Showing posts with label Siouxsie Sioux. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Siouxsie Sioux. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 February 2018

From the sublime to...



It seems we missed another couple of bits of news while we were away... Firstly, I just caught up with the fact that after a few years of rather lacklustre stewardship (even David Byrne was a disappointment), the fantabulosa Robert Smith of The Cure will be the curator of this year's (25th) Meltdown Festival at London's Southbank Centre [and all of it, for a change, as the Queen Elizabeth Hall reopens this year after its mammoth refurb]. I haven't been to any of them for five years - since my "Audience with God", in fact - so let's hope that Robert pulls out the stops. I am pitching for Grace Jones this year, and, of course, Siouxsie...


In a far less arty segment of the entertainment microcosm, the UK's tone-deaf have collectively spoken. Well, actually SuRie (for it is she) isn't that bad a performer, and probably deserved to win the nomination to represent the UK at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. The song, however, is somewhat derivative in my opinion. If I were Avicii, I'd sue..!


Regardless of the looming nul points cavalcade that will probably greet this song - the UK is never popular, and even less so in Brexit-battle-hardened Europe - we can start planning our annual costume-heavy party for the occasion, at our brand new venue of Dolores Delargo Towers #4!

Saturday, 27 May 2017

The Ice Queen

















"There is a fun, flippant side to me, of course. But I would much rather be known as the Ice Queen."

Gulp. Our Patron Saint of Fishnets, Miss Siouxsie Sioux is 60 years old today!

I have always adored Siouxsie. Ever since first seeing her on Top Of The Pops strutting like some unearthly Amazon to Hong Kong Garden, I just knew she was something very different; an awesome talent with an awesome stage persona, and excitingly scary. As Ben Hewitt in the Guardian put it so succinctly: she has a "macabre mystique". Siouxsie was second only to Debbie Harry among my adolescent icons.

Irredeemably photogenic, hers has to be one of THE faces of the 20th (and any other) century - instantly recognisable. Her musical legacy, too, is wide-reaching and well recognised. Without her (and the Banshees), there would be no "Goth movement". Her songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Massive Attack and Red Hot Chili Peppers; myriad artists - from Morrissey to PJ Harvey, from Bono to Sinéad O'Connor, from Courtney Love to Ana Matronic - have all paid their due homage to her influence.

There is only one Siouxsie.

And thank heavens for that! Here are some of my choices from her vast repertoire...



Peek-a-Boo (Spec Goth Disco Edit):




However, this remains my all-time favourite (and is among my top tunes ever) - Happy House:


Many happy returns, Siouxsie Sioux (born Susan Janet Ballion, 27th May 1957)

Saturday, 5 December 2015

A clatter of platters



It's stormy and bleak out there. Just as well I had a lie-in 'till 1.30pm today - I didn't miss anything, obviously!

Anyhoo, it's time once again for a little foray into some of the "newer music" that has caught my ear of late...

Let's open with the full version (and typically odd video) for the maestro David Bowie's new single Blackstar (for which I posted a teaser in my last musical round-up back in October). It's certainly a breath-takingly symphonic work, if hardly likely to go down as one of the great man's classic singles:


It reminds me somewhat of some of Mr Bowie's more extravagant early album tracks, such as Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud from 1969:


While we're on the subject of living legends, Siouxsie's back! Apparently this track was featured on the TV series Hannibal, which we've never seen - so here instead is a fan-made video for her chillingly gorgeous Love Crime with clips (appropriately enough) from Cocteau's Gothic masterpiece La Belle et la Bête:



Lightening the mood somewhat, the gossip columns have been a-buzz about the long-awaited new collaboration between sisters Kylie and Dannii Minogue. It's a fun enough song. Shame it's about bloody Xmas. It's 100 Degrees:


Our houseboys Kazaky - who seem to release a dozen tracks a year - have another new one out! This time (unfortunately) they appear to have kept most of their clothes on in the video. However, the clobber they have chosen leads me to imagine what might happen if the footmen of Downton Abbey decided to go to a gay disco. With heels on. That's no bad thing - it's Your Style!


