Rocktrospectiva: The Epic "10,000 Days" Turns 20

Released between 28-29 April 2006 in parts of Europe and Australia 1-2 May in the UK and USA, "10,000 Days" was the fourth studio album by US band Tool. It marked the first time since recording 1993's Undertow that the band had worked at Grandmaster and without producer David Bottrill. 10,000 Days spawned three top ten rock singles: "Vicarious", "The Pot", and "Jambi". It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, with first week sales of 564,000 copies. 10,000 Days was Tool's last release for more than a decade; the band would not release their next studio album, Fear Inoculum, until August 30, 2019.

 

Tool recorded the album at O'Henry Sound Studios in Burbank, as well as at The Loft and Grandmaster Studios in Hollywood, California. It was mixed at Bay 7 in North Hollywood, CA and mastered at Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine.

 

Guitarist Adam Jones employed various recording techniques for the album, including a "pipe bomb mic" (a guitar pickup mounted inside a brass cylinder), and a talk box guitar solo on the song "Jambi." Drummer Danny Carey operated many of the sound effects on the interlude tracks on the album using electronic drums called Mandalas. 10,000 Days has a heavier sound than its predecessor, largely because of the influence of avant-garde metal band Fantômas, who toured with Tool before the writing process.

 

The title 10,000 Days is thought to refer to the orbital period of the planet Saturn (the actual time period is 10,759 days). According to singer Maynard James Keenan, the Saturn return is "the time in your twenty eighth, twenty ninth year when you are presented the opportunity to transform from whatever your hang-ups were before to let the light of knowledge and experience lighten your load, so to speak, and let go of old patterns and embrace a new life." Keenan expected that the songs composed would "chronicle that process, hoping that my gift back would be to share that path and hope that I could help somebody get past that spot." The title 10,000 Days additionally refers to the amount of time that Maynard's mother, Judith Marie Gridley, was paralyzed.

 

In an interview, Alex Grey, who worked on the illustrations for the 10,000 Days and Lateralus covers, said that many of his artworks for Tool have been based on and influenced by the visionary journeys of a brew called ayahuasca. He described the 10,000 Days cover as "a blazing vision of an infinite grid of Godheads during an ayahuasca journey", and also talked about the Lateralus cover in a similar fashion. Grey stated in another interview when making the 10,000 Days cover that it depicts visions received during a DMT trip.

 

The album received generally favorable reviews, albeit with less enthusiasm than previous Tool albums. Most critics praised the album as another example of Tool's musicianship.  Critics who gave 10,000 Days a relatively low score questioned the merits of its ambient interludes, which Tool have also used on their previous releases. However, the album received a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Recording Package. That same year, the song "Vicarious" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. In 2008, 10,000 Days garnered another Grammy nomination when "The Pot" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance. 

 

Other reviews praised the album for re-embracing of the epic-length rock songs found at the roots of early heavy metal, while others called the album as probably the most engagingly brilliant heavy metal album that'll be released on a major label all year.

 

10,000 Days Track List:  

 

1. Vicarious

2. Jambi

3. Wings For Marie (Pt 1)

4. 10,000 Days (Wings Pt 2)

5. The Pot

6. Lipan Conjuring

7. Lost Keys (Blame Hofmann)

8. Rosetta Stoned

9. Intension

10. Right In Two

11. Viginiti Tres

New Music: Duvateen

           

The Afghan Whighs released another new track, "Duvateen." According to a press release, it's named for the light manipulating material, "which here serves as a symbol for morality." The song builds up a huge swell of sentimentality around Greg Dulli's peerless voice as he reflects on his own life journey. When I finished "Duvateen," it felt like my life passing before my eyes. The references to the teacher chasing me down the hall reminded me of my childhood. Digging a hole was an obvious allusion to a grave. I’m at a precipice in life where I can look behind and clearly see the forest of my youth, but I can also see the path to the other side. And it’s going to inform what I do for the rest of my days, said Dulli.

