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Product Description
2002 compilation includes "Hong Kong Garden" "Spellbound" "Happy House" & more
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This collection is ideal for the casual listener or those who wish to investigate the work of Siouxsie And the Banshees based on what they have heard on the radio. As such, it is a more than satisfying collection that offers the greatest hits from 1978’s Hong Kong Garden up to 1991’s Kiss Them For Me and 1995’s Stargazer. It includes two cover versions: The Beatles’ Dear Prudence and Julie Driscoll’s hit This Wheel’s On Fire, both competent if not brilliant interpretations.
Of course the 1980s was their most fruitful period with UK hits like Happy House, Israel, Christine, Spellbound and Arabian Knights. Most of these are atmospheric numbers with just a hint of The Banshees’ proto-goth dark side shining through. Their debut album The Scream still remains one of the most psychotic statements in rock but is not a piece of music that lends itself to hits compilations. Well, perhaps Helter Skelter should have been considered …
My favourites include their first hit, Hong Kong Garden, a powerful punk number with absolutely blistering guitar work and an exotic touch, Kiss Them For Me, their lilting, swaying 1991 hit about a doomed actress, Peek-A-Boo from the 1988 Peep Show album and Stargazer from their last, under-appreciated album The Rapture. Great songs and an innovative edge lend a timeless quality to the music. Those who want more of this great band are advised to investigate the compilations Once Upon A Time (1981) and Twice Upon A Time (1992).
17 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By michael_m
Format:Audio CD
OK, a Siouxsie and the Banshees best of - should be fantastic right? Well, sort of - this one doesn't really do justice to their output.
The first thing that you notice is that those early years that produced great concert favourites, when the original guitarist and drummer were still with the band, like 'Switch', 'The Staircase' is represented by a single song (albeit the best one) - 'Hong Kong Garden'. Also, there is a distinct lack of album tracks; it's true that they made great singles, but they also made great albums.
The period of greatest commercial success seems to be best represented here - 'Happy House', 'Spellbound', 'Arabian Nights', but don't get me wrong - they're great songs, it's just a pity that some of the other periods in their lengthy career is unrepresented.
If this album had been a double album, then it would no doubt have been a fantastic best of album, but it really does suffer from trying to put a couple of quarts into a pint glass.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By sylvain
Format:Audio CD
Siouxsie & the banshees influenced some of the best music of the last decades. In fact, Trip-hop could have never existed wihout them.
MASSIVE ATTACK recorded a cover of "Metal Poscard"(from "The Scream") in 1997 for "The Jackal" cd. TRICKY sang in 1996 "Tattoo"(from "Downside-Up") on his "Nearly god" album. Other famous singers were also inspired by them : JEFF BUCKLEY covered live "killing Time"(from "Boomerang") which is a Siouxsie / The Creatures composition. MORRISSEY even recorded a single "Interlude" in duet with Siouxsie !!! where as others like Shirley Manson from GARBAGE wrote in 2003 the foreword of "The Siouxsie & The Banshees's Authorized Biography". So, this band can't be ignored in every good collection of albums.
This best-of is an excellent teaser to discover them. Classics like "Happy House" or "Hong Kong Garden", are as brilliant as any Blondie or Talking Heads songs. "Kiss them for me" is musically a catchy song close to New Order or Garbage and "Peek-A-Boo" is The Chemical Brothers meet Massive Attack.
This music is just superb.
MASSIVE ATTACK recorded a cover of "Metal Poscard"(from "The Scream") in 1997 for "The Jackal" cd. TRICKY sang in 1996 "Tattoo"(from "Downside-Up") on his "Nearly god" album. Other famous singers were also inspired by them : JEFF BUCKLEY covered live "killing Time"(from "Boomerang") which is a Siouxsie / The Creatures composition. MORRISSEY even recorded a single "Interlude" in duet with Siouxsie !!! where as others like Shirley Manson from GARBAGE wrote in 2003 the foreword of "The Siouxsie & The Banshees's Authorized Biography". So, this band can't be ignored in every good collection of albums.
