Siouxsie & the Banshees - Tinderbox Demos 1986

This is a small selection of demo's and studio out takes by Siouxsie & the Banshees circulated simply as the Tinderbox Demos.

Included with this boot were a few tracks that were off air recordings from BBC radio sessions and these eventually made there way on to the official BBC four disc box set in much better quality. The Tinderbox demo's featured here are a bit of a mystery and there is not a lot else I can add information wise except that they are interesting examples of work in progress.

Tinderbox was the seventh studio album released by the band and it was the first effort with new guitarist John Valentine Carruthers. The sessions took place at Hansa Studios, by the Berlin wall. Tinderbox was re-issued remastered and expanded in 2009, featuring in the bonus tracks an unreleased version of the 1987's "Song from the Edge of the World" and an unreleased song with lyrics of Steven Severin called "Starcrossed", recorded in May 1985. The b-sides of "Cities in Dust" and "Candyman", initially included as bonus tracks on the 1986 CD are now part of the Downside Up b-sides box set.

Source: Studio sessions.

Sound Quality: Good mp3@128kbps.

Genre: Punk, new wave.

Set:  Studio Sessions.

Set List:

01. Instrumental #1
02. Candyman Instrumental
03. Lands End Instrumental
04. Instrumental #2
05. Instrumental #3
06. Umbrella Instrumental
07. Party's Fall Instrumental
08. The Sweetest Chill - Live Take
09. 92 Degrees - Live Take
10. Candyman (Alt. Take) 

Comments:

Siouxsie Sioux: vocals, piano, whistle, Steven Severin: electric bass, keyboards, piano, drumbox, emulator, Budgie: drums and percussion, John Valentine Carruthers: guitars, keyboards, waterphone, (Siouxsie and the Banshees: producers).

Download link in comments below.

Siouxsie and The Banshees - Hamburg 1982

Good quality live recordings of Siouxsie and The Banshees appear to be a bit thin on the ground, which is surprising considering they have toured regularly down the years and the whole punk & new wave scene in the early days was hardly water tight against bootlegging.

So for one of my favorite bands that came out of the original punk music scene, on this occasion I will have to settle for a pretty good audience recording of a very good live show.

This is the band live at Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany way back on December 12th, 1982.

Source: Audience Taped

Sound Quality: Very Good (for audience).

Genre: Punk Rock, Post Punk, Gothic, New Wave.

Set: Full Set.

Set List:

01. Israel
02. Fireworks
03. Green fingers
04. Paradise place
05. Cascade
06. Melt!
07. Pulled to bits
08. Nightshift
09. Sin in my heart
10. Christine
11. Slowdive
12. Painted bird
13. Arabian knights
14. Spellbound
15. Cocoon

Links: Official site HERE.

Comments: Some audience recordings are awful. This one is highly listenable and the audio quality stable through out, giving a really good feel for the show.

The Banshees followed their 1981 album (Juju) in 1982 with A Kiss in the Dreamhouse. The record, featuring strings on several numbers, was an intentional contrast to their previous work, with Sioux later describing it as a "sexy album".

The British press greeted it enthusiastically. Richard Cook in the NME finished his review with this sentence: "I promise. This music will take your breath away." At that time John McGeoch was struggling with alcohol problems, and was hospitalized on his return to a promotional trip to Madrid. The band fired him shortly thereafter. Steven Severin asked Robert Smith to take over guitarist duties again; Robert Smith accepted and rejoined the group in November 1982.

It is highly likely then that The Cures Robert Smith is part of the line up for this gig.

Download link - either click on the above picture or go to comments below.

Buy: - MP3's at Amazon.co.uk - Siouxsie And The Banshees