|
...something that may or may not
emerge during the course of 1983, but which I thought would be of
interest, is the release of a BANSHEES B-SIDE ALBUM.
Towards the end of 1982, the group
were relayed a message from New Zealand that their latest album was
selling really well down under, and because only a few of their singles
had ever been released there, they wished to compile an album of all the
Banshee b-sides. This was not altogether a new idea to the group,
because when they worked on the Once Upon A Time album, they thought
about compiling a b-sides album to give away free with it, but it never
materialised.
So now Steve plans to get all the
original recordings of every b-side and additional 12" tracks, and
spend a couple of days in the studio compiling them and at the same time
making a few alterations to certain things - when Steve listened to a
tape of the b-sides, he heard things that could be edited, and time
allowing remixed (i.e. Red Over White, Cannibal Roses). Then the finished
product is intended for release on the continent, but at the same time
have it available in this country as a special cheaply priced import.
You're no doubt wondering why it
wont be released in this country, well the group believe that it'd be a
pointless exercise releasing it specifically for the British market,
because most of the fans already have copies of their singles.
It's intended for release in those countries where very few of their
singles have been released, (which is one of the main reasons why they
did Once Upon A Time in the first place, because countries like France
and Germany had only released two or three Banshee singles (and a lot of
them haven't been on albums), the thought behind the idea is the same
for the b-sides album). A lot of places on the continent don't
have a big singles market, so to them it's the difference between not
releasing a single or selling 500 - 1000 copies, they sometimes don't
think it necessary to release it. The situation became apparent to
the group when they returned to Europe last year. They suddenly
realised that neither Fireworks, Slowdive or Melt! was released in
France, which made them wonder what they were doing with all these
songs. In fact when the Banshees did the Melt!/Il Est Ne Le Divin
Enfant single, they decided to get Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant released as
the actual a-side in France in time for Christmas. They sent the
necessary material to French Polydor, and a message came back to England
saying they'd originally planned to release Slowdive for Christmas, but
they would hold it back and release Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant. But
when the group got to France on the '82 tour, the discovered (much to
their horror) that neither single had been released!
At the end of the day, the
deciding factor behind the whole project is whether or not enough
countries take up the option to release a Banshees album that wont be
released in England, to validify it being made. It would be
pointless for the group to spend money on artwork and studio time, if
it's only going to sell 500 copies in New Zealand.
If it is released, it will take on
a somewhat different format to the idea originally suggested by New
Zealand, they wanted all the tracks to run in chronological order.
Upon hearing this, Steve compiled a tape (at home) of exactly
that. On hearing the playback he decided that it could be
constructed much better. So, at the moment, the idea is to have
all the 'song' songs (i.e. 20th Century Boy, Coalmind) on one side, and
the odder songs (i.e. Voices, Pulled To Bits, Eve White/Eve Black) on
the other. When he compiled the tape he discovered that with the
extra 12" tracks, the album would have a running time of at least half
an hour each side, which could alter the format of the release - because
of the running time, if it's released as an album then it'll have to be
'cut' really carefully to make sure it's not too quiet when it's played
back. Alternatively it could be released as two 12" single,
with four songs on each side.
So there you have it, the group
have provided the international record company people with enough ideas,
now we'll have to wait and see what they do about it.
Billy
'Chainsaw' Houlston
BACK
|
|