The Glove's "Blue Sunshine" deluxe edition coming soon

I wonder why Geffen (Siouxsie & the Banshees' first U.S. label) passed on this album the first time around, circa 1985? Was David Geffen not satisfied with this album? Then again, why didn't The Cure's U.S. label Elektra release it, either?

~Ben

 

The Cure would have been on Sire at that time (1983). I think both Sire and Geffen were having a hard enough time selling The Cure and Siouxsie in the US at that time. They probably didn't want to take a chance on a side project, as brilliant as it was! Rough Trade released it in the US in the early 90s though.

 

As the U.K. release was on Wonderland Records (Polydor/PolyGram distribution), then it would likely have been issued in the U.S. through Geffen had there been a market for it circa 1985. As you may or may not know, Geffen distributed the Banshees here starting with their 1984 release, Hyaena, and reissued their previous works (The Scream, Join Hands, Kaleidoscope, Juju, Once Upon a Time, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse and Nocturne) just before the release of the "Cities in Dust" single.

As far as I know, we Americans didn't even get the original LP and cassette in 1983! What's more, according to a passage in Ten Imaginary Years, The Glove was supposed to have been well-liked by Japanese fans. Robert Smith quoted from the book saying, "The Glove was always aimed at Japan actually. We'd really liked it there when we went with The Banshees so we decided we'd be this mysterious Western group and do this short disco tour of Japan with Lol as the support act but it didn't come to anything. I don't think Polydor even released the album there!"

~Ben

 

The Banshees were signed to Polydor in the UK, Wonderland was just set up for Banshees releases by Polydor, it wasn't a separate label distributed by Polydor as such.

I assume that the reason Blue Sunshine was never originally released in the US was probably due to licensing issues because Severin and Smith were contracted to different US labels at the time. Fiction in the UK was , of course, part of Polydor in the UK

 

I thought Geffen had done what Elektra had done with The Cure's back catalog but couldn't remember the details. I do still have a bunch of Geffen Siouxsie LPs that I bought back in the day but I can't remember when now. They were definitely purchased new though. Interesting stuff about the Japanese aspect to the album.

 

To add another side project exclusion from Geffen: The Creatures' 1983 release, Feast. The 1989 follow-up, Boomerang, was released here, though.

What is interesting about the Creatures' debut, though, was that it was recorded in Hawaii, and featured native Hawaiian singers on some tracks.

~Ben

 

I was living in D.C. when "Boomerang" was released. My wife and I went to the local Tower where S&B signed copies!

 

So I finally got around to buying this, and thought I should post a follow-up to let anyone who's interested know that the US 2006 single-disc version does indeed include the bonus tracks. They aren't listed anywhere on the sleeve or on the disc face, but they're on it alright! Don't know about the UK version.