Mike Oldfield-The Bell 1992

Re-evaluation – Part 22. Siouxsie and the Banshees

If one band I would say influenced me more than any other it has to be Siouxsie and the Banshees. I was a bit to young to remember the Punk Explosion at the time. But with hindsight you can see that Siouxsie and the Banshees were extremely motivated to become famous. Siouxsie was part of the famour Bromley contingent who regularly followed Sex Pistols around the country-they were filmed on the Bill Grundy interview in 1976. When the Pistols broke big and Punk started to break as well Siouxsie formed the band the banshees and they performed at the 100 club in 1976 with a line up the featured Sid Vicous and Marco Peroni(adam and the ants guitarist). This line up didn’t last long but they found replacements in Kenny Morris and John Mcckay. What was important to the band was their distinctive sound the drums of Kenny Morris were not entirely straight forward like other bands at the time. John Mckays guitar playing was cutting .

They released the brilliant album called The Scream in 1978 and this was followed up with Join Hands in 1979. At the time of the albums release tensions in the band were getting tense . Basically Siouxie and her banshee Steve Severin on the other and Mckay and Morris on the other. The band split up at a signing of an album at a Aberdeen record store . Robert Smith of the support band the Cure joined for the remaining tour. In a stroke of genius the band recruited former Slits drummer Budgie and John Mcgeogh once of Magazine. They released a good album in 1980 called Kalidiscope , but followed it up in 1981 with the album Juju. The 1982 albums is classed as their classic line up and it’s a good album but for me the 1981 album is a standout album.

There has always been this kind of Gothic sound to the Banshees sound due to the dense drumming of earlier records and the guitar work, where John Mcgeogh added things was to add effects to the guitar where the sound would go from gothic(on the 1981 album Juju called ‘Nightshift”) to Tenant(1980) which was almost punk psychedelia.

In 1982 they split with John Mcgeogh and he went onto join PIL and Armoury Show. They recruited Robert Smith again who was achieving more success with the Cure. The released a album , a live one at that called ‘Nocturne ‘ . This was like a greatest hits package in a way. Some songs sounded better than the originals in a live context.

They released a 1984 album called ‘Hyena”. In truth this was a album that did feature guitar work from Robert Smith but most of the tracks where heavily bass driven and drums. Robert Smith quit to concentrate more on the Cure. They then appointed Johnn Carruthers (ex of Clock DVA) and released a brilliant album called ‘Tinderbox”.A cover Version album was released about 10 months later in 1987 .

They released a string of good albums into the early 90s like Peepshow and Superstition. They split in the mid 90s to concentrate on their Career with the Creatures(Budgie and Siouxsie’s band).

For me they are one of the most influential bands I ever heard. The music was ahead of its time.

Voluntary or Paid - Driven by profit and an Ideal

Bit of an open ended blog this one. Over the years I have worked in a variety of diffrent roles some at lower level and some at management level. At this moment in time Im sort of taking time out and working voluntary. Its a immensely rewarding experience and opens your eyes to business and how they work and how people work within them.

Over the years I got used to the hieracal way of business where Managers would be respoibsle to their managers and as \a result I would have to motivate people around me just to get the workload manageable. Attending managers meetings which were driven by profit for an organisation regardless of personal cost of collegues and other factors.
In all my time of working in business I was sort of resentful of this desire for profit , not anarchic at all but sometimes the very companies I worked for would just fuck off.

In some of the companies as well there has been takeovers where companies would bring in new managers and people that were working there at the time would get nostalgic for the good old days, where they didnt have to deal with highly technical things.

I volunteered my services to a employer(in the loose sense), initially on 15 hours but at the moment increasing to 30. Its intresting working in that kind of environment, there is no pressure if for instance if you make a mistake on a till or if a customerslightly rude. You can work at your own pace without the need to justify your actions, you can carry a phone at all times (and answer it). You can sit down have a natter. In companies in my hometown talking to your nieghbours is frowned upon as it means your are not productive enough.In a voluntary job there is no need to justify anything.

Another thing what is amazing me is the ammount that people throw away and give to these shops. It really opens your eyes to what some people would class as rubbish, is what someone else needs.

jarre -1978 Equinox

I liked the Equinox album better, more electro. Where Oxygene was dense keyboard textures. Equinox was better produced

Jean Michel Jarre-Chronologie 1

Loved this track when it came out in 1994, quite anthem like . Powerful when played at loud volume