Following a roster of rock solid Oi/punk releases, the No Future label served up this moody and haunting 12" by Cheltenham's SCREAMING DEAD. No doubt the title track is the one that really stands out the most on here, but the whole EP is worth a spin. I usually can't hang too long with a band singing "horror punk" themes 'cause it's just so damn gimmicky and corny, but sometimes I can turn my brain off (typically aided with a bunch of alcohol) and let the tunes go straight to my feet (sort of the same way I enjoy 80s new wave/pop music).
The other day my boss informed us that there was a stack of vinyl and a box of tapes up for grabs upstairs (which is really random, considering we make silicon sex toys). But we have an extremely laid back work environment, so over the years as people have come and gone, the place has accumulated a lot of people's random personal things. This particular stash seemed to contain mostly LP's rescued from the curbside (though I did snag some ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN LP's, a cool Goth LP from Oakland called FADE TO BLACK, and a few common 80's new wave pop gems), and a box of cassettes. I took some cassettes that seemed to be recordings from a radio station - sturdy old maxell tapes, perfect for recording over - and then this mysterious one marked "Siouxie?" Now, it doesn't come up in conversation as often as Eastern Euro punk or Norwegian hardcore, but I'm a huge SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES fan. Not like in an obsessive "collect everything and know every bit of Siouxsie trivia" kind of way...I just really love their music. A lot. And I've noted that there are so many cool alternate recordings and special sessions of SATB stuff out there, so I grabbed this hoping it would contain something like that...and I was in luck. I got a pen and paper and started listening, jotting down the names of the songs I recognized (it opens with my FAVORITE song), and checking the Discogs database for a match, and it looks like the recording is from a rare bootleg double live LP called "All Creatures Great And Small," but it's recorded onto the tape in reverse order - starting with side D, then C, then B, and then A. The recording is from St. James Church London, April 10th 1985 and is pretty decent quality, though it's a taped version of a bootlegged live record, so keep that in mind. Now, if you dig SATB as much as I do, you NEED to get this because there are a few songs that I had never heard before, and some searches lead me to believe that they haven't been released ANYWHERE else! And they're goooooood songs. They are called "Dance For Me," "Take Me Back," "Drink the Water," and "The Sound." Also there are a couple teasers on the tracklist that first appeared to be unreleased, but are just later released songs disguised with different names: "Judgement Day" is "The Sweetest Chill," and "Herald In the Rain" is "Cannons." 19 tracks total. I could go on about how incredible her voice was (it's actually kind of pitchy on this particular recording), how pumped I get about the guitar lines, how beautifully all the layers of melody interplay with each other in their songs, or how my jaw drops watching Budgie hit the drums on old live footage, but you already know how great SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES were...
