Siouxsie & The Banshees: Through the Looking Glass (UK import) [POLYDOR UK]

Why you'll love it

This UK import is a 180g half-speed master cut at Abbey Road Studios, with a printed inner sleeve and a download coupon. The Banshees take on songs by Iggy Pop, Kraftwerk, Roxy Music, John Cale and The Doors, and their brass-lit "The Passenger" became a single.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Half-speed master cut at Abbey Road Studios
• Printed inner sleeve
• Download card included
• Remastered

About the album

Every band has a record collection; the Banshees decided to make theirs public. After more than a year of work on 1986's Tinderbox, they wanted something quick and spontaneous, so they headed straight back into the studio in August 1986 for a covers album they'd been mulling since tackling the Beatles in 1983. The title nods to Lewis Carroll, as did the name of their own Wonderland label.

Most of the songs date from the early 70s, the years just before the band formed in 1976. Producer Mike Hedges returned, Martin McCarrick wrote string arrangements, and a brass section and a harpist joined the sessions. Sparks' "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" opens with swagger, "Hall of Mirrors" goes gothic and glamorous, "Strange Fruit" is stark and haunting, and Pete Thoms and Luke Tunney's horns give "The Passenger" its swing. Television's "Little Johnny Jewel" closes the record, and it was the second and last Banshees album with guitarist John Valentine Carruthers.

Several of the original songwriters praised the results. A few weeks after it came out, David Bowie, whose Pin Ups had inspired the whole idea, asked them to open two Glass Spider Tour shows in Anaheim. Being invited round by the chap whose homework you copied is what we'd call a glowing review.

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Tracklist

Listen

On Polydor (cat# SATBLP10), a reissue of the 1987 album.