Speaking of camp-a-plenty, you can't go far wrong with the new one from Take That. With a hilarious video featuring the lovely Mark Owen dressed in Huggy Bear's cast-offs and a Bad Disco scene straight out of a 70s/80s sitcom, here's Hey Boy:


Now, as any fule know, here at Dolores Delargo Towers we do like to keep a secret. Especially if it's a juicy one! And speaking of juicy, here's Italian hottie Alex Palmieri with a great one (secret, that is). OK, the song's a bit of a half-arsed sort-of mish-mash of Eurovision and Olly Murs, but oh! The video for Nicholas' Got A Secret is rather a joy...


A real pick-me-up next, courtesy of a new video (by Eats Everything) for an old(ish) choon by Tiga vs Audion. Starring "Welsh super-fans" Brenda and Gwyn, it's faboo:


Another prolific artist is the deadpan-yet-masterful Mr Martin Solveig. For this release he's joined by the rather fab Sam White (former backing singer for Florence & The Machine, apparently). It's +1:


And finally, the answer to all the Middle East's problems solved in one mega-camp video! It's (possibly the only rapper we can bear to listen to here at the Towers) the magnificent Cazwell (here with someone or some thing, called Naaldekoker) and The Biscuit:



As always, enjoy! Let me know what you think...

Wednesday, 2 October 2013

It's beautiful and so are you

Timeslip moment again...

It is thirty years this week since this fantabulosa gothic Beatles cover entered the UK charts. Gulp.

The video has Robert Smith! Armpits! Venice! It's wonderful.

It's Dear Prudence by Siouxsie and the Banshees:


Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won't you come out and play

Dear Prudence open up your eyes
Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
The wind is low the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?

Look around round
Look around round round
Look around

Dear Prudence let me see you smile
Dear Prudence like a little child
The clouds will be a daisy chain
So let me see you smile again
Dear Prudence won't you let me see you smile?


Siouxsie and the Banshees official website

Monday, 8 April 2013

Yoko melts



"Yoko Ono is a fascinating artist, as are the collaborators she is bringing from all over the world.

"She's an energetic and inspiring peace and environmental activist and a champion for women's rights. It's a privilege to have her curating Meltdown's 20th anniversary."
- Jude Kelly, artistic director at Southbank Centre

One of the highlights of this year's Meltdown Festival will be the first live appearance of punk icon Siouxsie for five years.

The Royal Festival Hall will witness the old and the new on 20 June when Iggy and the Stooges are supported by hotly tipped all-girl punk group Savages, while Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon will be performing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with her latest incarnation Body/Head.

Elsewhere, 1960s singer Marianne Faithfull will team up with leading jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, while there will also be performances from Peaches, Patti Smith, Boy George and comedian Reggie Watts, with the full line-up yet to be confirmed.

Ono will bring down the curtain on the festival by joining a group of special guests for the first live performance of Double Fantasy - the last album recorded by her and Lennon, which was released just three weeks before the former Beatle's death in 1980.

I only wish I could afford tickets for all of it...

Read the whole article on the BBC

Yoko Ono's Meltdown is at the Southbank Centre from 14th - 23rd June 2013. Tickets go on sale to Southbank members tomorrow (9th April).

Monday, 21 April 2008

Only you can satisfy this great desire

I heard this track tonight for the first time in years - out of the blue, as a trailer for Sex in the City - and it just brought back soooo many memories!

To cheer up that usual misery that is a Monday, here's the uber-cool Siouxsie and her ex-husband Budgie in their side project away from the Banshees, The Creatures:


Right now
Let me take you by the hand
Right now
Put your lips at my command
Right now
Fly me off to lover's land

Baby
Don't you leave me at the post
Kiss me
You can feel it coast to coast
Right now
Baby need your love the most

You have set my soul on fire
Only you can satisfy this great desire

Right now
Let the fool world break in two
Right now
Stars can tumble from the blue
Right now
Just as long as I'm with you

Right now
It's the time and it's the place
Right now
For a ride to outer space
Right now
Let me have that wild embrace

You have set my soul on fire
Only you can satisfy this great desire

One time
Let the wine of love flow free
One time
Be the lover you can be
Right now
Come and give yourself to me