Extras

Play At Home

Dear Prudence (Promo Video)

Melt! (Old Grey Whistle Test)
Painted Bird (Old Grey Whistle Test)

Siouxsie's immaculately crafted look - where silent star Theda Bara meets Sandie Shaw via Marc Bolan - was the perfect embodiment of The Banshees' sound.  A sad-eyed mask of dark, doomed, vaguely archaic romanticism, her image had moved on from the obviously confrontational appeal - and apparel - of the band's early punk days, creating instead a distinct netherworld of its own.  That such a unique trademark became a weird, even feared, feature of every suburban enclave is even more remarkable.  But during the early-to-mid '80s, the ubiquitous Siouxsie clone was a highly visible subcultural phenomenon.

much had changed since The Banshees' pop-baiting early days.  By autumn 1983, punk's proudest outsiders had infiltrated the mainstream, as five Top 20 albums, a string of Top 20 singles and worldwide tours confirmed.  And the band had just enjoyed their first Top 3 hit single, and exotically perfumed version of The Beatles' 'Dear Prudence'.

the performances at London's Royal Albert Hall, on 30 September/1 October 1983, marked the climax of an era set in motion by 'Juju', the band's fourth album released in June 1981, "Juju was the first time we'd made a 'concept' album that drew on darker elements," says bassist Steven Severin.  "Because the imagery we used for 'Juju' was the most confident and fully realised up to that point, it's also one of the most enduring in people's perceptions of the band.  That's when people started saying it was the first ever 'Gothic' album."

"'Juju' did have a horror theme to it," adds Siouxsie, "but it was psychological horror and nothing to do with ghost and ghouls."  "More thriller than horror," guitarist John McGeoch reckoned back in 2003, "more blood dripping on a daisy than putting fangs into something."

The dark, often oppressive sound of 'Juju' made perfect sense in a post-punk world.  Since 1977, an entirely new wave of largely amateur musicians had emerged, many of whom chose to articulate everything that was angry and uncomfortable about their lives.  From Throbbing Gristle to Joy Division, the message was no longer 'Anarchy in the UK' but something more private and disturbing.  By the early '80s The Banshees, who had specialised in sonic psychodramas from the start, had perfected the art of darkness, as 'Nocturne' so spectacularly captures.

The two shows filmed for this release capture The banshees at the peak of their post 'Juju' powers.  Already an icon, Siouxsie now had the voice to match, a thrilling hullabaloo from hell that would occasionally break out into a gorgeous, lyrical romanticism.  Drummer, Budgie, who joined the band in September 1979, brought sophisticated textures and colour to the sound.  Bassist Steven Severin, who'd been there from the beginning, created giant, nagging riffs that provided the motor for much of the band's best material.  And on guitar, The Cure's Robert Smith, once again sitting in for an errant Banshee's player.  Smith first guested with the band in 1979, after guitarist John McKay had walked out with original drummer Kenny Morris in a spat that threatened to destroy the group.  His services were called upon a second time in November 1982 after John McGeoch suffered a personal breakdown.

This time, Smith stayed with the band a little longer, although it's true to say that it's the guitar-work - not to mention the spirit - of McGeoch, who died in 2004, that is all over 'Nocturne'.  "John was such a great musician," says Siouxsie, "and he didn't go for that obvious chuffa-chuffa sound.  He was so easy and inspiring to work with."

In a nod to the venue's classical tradition, the 'Nocturne' shows were unveiled with a dramatic extract from Stravinsky's 'The Rte Of Spring', itself a shocking piece of musical iconoclasm when premiered back in 1913.  Inevitably, perhaps, The Banshee's set draws heavily from their two most recent albums, 'Juju' and 'A Kiss In The Dreamhouse, songs both written and recorded with McGeoch.  Among the 'Dreamhouse' songs ('Painted Bird', 'Cascade') is 'Melt!', a sumptuous, delicate waltz that deserved more than its lowly Top 50 placing the previous December.

'Juju' yields two centrepieces of the band's early '80s repertoire.  'Night Shift' starts out at punishing horrorshow pace, gets engulfed in some harsh, expressionist lighting, and builds to a tormented climax amid howls of feedback.  A similar incantatory spell is weaved on the self-referential 'Voodoo Dolly', which builds sinisterly as a fabulous fog of fear descends down on the stage prompting further musical derangement.  Also from 'Juju' is the hit single 'Spellbound' and 'Sin In My Heart', with Sioux strumming some of her own rudimentary guitar chords.

Another stately sounding single, 'Israel', opens the set, though The Banshees always undermined any hit machine tendencies by including a couple of lesser-known B-Sides - in this instance, 1919's 'Pulled To Bits' (featuring 12 string acoustic guitar) and the classic flip to 1980's 'Christine', 'Eve White/Eve Black'.  Completing the set are 'Switch' and the inevitable rousing finale, 'Helter Skelter', two epic pieces from the band's 1978 debut album, 'The Scream'

Complementing 'Nocturne' is 'Play At Home', a film made for Channel 4 and broadcast alongside extracts from the Albert Hall shows.  But this was something else entirely.  While other bands selected for the series stuck closely to aspects of music-making, says Siouxsie, "We decided to make our own little movie".  The centrepiece was a drunken restaging of The Mad-Hatter's Tea Party from 'Alice In Wonderland', though there was also room for music from the band side-projects The Creatures (featuring Siouxsie and Budgie) and The Glove (alias Steven Severin and Robert Smith).  Written, directed and conceived by the band themselves, the finished product was akin to watching breakfast TV on acid.

Rounding off this newly mastered package is the promo video for 'Dear Prudence', plus 'Melt!' and 'Painted Bird' filmed in November 1982 for BBC-TV's 'Old Grey Whistle Test.

Mark Paytress 2006.

Mat Snow.

OH BOY, is punk dead.  Sid Vicious would turn in his grave if he knew that the old Bromley Contingent were coming out with the video of the double live album of the show at the Royal Albert Hall.  But alas here it is.

Indeed, the intro shows lots of horrid punks annoying doormen in the RAH foyer and the very same specimens pogoing (yes!) stagefront.  Now there's ironic for you.  Sioux, looking nonchalant, kicks off with 'Israel', way out of tune.  You soon realise that although she looks lovely, there are four people on a huge stage, one behind a drumkit, one standing playing bass and Robert Smith looking like he died last week, i.e. it's guaranteed to send you to sleep unless you're the most diehard fans.