Tinderbox [Digipak] [3/24]

With their 1984 release, HYAENA, Siouxse & the Banshees dropped more than just a few hints that they were entering very melodic territory (their cover of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence", etc.). And they delivered on their promise with their follow up two years later, 1986's TINDERBOX. The Banshees also took a detour from the challenging and unpredictable arrangements that they had been indulging in on their past few releases to a more back to basics approach, where the song structures were more straightforward. But make no mistake about it, this wasn't easily digestible pop 'product,' the lyrical themes of certain songs (namely the modern dance pop of "Cities in Dust" and "92 Degrees") contain all sorts of disturbing imagery. Other highlights include such eerie compositions as "The Sweetest Chill" and "Lands End", as well as "This Unrest" and "Party's Fall". When TINDERBOX was issued on CD, the tracklisting was expanded to include four bonus tracks, including an 'extended version' of the aforementioned "Cities in Dust".|

Tinderbox is the most musically up-tempo of all Siouxsie and the Banshees' albums and the most stylistically consistent one since The Scream and Join Hands. Most of the selections here feature urgently rocking drumming, drivingly aggressive yet fully textured guitar playing, and masterful, gutsy singing. The songs here are intense and unfold slowly, some starting off less vigorously but becoming hard rockers further along. There is of course a fine line between consistency and lack of contrast, but this album stays firmly on the side of the former; in fact, there's a certain satisfying feel to the musically uniform wall of sound here. The arrangements are less complex than in immediately preceding albums, but there are still plenty of subtle, effective production touches to be found throughout, most notably in the song "Cannons." "Cities in the Dust," a dance-pop number with a bell-like synthesizer opening section, stretches the above-mentioned boundaries the most, though typically bleak lyrics keep this selection from any sense of vacuity. This excellent release is well worth purchasing. ~ David Cleary