{"title":"Laurence Hedges","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"siouxsie-and-the-banshees-the-early-years-book-laurence-hedges-9781915246240","title":"Siouxsie and the Banshees - The Early Years","description":"Monday 20th September 1976 saw one of the most unexpected moments in music history when what was to become one of the most iconic, important and mimicked bands of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s took to the stage at The 100 Club in Oxford Street, London. A last-minute addition to the '100 Club Punk Special' that included The Clash, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and The Damned, an unknown Siouxsie and The Banshees, comprising Sid Vicious, Steve Severin, Marco Pirroni and Siouxsie Sioux, unleashed twenty minutes of 'performance art' improvisation, featuring fragments of 'Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles', 'Twist And Shout' and 'Satisfaction'.  'The Lord's Prayer', which was to become a staple of Siouxsie and The Banshees' early live repertoire, was a white-noise assault on the senses and a barometer of the alienation many teenagers felt from the bloated nature of mid-1970s 'arena rock'.  Several line-up changes later, in 1978, Siouxise and The Banshees were propelled into the pop stratosphere. Signed to a major record label, the band released 'Hong Kong Garden' and wrote one of the most influential post-punk albums of all time, The Scream, a savage critique of curtain-twitching suburbia, the cheap titillation of the tabloids, and the dangers of believing and following any one doctrine. 1979's Join Hands, influenced by the political landscape in Britain and further afield, and the catastrophic loss of life in World War One, was a milestone of the band's increasing maturity, from the adrenaline-fuelled stomp of 'Icon' to the phased guitar, saxophone and bells of 'Playground Twist'.  After a tour fraught with fractiousness, a new line up with Slits' drummer Budgie and Magazine guitarist John McGeoch, together with Siouxsie Sioux and Steve Severin, released the band's most experimental album, Kaleidoscope, which was a heady mix of psychedelia and sonorous adventures including the singles 'Happy House' and 'Christine'.  Siouxsie and The Banshees The Early Years explores the adventures, trials and tribulations of a band defying categorisation. Their uncompromising brilliance is exemplified by three unique albums, which are chronicled in the pages of this authoritative survey.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49557498364177,"sku":"GOR013189763","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51058084446481,"sku":"NIN9781915246240","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52392190902545,"sku":"GOR014514395","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52487794491665,"sku":"GOR014535079","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52688180150545,"sku":"NLS9781915246240","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1915246245.jpg?v=1751314762"},{"product_id":"into-the-light-book-laurence-hedges-9781915246585","title":"Into The Light","description":"This in-depth and authoritative account of one of the most original, creative, imaginative and mercurial bands in the history of rock music surveys the twists, turns and episodes of brilliance that define Siouxsie and The Banshees evolution from 1980 to 1987.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50412261507345,"sku":"NGR9781915246585","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51058134909201,"sku":"NIN9781915246585","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51223057400081,"sku":"GOR014202076","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51822141210897,"sku":"CIN191524658XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52657177723153,"sku":"NLS9781915246585","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/191524658X.jpg?v=1751452672"},{"product_id":"journeys-end-siouxsie-and-the-banshees-1987-1996-book-laurence-hedges-9781918419061","title":"Journey’s End - Siouxsie and The Banshees 1987-1996","description":"With Jon Klein and Martin McCarrick now full-blown members, Siouxsie and The Banshees embark on one of its most creative and ambitious odysseys, culminating in the multidimensional complexities of the 1988 album Peepshow. Both lyrically and musically, the Banshees continue to confound expectation with their progressively sophisticated and erudite artistry, yielding the groundbreaking single ‘Peek-A-Boo’ and propelling the Banshees to number one on the American Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.     Live, the Banshees continue to be a breathtaking entity; the theatricality of their stage shows paralleling the grandiosity of their songs. However, the revolving door of personnel changes again threatens to derail the band, this time in the form of their (mis)management, until Tim Collins starts to unpick and stabilise the Banshees’ shambolic financial affairs.     Amplifying the strained relations, the first major rupture between founder members Siouxsie and Steven Severin, while on tour, leads to the Banshees’ hiatus between the end of the Peepshow gigs in December 1988 and the release of  ‘Kiss Them For Me’ in May 1991, reaching the Modern Rock Tracks number one slot for the second time; a noticeable divergence from their volatile chart fortunes in the UK.    There is a resurgence of The Creatures’ activity, and the album Boomerang is released in 1989. At the same time, Severin composes the film score for director Nigel Wingrove’s Visions Of Ecstasy film.     Invited to play the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in July and August 1991 alongside bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction and Butthole Surfers, the Banshees consolidate their growing popularity in the USA and go down a storm!     Convening for two more studio albums, Superstition (1991) and The Rapture (1995), as well as the 1992 Twice Upon A Time: The Singles compilation album, the Banshees go to Hollywood, co-writing the song ‘Face To Face’ with composer Danny Efman for the 1992 Tim Burton-directed film Batman Returns. With tranches of time between activities becoming increasingly prolonged, it begs the question: have Siouxsie and The Banshees, a band that have stayed the course against often insurmountable odds since 1976, finally reached their journey’s end?","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52993951531281,"sku":"NGR9781918419061","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53558151610641,"sku":"NIN9781918419061","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781918419061.jpg?v=1777111640"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-laurence-hedges.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}