — and today the band itself announced a new, confirmed release date of Oct. 13.
According to the Banshees’ Facebook page:
October 13th sees the long overdue release of the final four Siouxsie & The Banshees studio album remasters – ‘Through The Looking Glass’, ‘Peepshow’, ‘Superstition’ and ‘The Rapture’.
All four releases come with remastered audio from the original master tapes, rare bonus and unreleased tracks plus extensive sleeve notes. They cover a period of bold experimentation, from the idiosyncratic take on the band’s personal favourites on ‘Through The Looking Glass’ to the shocking diversity of ‘Peepshow’; from the sumptuous musical textures of ‘Superstition’ to the wild schizophrenia of ‘The Rapture’.
No tracklists have been revealed, and the Banshees’ post promises pre-order details will follow.
Last month, bassist Steven Severin hinted on the Facebook group Siouxsie (The Banshees & Other Creatures) that the final four albums finally would receive expanded re-releases on Sept. 15, more than four years after Universal Music pulled the plug on the band’s reissue campaign midstream. That date, we now know, has been pushed to Oct. 13.
The reissue news follows Universal’s release of a limited-edition double 7-inch of “Hong Kong Garden” in April, several months after Severin began posting to the Facebook group about a broader Banshees’ campaign that could include box sets: “This won’t be a one-off. Once we start — we will be putting things out on a regular basis. Universal have a 3 year plan proposed,” he wrote last fall.
The Banshees’s reissue campaign launched in 2005 with a 2CD deluxe edition of the band’s 1978 debut, The Scream. In 2006, single-disc reissues of Join Hands (1979), Kaleidoscope (1980) and Juju (1981) followed. And in 2009, three more titles — A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982), Hyaena (1984) and Tinderbox (1986) — each received single-disc reissues.
But in February 2010, though, Severin reported that Universal was ending the Banshees’ reissues:
“Universal have decided not to release any more single disc remasters. As the final four albums don’t have enough extras to warrant the double disc ‘deluxe’ treatment, they have halted our programme four albums short. They have given us the opportunity to license the last four (Peepshow, Glass, Super, Rapture) to another label. We are looking into this.”
It appears the Banshees’ archival releases indeed won’t be limited to the final four reissues. Dropping further hints on the Banshees’ Facebook group, Severin this week wrote, “Something else drops on Oct. 20th. Another thing in November. Something in the New Year and something BIG in March.”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Siouxsie and the Banshees to reissue ‘Hong Kong Garden’ on double 7-inch vinyl
- Banshees’ Steven Severin scoring new animated haunted house doc ‘Borley Rectory’
- ‘The feud is over’: Steven Severin says The Banshees talking again after nearly a decade
- Video: Siouxsie closes 2nd Meltdown gig with Banshees classic ‘Spellbound’
- Siouxsie plays ‘Kaleidoscope’ in full at first concert in 5 years (SETLIST, PHOTOS, VIDEO)
I am so glad that these last four are going to be reissued and remastered with extras!!!
Looking forward to the Peepshow reissue. I am curious to hear what the b-sides, and unreleased tracks were like then.
Finally. This was the era when I got into their music….hope there’s another lost gem like “Starcrossed Lovers” from the Tinderbox reissue.
Jacques, you may get your wish if “Typhoid Mary” (Peepshow demo/unreleased track) is anywhere as complete as “Starcrossed Lovers”. Also, if the PEEPSHOW reissue contains a second disc of the Peepshow tour’s special audio recording from September 1988, you’ll really be happy…just like if SUPERSTITION includes the acoustic Xmas concert from L.A.’s KROCK radio show, and THE RAPTURE features the Mayfair Club Radio performance, along w/ the Radcliffe radio program sessions, both recorded in early 1995, just as the album was being released. Excited?
Steven Severin has already posted that he expects a backlash regarding the bonus material, and that he expects that only he and Siouxsie will be satisfied with the selection. I think it’s selfish of him/them not to include things they know fans want when it’s going to be the fans listening to the CD’s, not really he or Sioux. He indicated that some things that will not be bonus tracks were kept off because they will be on a future release. Those expecting B sides will not get them. Since Downside Up was released in 2004, none of the reissues included B sides. They mainly stick to extended mixes or related single A sides (or the extremely rare outtake), but Severin gives the impression that this batch may be even less inclusive. He has refused to provide the track listing, and suggested people wait until they appear as pre-orders on Amazon. What a guy…
Just seeing those album covers up on the screen makes me tingle w/ excitement. I can just imagine how great the band and esp. Siouxsie will sound in 21st Century remastered sound. How appropriate that these beauties will be released in October, close to “the witching hour” and “the night of all nights” in the year. Now, Severin’s got me intrigued by what will be “dropping” in late October, November, January, and March!: Though they are only Banshees-related, I would LOVE for two of those release dates to be Siouxsie’s new solo album and Severin’s BORLEY RECTORY soundtrack. I’m guessing that something in 2015 may be the big recorded T.V. concerts collected? Then the song/single videos? Unless its a never-before-seen PEEPSHOW tour concert on DVD. Steven, I’m gonna have S&TB, Siouxsie, and your soundtrack LP coming out of my ears over the next 6 months!
