Siouxsie & the Banshees: Tinderbox [POLYDOR]

Why you'll love it

Miles Showell cut this 180g edition at half speed at Abbey Road from the original quarter-inch tapes. Tinderbox reached No. 13 in the UK, and "Cities in Dust" became one of the band's signature songs.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Half-speed mastered at Abbey Road
• Remastered from the original tapes
• Picture inner sleeve
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

The tornado on the cover was photographed near Jasper, Minnesota, on July 8, 1927, by Lucille Handberg, and it had already done duty on Bitches Brew and Deep Purple's Stormbringer before the Banshees borrowed it. A fitting choice: Tinderbox is a record about natural disasters, panic and the moment just before things blow.

It was the band's first full album with guitarist John Valentine Carruthers, and they wrote it to be played live from start to finish, rehearsing for months before heading to Hansa by the Wall in Berlin in May 1985. "Cities in Dust," recorded separately at Matrix in London, turns the fall of Pompeii into a dance floor single. "Candyman" carries the band's darker view of childhood, "Cannons" sparkles, "Party's Fall" unsettles, and "92°" opens with a sample from the 1953 film It Came from Outer Space. Budgie's drumming drives the lot, and Siouxsie sings like she's daring the weather to try something.

PopMatters named it one of the 12 essential alternative rock albums of the 1980s, and Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle, Jean-Benoît Dunckel of Air and Rachel Goswell of Slowdive have all called it an inspiration. That's three bands, which is roughly one per shade of black in our staff wardrobe.

Also at Kops: more Siouxsie and the Banshees on vinyl · browse Industrial & Goth

Tracklist

Listen

On Wonderland / Polydor (cat# SATBLP09), a reissue of the 1986 album.