New Music: Out Of Place

            

Trip hop pioneer Tricky will be releasing his 15th studio album, Different When It’s Silent July 17, 2026 through his own label, False Idols. The new album is the first full-length effort from the legendary and influential artist and producer under his own name in six years. Different When It’s Silent came about during a rather prolific period of activity. Since 2020’s Fall to Pieces, Tricky has released material under several different guises including, Lonely Guest‘s 2021 self-titled effort, a collaboration with Mike Theis, called Theis Thaws, which released 2024’s Fifteen Days and last year’s collaborative album with Marta Złakowska, Out The Way. Different When It’s Silent's first single "Out of Place" feat. Marta Złakowska features a brooding and cinematic string sample introduction before morphing to a breakneck middle section which features Tricky's imitable gravelly vocal with a punchy, almost punk-like deliver and Złakowska's sultry yet restrained crooning. The song closes with a boarding and cinematic string sample. The result is as song that’s simultaneously forceful, uneasy and gorgeous while evoking the sweaty, self-aware sensation of somehow being out of place in your environment through a shifting series of contrasts. Originally written for Złakowska’s own album, Tricky ultimately reclaimed the song for the forthcoming album. Directed and edited by Steve Gullick, the accompanying video for “Out of Place” features the collaborators shot in blurred and constant motion in the foreground. In the background we see stylishly shot footage of each artist singing their respective part — or just being in a brooding photo shoot. It further emphasizes the feeling of being out of place. 

New Music: Billy Says

           

Graham Coxon released the single "Billy Says," the first of ten songs from "Castle Park"  the never-heard-before 2011 album while reissuing all of his solo records. The Blur guitarist turned solo star and one half of The Waeve  will be reissuing all of his solo albums over the next 12 months, starting with his 1998 debut "The Sky Is Too High" and 2000 follow-up' "The Golden D" arriving on 19 June. produced by Ben Hillier, the album was recorded in 2011 as part of the sessions for 'A+E' and originally intended as a follow up his eight solo LP, but postponed due to Blur’s initial reunion and then abandoned as Coxon moved on to other projects. "Billy Says", a regular feature from Coxon’s live sets and echoing the album’s classic Mod sound with hints of The Kinks and the guitarists inimitable knack for a sweet and simple guitar-pop hook.

New Music: Free To Love

           

Duran Duran and Nile Rodgers are taking it back to the '70s with their new single "Free to Love." The British rockers released their joint new track, which features Rodgers, on Thursday, April 23 with an accompanying music video that's all sorts of disco fabulous. "Free to Love" is disco for the 2020s. It's upbeat and up-tempo,” singer Simon Le Bon said in a statement. "It's about freedom; it's about loving the modern world instead of hating it, and that is something we need right now. Be free! Be free to love!". Duran Duran first worked with Rodgers, on a remix of "The Reflex" more than 40 years ago. They teamed up to co-write the new song, and Rodgers appears in the video, too, which also stars British TV personality Clara Amfo as a host introducing the band's performance. The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and was made in association with Italian perfumer Xerjoff, with whom the group worked to create their fragrance NeoRio.

Rocktrospectiva: The Seminal And Influential "Ramones" Turns 50

Released on 23 April 1991 "Ramones" was the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones. After Hit Parader editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote several articles about the group and asked Danny Fields to be their manager. Fields agreed and convinced Craig Leon to produce Ramones, and the band recorded a demo for prospective record labels. Leon persuaded Sire president Seymour Stein to listen to the band perform, and he later offered the band a recording contract. The Ramones began recording in January 1976, needing only seven days and $6,400 (equivalent to $36,200 in 2025) to record the album.The album spawned two singles "Blitzkried Bop" & "I Wanna Be Your Friend."

The album cover, photographed by Punk magazine's Roberta Bayley, features the four members leaning against a brick wall in New York City. The record company paid only $125 ($693.46 in 2024) for the front photo, which has since become one of the most imitated album covers of all time. The back cover depicts an eagle belt buckle along with the album's liner notes. After its release, Ramones was promoted with two singles, which failed to chart. The Ramones also began touring to help sell records; these tour dates were mostly based in the United States, although two were booked in Britain.