I hope these are “Deluxe Editions” in 2-CD format, like 2005’s fabulous THE SCREAM reissue.
Actually, now that I’ve thought about it: The BIG thing coming in March could very (hopefully) well be the Box Set of The Banshees catalog from 1978-1995 w/ expanded additions w/ extras/bonus tracks that won’t be included on the initial remasters. It would be nice if they reissued all of the remasters in 2014/2015, for those of us who couldn’t get all of them…esp. the Japanese mini-LP SHM-CD versions, which are works of art. For my part, I’m hoping everything from ’78-’95 is reproduced in that Hi-Fi deluxe sound, since I’ve got 4 of the 7 that were released in 2009. They VASTLY surpass the sound quality of the standard CD remasters, which were already good. Fingers crossed!
Best news from their camp in a long time. Can’t wait for all the goodies!
Bonus tracks have now been revealed:
Through The Looking Glass (1987)
She Cracked (the extra b-side of This Wheel’s on Fire double-pack 7” )
Song From The Edge Of The World 7′ version
This Wheel’s On Fire Incendiary Mix
The Passenger llllloco-motion mix
Peepshow (1988)
El Dia De Los Muertos Espiritu Mix
The Killing Jar Lepidopteristic Mix (both remixes reissued here for the first time in over 25 years )
The Last Beat Of My Heart Live @ Lollapalooza, 1991
Superstition (1991)
Face To Face 7″ version
Kiss Them For Me Snapper Mix
Kiss Them For Me Kathak #1 Mix (never before released)
The Rapture (1995)
O Baby (Manhattan Mix)
FGM (unreleased demo)
New Skin (unreleased complete version commissioned by Paul Verhoeven for his cult campfest ‘SHOWGIRLS’)
Severin was adamant that FGM would not appear, as he viewed it as a sketch that should never have been heard. Then about a month ago he appeared to have a change of heart.
I will buy Peepshow and The Rapture as i think both albums would sound better than the original issues.
What is FGM – demo ? . –
i would like to see a repress of Downside Up box set, the one with the b-sides, its out of stock now.
Apparently stated on Facebook :
“Something else drops on October 20,” Severin is quoted as writing in the Siouxsie-related Facebook group. “Another thing in November. Something in the New Year and something BIG in March.”
Thanks for the info Scott.
is March’s big ‘something’, a tour?
That would be a complete shocker based very recent comments made by Severin, but maybe he was setting people up for the surprise by doing so. I still doubt it however.
Thanks for the info!, i think March´s release would be their complete discography, a box set, like mate Anthony said above.
Peepshow is a masterpiece and Through the Looking Glass has Siouxsie’s best vocals, but do they really need remastering?
@LJC, GOD, YES THEY DO! Esp. PEEPSHOW (and I have the 1990 CD to prove it!). I agree, TTLG is one of Siouxsie’s best vocal performances…but, then again, when did Siouxsie have a bad vocal performance on her studio albums w/ The Banshees from 1978-1995?
My guess was correct then: These will be standard, “meat and potatoes” single-disc releases, for those who just want the albums in modern 21st-century sound. This probably/definitely means that “the double-disc treatment” will occur in between mid-Fall to late Winter, in the form of either (hopefully) individual 2-CD versions of each respective album from 1988-1995 (which is what I’m hoping for) or all of the 2-CD sets (incl. concerts, bonus track, and radio sessions) encased within a multi-disc Box Set w/ the LPs and Best Ofs (“Once” and “Twice Upon a Time”) (which, though very nice and cool, will be an absolute expen$ive collection to own) included.
At the very least…we get a brand-spanking new remaster of the great gem, “Song From The Edge Of The World”, one of Severin’s best lyrics, and one of Siouxsie’s best vocal performances.
The Kiss Them For Me Kathak Mix #1 is previously available. It’s on a compilation called Submerge Yourself In Sound which I own mainly for the live version of Sonic Youth’s “Catholic Block.”