Siouxsie And The Banshees - Kaleidoscope - Essential New Wave LP
LP

Siouxsie And The Banshees - Kaleidoscope

Label: Polydor
Catalog#: 2442 177
Format: Vinyl, LP
Record is VG++ (listen to our copy)
Cover has sticker mark in top left corner, as well as slight edge wear and corner wear. (see our picture)

Country: UK
Released: 1980
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave

Credits:

Producer - Nigel Gray , Siouxsie And The Banshees

Notes:

(P)1980 Polydor Ltd(UK)
Record Manufactured And Distributed In The United Kingdom By Polydor

Tracklist:

A1 Happy House
A2 Tenant
A3 Trophy
A4 Hybrid
A5 Clockface
A6 Lunar Camel

B1 Christine
B2 Desert Kisses
B3 Red Light
B4 Paradise Place
B5 Skin

Forget categories like Goth or Dark Wave, this record is a classic no matter what pigeonhole you try to put it in. On this disc the band pulled out all the stops, and the quirkiness of their performances (notice for example the dizzying tempo changes on "Happy House"; it ends at least 1/3 faster than it begins), only serve to make the thing more endearing. And Budgie's drum sound--good heavens.....it's as far from the over-produced "big drum" crap that Phil Collins made famous as you can get. These drums have character and Budgie's snare never sounds the same two hits in a row.

But the true charm of this LP is the songs. They are so creatively conceived and performed it is mind-boggling. Some people call "Juju" the quintessential Siouxsie record--and I love it too, my friends, but Kaleidoscope broke the mold..

Siouxie and the Banshees always had a deep crush on classic American funk (find, if you can, the cover of "Supernatural Thing" on the flipside of the "Arabian Nights" 12" single), though, in keeping with a key plank in punk's aesthetic manifesto, they were smart enough to never play it in blackface.

In short, this is an album of dope beats -- the underlying foundation for some clean barre-chord riffing, sweet and tarnished pop songcraft, and a good dose of European weltschmertz -- though it's the cold rock beats that make it better than a Nico record every time out.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Red Light

Beautiful goth undertones, One of the coolest videos ever.



SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - HAPPY HOUSE

John was in the band during the time this was recorded