Siouxsie And The Banshees @ Whisky A Go Go 1980-11-28
Siouxsie and The Banshees
The Whisky
West Hollywood, CA
November 28, 1980 (early and late sets)
RG Master via JEMS
New Wave LA Series Vol. Four
Recording equipment: unknown mics and recorder
JEMS 2020 Transfer: RG Master Cassette > Nakamichi RX- 505 (azimuth adjustment) > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 capture > iZotope RX6 > iZotope Ozone 6 > CD Wave > ffmpeg > FLAC
early set
01 Israel
02 Clockface
03 Hong Kong Garden
04 Skin
05 Pulled to Bits
06 Tenant
07 Paradise Place
08 Christine
09 Red Over White
10 Red Light
11 Happy House
12 Switch (cuts out)
late set
13 Poppy Day
14 Playground Twist
15 Hong Kong Garden
16 Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)
17 Pulled to Bits
18 Israel
19 The Staircase (Mystery)
20 Christine
21 Red Light
22 Voodoo Dolly
23 Happy House (cuts out)
JEMS is pleased to continue a series of historic recordings made by our longtime friend and diehard music collector RG. He was on the scene in LA as a teenager, began recording shows in 1977 and continued on well into the 2000s. Our series will focus on tapes he made between 1977 and 1987.
What sort of music was he into? Well, one simple way to put it is KROQ music, meaning the bands that LA’s “world famous” new wave radio station was playing were the bands he saw and recorded. First wave if you will, with forays into indie and punk(ish) artists. The early years are dominated by UK artists breaking in the US. Over time his work expands to US bands in the second wave. Some of the artists RG taped include:
Siouxsie & the Banshees
Madness
The Specials
OMD
The Fall
The Damned
Public Image Limited
John Cale
Magazine
The Buzzcocks
Orange Juice
U2
Wreckless Eric
The Cramps
Johnny Thunders
Talking Heads
Iggy Pop
XTC
The Jam
The Only Ones
The Undertones
Boomtown Rats
The Birthday Party
The Penetrators
The Bluebells
Athletico Spizz ’80
Later on he caught The Smiths, R.E.M., Hüsker Dü, The Replacements and many more.
RG used good, not Millard-level recording gear, which means his tapes are mostly solid and listenable, with the occasional very good one and also sorta crappy one. What makes his tapes compelling is that RG was recording in a particularly vital window of time. In many instances these were the first or second times these acts played Los Angeles. Some never did proper US tours, only playing select dates in key markets like LA or NYC. Also, for many of these gigs, RG was the only taper. He grabbed a few local radio broadcasts along the way, too.
Because these shows were almost exclusively at clubs like The Whisky and The Roxy, the sets are generally short, 45 to 60 minutes because that's what you did at The Whisky. On occasion, RG would copy his own masters to save tape and we have done our best to distinguish what’s a true master and what’s a first generation copy. If there’s a doubt, we will note it. Regardless, the series will offer the lowest generation copies available of his recordings, digitized directly for the first time from RG’s tapes which had been stored in boxes for the last 15+ years.
The fourth volume in our series is Siouxsie and the Banshees at the Whisky in West Hollywood. RG managed to record the early and late sets which provides welcome set list variation as you can see above. The 1980 tour was Siouxsie’s first in the US and featured only 15 performances in six markets, making this recording a rare document. Because we have the early and late set preserved, we get most of the songs they featured on the tour in a single package, the most obscure of which seems to be “The Staircase (Mystery).” If setlist.fm is to be believed, RG did miss a cover of The Beatles “Helter Skelter.” Bummer.
The performances are short but intense and intoxicating. The sound pressure levels are definitely pushing the limits of RG’s recording set-up but the recording is still relatively clear for a loud club. Once you tune into the fidelity it is easy to feel transported. Samples provided.
Siouxsie and the Banshees were touring in support of their well received third album Kaleidoscope. One of the most memorable songs from the album, “Christine” features in both sets.
Massive thanks go to RG for letting JEMS dig into his tape boxes and pull out the assets for this series. He witnessed some amazing LA music history. Kudos as well to cpscps who volunteered to handle post-production on our series which is a huge help to us and makes it possible to get more music in your hands. Stay tuned for more New Wave in LA.
BK for JEMS
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