Siouxsie & The Banshees: Classic Album Collection Volume Two

This set has already been released in UK. That second batch of albums sounded too loud and compressed on the 2014 remaster series, and I have the hope for them being corrected. Any comments on this new mastering?

 

Mine hasn't arrived yet. Did Volume 1 improve on the last remasters?

 

There were divided opinions, I think.

 

I believe there were only new masters for the first four albums on Volume 1 and the rest are from the last batch of deluxe editions.

 

They are just the current remasters repackaged.

Does anyone know if it's the corrected version of Peepshow in the box or has it still got the glitch?

 

I've got a Peepshow without the glitch, so I guess the box should contain the correct version.

 

I got one without the glitch too, but knowing Universals track record it wouldn't surprise me if they included the original in the box!!

 

Is it me or you are not expecting much from this set?

 

Could this thread be merged with the Classic Album Selection Volume One thread?
Siouxsie & The Banshees - Classic Album Collection volume one »

 

These are not newly remastered, the first 2 albums are the 2009 remasters (Hyaena is the worst of them all) and the last 4 are the exact 2014 remasters. If you bought the previous remasters with bonus tracks, you are getting those exact remasters but now without bonus tracks.

In additional Banshees news, Severin posted that all of the albums will soon gradually be reissued on vinyl, starting with a picture disc of The Scream. All of the reissues, other than this special picture disc, will be plain black vinyl. He said they will be specially re-cut for vinyl but I'm not sure if that means specially remastered, or if we are just going to get these lackluster remasters simply pressed to vinyl.

Also, he said they are still working on the Ever After singles collection but they are still working on finding some single versions and videos to source. The collection will contain 30 singles and 30 video clips, with likely live clips to represent the few singles without videos.

Scott

 

It is very hard to retain a positive frame of mind when assessing the Banshees re-issues in the digital age. It has just been one fail after another. With the exception of 'Downside Up' and the original 2 disc version of 'The Scream' almost all of them have bad sound or mistakes. There has been some interesting extra tracks on releases but you get things like a crappy MP3 recording of the wonderful Starcrossed on the Tinderbox cd. Things like that are such a shame. On cd they should be renamed 'Shoddy And The Banshees'.

Original vinyl is pretty much the only way to go as things stand. Can the promised vinyl re-issues for once be seen to be a worthy addition to their catalogue and legacy?

 

Why a picture disc? What is the point in that?

I agree with Gohill, it seems like one mistake after another. This band is very important, perhaps the pivotal link between punk and post-punk, hugely influential on people like Ian Curtis to FKA Twigs today, and they made tons of great records.

Their legacy deserves a lot better treatment than shoddy CD releases and gimmick vinyl.

 

"Downside Up" is not without it's problems though.

 

Some Siouxsie remasters sound good to my ears (Nocturne, for instance). I don't find Hyaena that insulting, but from Tinderbox on, the albums start to sound too compressed and brittle for my taste. But then again, it's a subjective matter.

 

Severin explained The Scream picture disc is going to be part of a Punk at 40 series from Universal. He was not thrilled about being lumped with that but accepted it as necessary to get to the next step. He did say that The Scream will also be part of the black vinyl LP reissue program as well, and that there is no current plan to box any of the LP's into sets or use colored vinyl.

The main problem with the compression on the reissues is that Severin thinks that Kevin Metcalfe's mastering is unquestionably faultless, despite proof to the contrary. I still have an email exchange in which I sent him graphs and detail about the problem and he refused to even consider it simply hyping Metcalfe's years in the biz. If Severin would have told him the remasters were too loud or sound like mud, they would have been redone, but he just blindly accepts what he's delivered from Metcalfe as gold.

 

Oh, Severin also said he hopes to have the Ever After collection out by the end of the year, and that the JuJu deluxe edition will be next year, and that he feels it's imperative that the Rockpalast show be included on video but that Universal have yet to come to an agreement for the rights. He confirmed the Ever After video collection will be released on DVD and BLU RAY.

 

Let us keep our fingers crossed.

 

"PUNK AT 40"? HORRIBLE marketing gimmick, once again pressed at GZ Czech. Some guys at Universal clearly don't have ANY clue. As long as the product sells.

But the "Join Hands" vinyl from last year's RSD was very good so there IS hope.

Even though I don't need any Siouxsie upgrades. I'm fine with the vinyl I have.

 

Any news on what Siouxsie is up to these days?
It's been such a long time since her last album.

 

I own the remasters of The Scream (the double disc), Join Hands, Kaleidoscope, JuJu, A Kiss ..., and Superstition.

Any suggestions whether I should hunt down the individual remasters of Hyaena, Tinderbox, Peepshow, and The Rapture, or buy this Classic Albums Volume 2 and have an extra copy of Superstition? Are the albums in the set going to look good on my shelf next to the others if I take them out of the box, or are they just a thin slipcase like Warner's Original Album Series?

I enjoy the liner notes in the remasters. Are the liner notes for the later albums good?

 

I think the sleeves recreate the original releases, but I wouldn't expect thick carboard mini-LP's. This collection is so ignored that it's hard to find a picture of it on the internet!

 

Why would anyone expect Severin to still be in good enough earshape to ear dynamics? Like most musicians, he is tone deaf in some frequencies. The remasters are made to appeal to him. Since he probably doesn't think his hearing his impaired by the years in the biz (hell, mine was impaired after a couple of years of punk shows only), there's no way he will accept any mastering with dynamics as sounding good, and since he calls the shot, The Banshees are now laying at the bottom of a pool with the band playing above, in this digital age, forever and ever.

I think it's better to just quit and stick to the old CDs and vinyl. 40 years of PUNK haha, it felt like it was 40 years ago by 1984, so crazy music evolved.

 

I grabbed the Peep remaster out of curiosity, quite horrible, terrible packaging and sound (for my taste's)

 

And you called me Mr Remaster?!? Even I knew to stay clear of this mess.

 

Even I fall from grace at times...