This best-of is an excellent teaser to discover them. Classics like "Happy House" or "Hong Kong Garden", are as brilliant as any Blondie or Talking Heads songs. "Kiss them for me" is musically a catchy song close to New Order or Garbage and "Peek-A-Boo" is The Chemical Brothers meet Massive Attack.
This music is just superb.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By rocks
Format:MP3 Download
Haven't played my vinyl album for years as its scratched, it bring back many good memories and still know all the words, its brilliant, the clarity is amazing
By SilverFox
Format:MP3 Download|Amazon Verified Purchase
Downloaded this for my hubby to put on his I pod.He was very shocked that it was so cheap to buy.And also he was very pleased at the songs on the album.Great songs.
By Linda
Format:MP3 Download
I know that I'm partial to 80's music! But this album gives one of the best of that time. Highly recommended
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not the best of by any means,but a good jumping on point for anyone getting into the band, highly recomended.
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have been a Banshee fan more more than eight weeks now, and after hearing their amazing cover of Dear Prudence- originally sung by The Beatles (which also featured Robert Smith- The Cure), I fell in love with them and decided to start off with their greatest hits album which includes their debut single- Hong Kong Garden- The Batman soundtrack Face to Face, the melodic Spellbound and the poetic Israel and the inspiring malancholy- Kiss Them For Me.
The only track I wasn't keen on was Christine- but other than that and the tracks being so short, the album is brilliant.
Although it is a fifty minute album- it certainly flys by and finishes with Wheels On Fire (another cover, originally by Bob Dylan) and I found that I liked Siouxsie even more now after listening to this.
at first glance of Siouxsie, you would think she was a mirror image of The Cure, their music being similar and dark- being a Cure fan for almost two years now, it was nice to finally find a band to compliment them with decent, meaningful lyrics and awesome covers- I'd recommend them to anyone who's bored of the charted stuff the music industries give out these days.
The only track I wasn't keen on was Christine- but other than that and the tracks being so short, the album is brilliant.
Although it is a fifty minute album- it certainly flys by and finishes with Wheels On Fire (another cover, originally by Bob Dylan) and I found that I liked Siouxsie even more now after listening to this.
at first glance of Siouxsie, you would think she was a mirror image of The Cure, their music being similar and dark- being a Cure fan for almost two years now, it was nice to finally find a band to compliment them with decent, meaningful lyrics and awesome covers- I'd recommend them to anyone who's bored of the charted stuff the music industries give out these days.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
punk with female
An old but good slightly punk group the singer and occaisional songwriter leads the group through all her hits most of them you'll all know fine but is well done and takes you back... Read more
Published 2 months ago by malmac
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous.
Every song a gem. Covers a sizable portion of music history, considering the longevity of the band. Influential also, being in at the start of "goth", and a band led by a... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jolyon M. Bain
5.0 out of 5 stars
fab
great brings back the 80s gotic sound and how fab the 80s sounds was keep all the new stuff thats in the charts now
Published 4 months ago by MR J N BANNER-BROADHEAD
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ok
Love many songs by Siouxsee and this compilation is enough for me, all the big ones are on it.
Never been a "true" fan but she is someone you can't ignore...
Never been a "true" fan but she is someone you can't ignore...
Published 4 months ago by F.H
5.0 out of 5 stars
siouxsie
All her hits on one cd, great sound, great memories, she has an amazing voice..cant stop playing it.. very good
Published 5 months ago by chip
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great music by a great band
Great if you just fancy a small collection of their best hits, I would get some of their other albums too!
Published 5 months ago by Mr. J. Avneri
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best of - says it all really
Album title says it all really. Grew up with the Banshees and wanted this for the car. If you're too young to know them buy this as a starter.
Published 6 months ago by C Harrison-Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
Together with Kate Bush, Siouxie is with no doubt the best female act of our times: one can hear (tangible) echoes of her singing style in many other singers but, no matter how... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Valerio
4.0 out of 5 stars
Abstract imagery and stylistic intertextuality...enter the Gothic...
`The Best of...' has a slightly disjointed nature to the mixture and order of songs, as is typical of many compilation albums which obviously carry remnants and characteristic... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Tori_Fan_For_Life
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