Violence, drug use, relationship issues, humor, and Nazism were prominent in the album's lyrics. The album opens with "Blitzkrieg Bop", which is among the band's most recognized songs. Most of the album's tracks are uptempo, with many songs measuring at well over 160 beats per minute. The songs are also rather short; at two-and-a-half minutes, "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is the album's longest track. Ramones contains a cover of the Chris Montez song "Let's Dance".

Ramones was unsuccessful commercially, peaking at number 111 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. Despite its poor chart performance, it received glowing reviews from critics. Many later deemed it a highly influential record, and it has since received many accolades, and since then Ramones  has been widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential punk albums of all time, and it had a significant impact on other genres of rock music, such as grunge and heavy metal. 

Ramones began playing gigs in mid-1974, with their first show at Performance Studios in New York City. The band, performing in a style similar to the one used on their debut album, typically performed at clubs in downtown Manhattan, specifically CBGB and Max's Kansas City.  In early 1975, Lisa Robinson, an editor of Hit Parader and Rock Scene, saw the fledgling Ramones performing at CBGB and subsequently wrote about the band in several magazine issues. The group's vocalist Joey Ramone related that "Lisa came down to see us, she was blown away by us. She said that we changed her life; she started writing about us in Rock Scene, and then Lenny Kaye would write about us and we started getting more press like The Village Voice. Word was getting out, and people starting coming down."

On September 19, 1975, Ramones recorded a demo at 914 Sound Studios, which was produced by Marty Thau. Featuring the songs "Judy Is a Punk" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", the band used the demo to showcase their style to prospective labels. Producer Craig Leon, who had seen the Ramones perform in the summer of 1975, brought the demo to the attention of Sire Records' president Seymour Stein. After being persuaded by Craig Leon and his ex-wife Linda Stein, Ramones auditioned at Sire and were offered a contract, although the label had previously signed only European progressive rock bands. The label offered to release "You're Gonna Kill That Girl" as a single, but the band declined, insisting on recording an entire album. Sire accepted their request and agreed to release a studio album instead

In January 1976 the band took a break from their live performances to prepare for recording at Plaza Sound studio. Sessions began later that month and were completed within a week for $6,400; the instruments took three days and the vocal parts were recorded in four days. In 2004, Leon admitted that they recorded Ramones quickly due to budget restrictions, but also that it was all the time they needed.

The band applied microphone placement techniques similar to those which many orchestras used. The recording process was a deliberate exaggeration of the techniques used by the Beatles in the early 1960s, with a four-track representation of the devices. The guitars can be heard separately on the stereo channels—electric bass on the left channel, rhythm guitar on the right—drums and vocals are mixed in the middle of the stereo mix.

The songs on Ramones addressed several lyrical themes including violence, male prostitution, drug use, and Nazism. While the moods displayed in the album were often dark, Johnny said that when writing the lyrics they were not "trying to be offensive". Many songs from the album have backing vocals from different guests. Leigh sang backing vocals on "Judy Is a Punk", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", and in the bridge of "Blitzkrieg Bop". Tommy sang backing vocals on "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You", "Judy Is a Punk", and during the bridge of "Chain Saw". The album's engineer, Rob Freeman, sang backing vocals for the final refrain of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". Leon wrote in the booklet for the album's 2016 reissue that when layered background vocals appear on the album, they are primarily Freeman's contributions combined with some of Leon and Dee Dee's, and a great deal by Leigh, "all compiled and compressed to create an effective cyborg backing vocal creature." The album's length is 29 minutes and four seconds and it contains 14 tracks.

The opening "Blitzkrieg Bop" was written by Tommy, and originally named "Animal Hop". Once Dee Dee reviewed the lyrics, the band changed the wording, the name, and partially the theme. According to Tommy, the song's original concept was about "kids going to a show and having a good time", but the theme became more Nazi-related after its revision. 

"Beat on the Brat" was said by Joey to have origins relating to the upper class of New York City. Dee Dee, however, explained that the song was about how Joey saw a mother "going after a kid with a bat in his [apartment building's] lobby and wrote a song about it". "Judy Is a Punk" – written around the same time as "Beat on the Brat" — was written by Joey after he walked by Thorny Croft, an apartment building "where all the kids in the neighborhood hung out on the rooftop and drank."

