Best Albums - Tinderbox - Siouxsie and the Banshees

I have a thing for rhythm driven music, and this album is all about the drums. They drive every song with a power and a relentless pace that creates a consistency across the album that the Banshees never succeeded at either before or after. On top of these drums they created a layered dirty guitar sound that blends perfectly with Siouxsie's gruff and powerful voice. The sound of this album is brilliant. I know the Banshees came from a punk background, but there is very little punk left on this album. The lyrics are dark, the sound overall is dark, but because of the relentless beats, the tight production, and the strong hooks it has the feel of a dance/pop album.

Back in 1988 or so I made a list of my top 100 albums. This album was number two on that list, and if I were to make a list today, it may still be at number two. I personally feel that Siouxsie and in particular this album were very influential to a lot of sounds that followed. If you go back and listen to an album like Dummy by Portishead it has much of the same feel as Tinderbox. A beat based sound, with a dirty layered sound over it blended to fit with Beth Gibbons' vocals. The big shift is the pace. Where Siouxsie had kept the driving punk beat for Tinderbox, these guys shifted to the Jazz beat of Trip Hop. I think it's hard to not make a connection between these sounds.

Of course who knows how much Tinderbox was influenced by the Trip Hop scene. The Wild Bunch (the beginnings of Massive Attack) formed in 1983 blending punk, reggae, and R&B and were a huge hit on the dance scene in Britain. It could be that she was heavily influenced by what these guys were doing. The component that is so unique to this album is the atmospheric sound which is a very Massive Attack sort of thing. So who knows except to say that I feel this album was in important piece in the growth of this new sound being born in the mid 1980's.


Siouxsie and the Banshees - Tinderbox (1986)
1. Candyman
2. The Sweetest Chill
3. This Unrest
4. Cities in Dust
5. Cannons
6. Partys Fall
7. 92 Degrees
8. Lands End

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