SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES – "ISRAEL" (Alternative video version, June 1981)
Costas
2020-12-16
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Siouxsie & The Banshees released 'Israel' as a stand-alone single on Friday, 28 November 1980 in the UK with its promo video directed and produced by their long-standing collaborator, Clive Richardson.
A one-day shooting took place during tour rehearsals at the 'ZigZag Club', housed (from October 1980 to October 1983) in the former 'Grand Cinema' at 22-24 Great Western Rd in London’s Westbourne Park district, having been re-launched as a venue for live shows by the publishers of ZigZag independent music magazine. Of a note, despite claims of various sources, the promo video was NOT filmed at Brixton Academy, as that venue opened for rock gigs after 1983, which means long after the release of the single.
The uncanny resemblance of the haircuts and outfits of the three male Banshees between the videos of 'Israel' and 'Arabian Knights' leads to the logical assumption that both videos were shot on the same day, most probably just before the European leg of the 'JUJU' tour on 4-14 June 1981 at a time that 'ONCE UPON A TIME' singles compilation was decided to be released in the near future, so a video for 'Israel' was needed for inclusion.
Apparently, the main idea – behind the band’s 'mimed' performance there – was a "live on stage" feeling to be captured on film, which was eventually achieved but in an otherwise uneventful, seemingly low-budget video but a very important one since this was John McGeoch’s debut video appearance as a member of Siouxsie & The Banshees.
Regarding this rare (a.k.a. alternative) version of the video, it seems that during the editing process, there was this idea of adding colourisation and a visual effect of some sort, with 'scratchy' animated scribblings around the band members’ silhouettes at the second half of the video. Yet the end result must have looked completely incongruous and thus unsatisfactory, so it was unanimously rejected by the band and did not see the light of day until it was unintentionally included on 'THE BEST OF (Sound & Vision)' DVD compilation of 2004. As this alternative version was included by mistake in there, it can not be accessed using any conventional means but only by ripping the DVD (.vob files) to a computer.
[Note: Courtesy of Peter Routley. Thank you Peter!]
A one-day shooting took place during tour rehearsals at the 'ZigZag Club', housed (from October 1980 to October 1983) in the former 'Grand Cinema' at 22-24 Great Western Rd in London’s Westbourne Park district, having been re-launched as a venue for live shows by the publishers of ZigZag independent music magazine. Of a note, despite claims of various sources, the promo video was NOT filmed at Brixton Academy, as that venue opened for rock gigs after 1983, which means long after the release of the single.
The uncanny resemblance of the haircuts and outfits of the three male Banshees between the videos of 'Israel' and 'Arabian Knights' leads to the logical assumption that both videos were shot on the same day, most probably just before the European leg of the 'JUJU' tour on 4-14 June 1981 at a time that 'ONCE UPON A TIME' singles compilation was decided to be released in the near future, so a video for 'Israel' was needed for inclusion.
Apparently, the main idea – behind the band’s 'mimed' performance there – was a "live on stage" feeling to be captured on film, which was eventually achieved but in an otherwise uneventful, seemingly low-budget video but a very important one since this was John McGeoch’s debut video appearance as a member of Siouxsie & The Banshees.
Regarding this rare (a.k.a. alternative) version of the video, it seems that during the editing process, there was this idea of adding colourisation and a visual effect of some sort, with 'scratchy' animated scribblings around the band members’ silhouettes at the second half of the video. Yet the end result must have looked completely incongruous and thus unsatisfactory, so it was unanimously rejected by the band and did not see the light of day until it was unintentionally included on 'THE BEST OF (Sound & Vision)' DVD compilation of 2004. As this alternative version was included by mistake in there, it can not be accessed using any conventional means but only by ripping the DVD (.vob files) to a computer.
[Note: Courtesy of Peter Routley. Thank you Peter!]
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