"I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" – the album's slowest song – was solely written by Tommy and pays homage to love songs by pop music acts of the 1960s, particularly the John Lennon-penned Beatles song "I Should Have Known Better". The song used a 12-string guitar, glockenspiel, and tubular bells in its composition, and was said by author Scott Schinder to be an "unexpected romantic streak". "Chain Saw" opens with the sound of a running circular saw and was influenced by the 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. At nearly 180 beats per minute, "Chain Saw" had the fastest tempo of the album's songs and, according to Rombes, is the most "home-made" sounding. "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" contains four lines of minimalist lyrics that depict youthful boredom and inhaling solvent vapors found in glue. "I hope no one thinks we really sniff glue," said Dee Dee. 

"I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is also minimalist, and inspired by horror movies. The entire text is composed of three lines, and the composition was based on three major chords. With a playing time of 2:40, it is the longest piece on the album. "Loudmouth" has six major chords and is harmonically complex. "Havana Affair" has a lyrical concept incorporating the comic strip Spy vs. Spy by Cuban-born illustrator Antonio Prohias.

Written solely by Dee Dee, the lyrics of "53rd & 3rd" concern a male prostitute ("rent boy"), waiting at the corner of 53rd Street and Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. When the prostitute gets a customer, he kills the customer with a razor to prove he is not a homosexual. "Let's Dance" was a cover version of the hit song by Chris Montez, "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You" consisted of two lyric lines and three major chords. One of the group's earliest compositions, written at the beginning of 1974, it was the opener on their first demo. It then segues into the closing track "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World", which refers to a Hitler Youth member.

The album has been praised as one of the the most radical, seminal and influential in rock music, with a sound similar to early rock and roll, the record was constructed around rhythm tracks of great intensity, the album was a huge landmark for music history, proclaiming that [it] split the history of rock 'n' roll in half. Ramones is considered to have established the musical genre of punk rock, as well as popularizing it years afterward. Rombes wrote that it offered "alienated future rock", and that it "disconnected from tradition". The album was the start of the Ramones' influence on popular music, with examples being genres such as heavy metal, thrash metal, ndie pop, grunge, post-punk, and most notably, punk rock.

 

Ramones Track List:  

 

1. Blitzkrieg Bop

2. Beat On The Brat

3. Judy Is A Punk

4. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

5. Chain Saw

6. Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue

7. I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement

8. Loudmouth

9. Havana Affair

10. Listen To My Heart

11. 53rd & 3rd

12. Let's Dance

13. I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You

14. Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World

New Music: Ride Lonesome

           

The talented eight-time Grammy-winner Beck has released a stunning new single, "Ride Lonesome," and announced a 2026 North American Tour. On the new single, Beck sings during the chorus, "You got to ride lonesome/ You got to try to find the road/ You got to cry a river/ And follow it all the way home/ Alone." The song was produced by Beck and mixed by Nigel Godrich. The single is accompanied by a video, directed by Mikai Karl and Beck. It features the artist walking through abandoned desert landscapes, across train tracks and among windmills. He also announced the Ride Lonesome Tour, a 25-date North American run set to launch this fall. The Ride Lonesome Tour, promoted by Live Nation, will kick off September 16 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver and run through October 31, concluding at The Truth in Nashville.

Rocktrospectiva: The Stone-Cold Masterpiece "Peggy Suicide" Turns 35

Released on 22 April 1991 "Peggy Suicide" wa the 7th., studio album by Julian Cope, it has generally seen as the beginning of Cope's trademark sound and approach, and as a turning-point for Cope as a maturing artist. The album spawned the singles "Beautiful Love", "Safesurfer", "East Easy Rider" & "Head".

Peggy Suicide was recorded and released following two lo-fi Cope albums - Skellington and Droolian - which had not gained official distribution and caused friction with Cope's label Island Records. Cope's previous Island release, My Nation Underground, had not satisfied him, and he had rejected its heavily produced, pop-friendly sound in favour of a one-take, more politicised approach as expounded by former White Panther John Sinclair in his book Guitar Army. Cope was later to refer to this book as "my holy book", and it set the method for all of his subsequent recording. 

