SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - "The Scream" - November 1978 UK Debut Album on Polydor Records featuring Siouxsie Sioux, John McKay, Steven Severin and Kenny Morris (January 2007 UK/EU Polydor Single-CD Reissue in a Jewel Case with the October 2005 2CD Deluxe Edition Remaster done by Gary Moore at Universal Mastering)

 

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"...Jigsaw Feeling..." 

 

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I don't know so much about Post-Punk as a Genre reference - kick-ass tracks on "The Scream" like "Jigsaw Feeling", "Carcass" and "Switch" were so Punk to me at the time. 

 

Goth Goddess Siouxsie Sioux (Lead Vocals) and her fellow Banshees John McKay (Guitars and Saxophone), Steve Severin (Bass) and Kenny Morris (Drums) with their sympathetic Producer Steve Lilywhite were right up there for me with The Damned and The Pistols as dangerous and dark and just plain unsettling. I mean what the hell is their second British single "The Staircase (Mystery)" or even the LP's genuinely sinister cover of The Beatles' infamous White Album brute "Helter Skelter" if not all of those things combined! 

 

And when McKay brings in that background-creep Saxophone in their Television meets Sparks "Suburban Relapse" - there is most definitely more than a trace of Roxy Music in their Island Records Seventies heyday of Pop Art Rock pomp - nutters taking on all comers regardless of trends. Siouxsie & The Banshees and their uncompromising music have felt like Punk Attitude to me - alternative personified - damn the torpedoes - let's send a metal postcard to No. Downing Street! To its digital incarnations...

Disregarding the 1989 basic-as-chips reissue when CD first began making inroads into the formats war - Siouxsie's debut album from November 1978 has had somewhat of a weird triple-whammy release schedule in Blighty. 

 

First came the impressive 3 October 2005 Universal 2CD Deluxe Edition on Polydor 983 238-8 (Barcode 602498323885) following not surprisingly by a singular-CD Version on 29 May 2006 on Polydor 983 691-1/SIOUX 1 (Barcode 602498369111). That variant came in a Stickered-Digipak sleeve (the SIOUX 1 catalogue number), had two bonus tracks, a foldout-essay/lyrics poster and the same 2005 Remaster carried out by Audio Engineer GARY MOORE for the 2005 2CD DE Version. 

 

What we're dealing with here is version number three of "The Scream" by SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - the standard Jewel Case reissue UK released 29 January 2007 on Polydor 984 691-1 (Barcode 602498435113). It replaces the Card Digipak with a Standard Jewel Case, the two-sided Essay and Lyrics Poster with an 8-page booklet sporting only the lyrics and the same two Bonus Single Sides and 2005 Gary Moore Remaster (reissued 2009). Here are the details...

 

1. Pure [Side 1]

2. Jigsaw Feeling 

3. Overground 

4. Carcass 

5. Helter Skelter 

6. Mirage [Side 2]

7. Metal Postcard (Mittageisen) 

8. Nicotine Stain 

9. Suburban Relapse 

10. Switch 

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "The Scream" - released November 1978 in the UK on Polydor Records POLD 5009. Produced by STEVE LILYWHITE - it peaked at No. 12 on the UK LP charts (didn't chart USA) 

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Hong Kong Garden

August 1978 UK Debut 45-single on Polydor 2059 052, A-side

 

12. The Staircase (Mystery) 

March 1979 UK Second 45-single on Polydor POSP 9, A-side 

It won't take fans long to work out that there are a few lazy let downs here. The Non-LP B-sides of "Hong Kong Garden" and "The Staircase (Mystery)" - "Voices" and their great cover of T.Rex's "20th Century Boy" are not here. Nor is the different version of "Love In A Void" that turned up as the flipside of the album's third 45 "Mittageisen (Metal Postcard)" in September 1979. There was room too. The 8-page booklet is no great shakes either - has the lyrics only and a basic album-credits page - but no history - no memorabilia - no sense of its ground-breaking feel as a debut and how it's grown in stature as the decades have passed. Now that's a disappointment. So to what is good...

The GARY MOORE Remaster is fabulous - full of power and balls. When you crank the guitar and drums opening of "Switch" - the treated guitars and bass at 2:30 - the huge build up and fade as it reaches its near seven-minute ending - it all feels so much better than the compromise my old LP used to offer as the side played out.

 

The only cut I could never quite get along with is the opening "Pure" where the band is announcing things are going to get uncomfortable. And some have complained that the singles distort the overall play - personally I don't subscribe to that. I have always thought of "Hong Kong Garden" as a wee bit of 7" single masterpiece. 

 

In May 2022, "The Scream" with its great audio, so-so booklet and chipper bonuses will set you back less than six or seven quid. Now that's worth venting the suburban nicotine-knackered lungs about...