I've been on a real Siouxsie and the Banshees kick lately and wanting to collect their albums on CD. Are all the original pressings (Geffen, Polydor UK, Polydor Japan etc) all the same, or do any of them noticeably sound better than another?
Original Polydor, although beware that Superstition was pressed at PDO and many of them suffer from disc rot.
I just have a hodgepodge on CD Hyaena-West German JuJu-US Geffen Tinderbox-US Geffen Through The Looking Glass-West German Peepshow-US Geffen Superstition-US Geffen They sound fine for what they are. I didn't go anywhere near the remasters. Scott Davies Rec'd UK/Germans for JuJu and A Kiss In The Dreamhouse- US Geffen for Kaleidoscope (which I still need to track down) Hyaena if you want Dear Prudence, it's on the US Geffen.
I also have a hodgepodge of USA Geffen and Europe Polydor... I generally like all of them. Pretty crankable on my modest gear. There have been a couple threads on this that are worth reading, this one discusses some of the different masterings: Siouxsie and The Banshees on CD (EAC & Diff Masterings)
Thanks for the link, Thought there was an older thread giving mastering's! Looks like the Japan's mimic the UK's.
Looking through that thread, I'd forgotten how much some people disliked the sound of the old cds. I don't get it. Sure, they could use some Rubellan magic, but they sound a lot better than what I've heard of the remasters.
The Peepshow remaster was awful. I didn't go any further This band didn't have audiophile in mind when recording. So I look at it as 'it is what it is'. It'd be great if Scott or Shane could go through the entire catalog, a pipe dream that is.
I thought I read Scott did try to release for his label Rubellan Remasters a compilation album of Siouxsie & the Banshees, but got a 'no'.
Remember that also. Think the Banshees are on the 'list' when it comes to third party releases. I'm actually surprised Polydor didn't use D.A.T.A for release in Australia. It might be cheaper for her to import from Europe than the US.
Steven Severin and Scott Davies had some very public slanging matches on the Siouxsie & The Banshees Facebook page regarding the remasters in which neither side came out of looking particularly well. There is no way he'll be allowed anywhere near the catalogue. In saying that the remasters arent great, although you do get bonus tracks, and the mastering error on Peepshow was inexcusable, fortunately I managed to also get a corrected copy. As an aside I have sealed copies of both albums boxes, I assume the Peepshow in that is corrected?
Geffens for all of mine - from Kiss in the Dreamhouse through The Rapture. All sound great, no problems & no rot.
I only have the original cds of Once Upon a Time and Twice Upon a Time, and their sound quality is excellent. Budgie's drums sound like a thunder. I think he's one of the most underrated rock drummers ever.
The USA Geffen Once Upon A Time cd was one of the items that lead me to this forum many years ago. How was it that this old cd sounded so much better than all of those expensive remasters I'd been buying?
I had requested to do Once Upon A Time on clear vinyl. I got the response 'Denied by artist management'. And then the band and Universal did their own reissue... on clear vinyl. I had also requested to do The Creatures 'Boomerang' on expanded CD but that was denied with the same reason. It's probably been mentioned on a related thread (but I'm at that age where I can't say for sure), but I'd love to have a crack at Twice Upon A Time and Downside Up remastered on both CD and vinyl. But as I've learned, if the band's following is still fairly intact, denial is the expectation. That's happed with Simple Minds, Boomtown Rats, and I'm expecting it for some others that I've requested over the past year that still have a current 'presence' out there. As far as absolute must-have editions of CD's, the main ones are the US Geffen Kaleidoscope (because the original and any reissues from the UK are horrendous), and original 1989 UK reissues of Juju and A Kiss In The Dreamhouse, US Geffen Hyaena (and not just for Dear Prudence, which I hate anyway). A couple have never been released on CD to my satisfaction, that being The Rapture and Tinderbox, but the high res Tinderbox download that came with the recent burgundy vinyl is the best you can get, even if not on CD. I was fine with the 2005 double CD of The Scream and the 2006 CD of Join Hands. Original US CD's of Peepshow and Superstition are ok while the remastered reissues are mixed with some occasional improvements in detail but have the usual over-compression, but not as bad as some out there. If the band were open to the idea, I'd remaster the entire catalog.
As with most CDs the earlier the better. The Banshees' first remasters were truly cursed and to be avoided at all costs. Haven't heard the latest remasters because I didn't see the point. I'm happy with the ones I have.
There were the ones from around '06 that were fraught with issues. I seem to recall some very recent reissues and just assumed they were remastered again. I don't know what they are. The bonus tracks are tempting but I got burned so bad in '06 I just stuck with what I had. I'm looking at Discogs right now and am having trouble finding these recent ones, which are in jewel cases, btw.
The jewel case versions were straight reissues of the remasters and IIRC it was only the first few albums that were reissued in jewel cases, certainly not all of them were.
The first 4 albums were remastered by Gary Moore in 2005/2006. The next reissues were (unfortunately) remastered by Kevin Metcalfe, who also went back and remastered the first 4 for inclusion in the Classic Albums volume 1 box set, and it just made matters worse. Miles Showell remastered all of the vinyl reissues but only some of those came with downloads (The Scream picture disc and Tinderbox burgundy).
Question for those of you who own and recommend the original UK Polydor Juju CD: Have you compared it to the US/Geffen CD, and if so, what is it about the UK CD that makes it better? I have a hodgepodge of Banshees CDs, though many are US Geffens. I have the UK Polydor for Dreamhouse and Hyaena, and the '05 2xCD of The Scream, but all others are US Geffen pressings.
Curious also Pav, on my old US DIDX (Geffen) I can't figure out if it's just a poor recording or the tapes/mastering US used/did. I'd pony up for Emile's Canadian cut, but it's not one of my favorites titles by them. I did go with Scott's rec for Kaleidoscope.
I actually don't think the Geffen Juju CD sounds bad, per se (haven't done any head-to-head comparisons with it though); I just can't help but wonder if I'm missing out on something better. With Juju, I'm usually more inclined to listen to the LP (original US PVC pressing, which I like), but it's, of course, nice to have a good CD pressing on hand. Re: Kaleidoscope, I have heard (prior to this thread) the Geffen CD is good for that, so I guess I'm glad I have that one.
Need advice on The Rapture......whether to get the original EU CD release from 1995 or the remaster from 2014.....
I bought the US Juju CD some years later, just out of curiosity. When I compared it to the 1989 UK CD, I found the US CD lacked definition, separation and detail of the original UK CD. It wasn't bad at all, just different in comparison to the UK CD.