Several familiar Cope collaborators were on the record - multi-instrumentalist Donald Ross Skinner, drummer/percussionist Rooster Cosby and keyboard player/onetime Cope producer Ron Fair. There were also contributions by new associates in the shape of former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce and future Spiritualized lead guitarist Michael Watts (better known as Mike Mooney or "Moon-eye").

On the album's songs, Cope laid bare many of his personal convictions including his hatred of organized religion and his increasing public interest in women's rights, the occult, alternative spirituality (including paganism and Goddess worship), animal rights, and ecology. He had referred in passing to these beliefs in previous songs, but never so directly. The album was written in the aftermath of the British anti-poll tax riots in 1990. Cope had taken part in the protest, and several songs on the album refer directly to its events.

Cope's forthright new political stance was reflected in the song "Leperskin", which refers to the contemporary British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (who resigned between the recording of Peggy Suicide and its release) as an "apostolic hag". For one particular track, the anti-police tirade "Soldier Blue", Cope sampled Lenny Bruce's live album The Berkeley Concert and mixed in samples of the Poll Tax Riot.

The album's title was a derivative of Buddy Holly' song "Peggy Sue" the opener "Pristeen" had elegance and melancholy that gained in intensity to moved into the representative "Double Vegetation", other remarkable tunes were the singles "Beautifulo Love" a catchy tune with a calypso sound and the funky "East Easy Rider", other catchy tracks were "If You Love Me At All", "Drive She Said" and the short "Head", while the endless "Safesurfer" with a huge intro with guitar just like Hendrix welcomes a 3 minutes narrative by Cope, "Not Raving But Drowning" regained the Caribbean percusion with psychedellic guitars and then the reflexives "Promised Land" & "Las Vegas Basement" to close a magnificent album. 

The album is regarded as a timeless materpiece due its sound and narrative, and the atmosphere created by the instruments and effects to add a vivid style, also Darina Roche paint to portrait Peggy Suicide suits perfect in every sense. The album was heralded by critics as Cope's best work thus far, and has subsequently been considered an artistic rebirth for Cope. Definitely was Cope's best release to date, calling it "an absolute, stone-cold rock classic, full stop."

 

Peggy Suicide Track List:  

 

1. Pristeen

2. Double Vegetation

3. East Easy Rider

4. Promised Land

5. Hanging out & Hung Up On The Line

6. Safesurfer

7. If You Loved Me At All

8. Drive, She Said

9. Soldier Blue

10. You...

11. Not Raving But Drowning

12. Head

13. Leperskin

14. Beautiful Love

15. Western Front 1992 CE

16. Hung Up & Hanging Out To Dry

17. The American Lite

18. Las Vegas Basement

Rocktrospectiva: The Sophisticated Art-Rock Album "Measure To Measure" Turns 40

Released on 21 April 1986 "Measure To Measure" wast he fourth studio album by the Australian rock band Icehouse. It was one of the first three albums to be recorded entirely digitally spawning five singles "No Promises", "Baby, You're So Strange", "Mr. Big", "Cross The Border" & "Paradise".

Lead vocalist Iva Davies said the album was the first time he had worked with producers he could "get on with" and also the first time they had a surplus of songs to choose from. "We've actually got more songs than we'll ever be able to use. It's very strange. It's created problems because they've all turned out really well and I'm loath to give anything away."

Icehouse had already cemented themselves as one of Australia's prime new wave/synth-rock acts. Measure For Measure, the band’s fourth studio album, would represent a further shift in refinement for the band, particularly following the rawness of 1984’s Sidewalk, as their sound evolved beyond the post-punk energy of their earlier works into a more lush, cinematic soundscape that would further embrace synthesisers and ambient textures.

Impeccably produced, mixed, and mastered, Measure For Measure was a pleasure for the senses as the music contained within isn’t the only extraordinary aspect, as the album's artwork is stunningly beautiful and is amongst the greatest that Icehouse ever released, it was a warm and full-bodied sound and a sonic signature record. 

The opener "Paradise" had a pulsating synth element that adds to the overall atmosphere of the song as well as playing into the style of the album as a whole, the greatest aspect of Paradise was Iva Davies’ magnificent vocals, which hover over the entire musical bed. Paradise was the perfect combination of art-rock and ambient pop. "No Promises," despite being the first single from the album, had previously been released on the Boxes (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), from 1985, and was included in an original composition and a reprise, but it is this re-recording that stands out as the gold standard. Driven by a shimmering synth-pop rhythm and an uptempo beat, No Promises was another exceptional tune.

"Mr. Big" shifted the tone of the album, somewhat abruptly, yet the more you listen to the record, the more you’ll appreciate the shift from Paradise and No Promises to this rockier, glam-infused tune. It’s Icehouse amongst their most playful, with a healthy dose of crunchy guitar riffs, a sassy delivery, and brass instrumentation by Simon Lloyd that shines and adds to the overall vibe of this addictively good song. "Angel Street" returned the tempo to one that's a little more contemplative while the near out-of-phase musical styling adds incredibly textured layers to the song. "The Flame" was a slow-building epic. The mood and atmosphere captivate and encapsulated the senses via the song’s three-dimensional soundstage. "Regular Boys," was with No Promises, part of the Boxes soundtrack. However, it does present another significant structural shift in the album's mood and tempo. While I’m used to it, having listened to this album since the 80s.

"Cross The Border," was another interesting tune that despute the tribal percussion sound, the melodies and rocking edge tune, proved to be a standout tune that suited well with the album strcuture, "Spanish Gold" was a smooth, upbeat number that works remarkably well within the band’s ambient pop-styled framework. Presented in a hazy, almost dreamlike style, "Lucky Me" was one of the most abrupt rock-structured tunes Icehouse ever recorded. Still, the rawness shows diversity, and it can be seen as being somewhat out of place on this release, but as alluded to earlier, once you’ve listened to the album several times, you’ll consider it to be perfectly normal and well-aligned, even with the more delicate songs on the album. and finally "Baby, You're So Strange" was an utterly brilliant tune with a swagger, riff-heavy, distorted and crunchy styling, combined with Davies’ gritty, yet smooth, vocal delivery, makes for not only one of Icehouse's most flamboyant numbers.

The album was a masterful recording by fusing sophisti art-rock tunes with a touch of 80s pop accesibiliness but unfortunately overshadowed by the exceptional Man Of Colours release from the following year. Still, some may find this era of the band to be too polished and experimental, especially when contrasting it against the band's rawer rock-oriented origins. Measure For Measure was the perfect evolutionary bridge that blends seamlessly with the music that has come before, and that which came after, and was placerd amongst the greatest releases from 1986. 

 

Measure To Measure Track List:  

 

1. Paradise

2. No Promises

3. Mr Big

4. Angel Street

5. The Flame

6. Regular Boys

7. Cross The Border

8. Spanish Gold

9. Lucky Me aka American Way

10. Baby, You're So Strange

Rocktrospectiva: The Immaculate "Tinderbox" Turns 40

 

Released on 21 April 1986 "Tinderbox" was the 7th., studio album by the English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was the band's first full-length effort recorded with then-new guitarist John Valentine Carruthers; Carruthers had previously only added a few parts on the 1984 EP The Thorn. The first recording sessions for the album took place at Hansa by the Wall in Berlin in May 1985. Two songs were released as singles between late 1985 and early 1986, "Cities in Dust" and "Candyman". Tinderbox peaked at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart and at number 88 on the US Billboard 200.

Wildly regarded as on the most important and essential alternative rock albums from the 1980s', and several alternative rock artists including Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle, Jean-Benoît Dunckel of Air and Rachel Goswell of Slowdive, have cited it as an inspiration.

The album's lyrics explore themes such as natural disasters and panic and was written to be presented live on stage in full like Juju was in 1981 on its subsequent tour. After rehearsing the songs for months and demoing them in late 1984, the band went abroad in Berlin to record the new material in May 1985 (they had previously recorded in Germany, in Bavaria, for The Thorn EP). The lead single, "Cities in Dust", was the only track that was entirely recorded at Matrix Studios in London in September. The rest of the vocal parts were done at AIR Studios in December.

At the beginning of the song "92°", there is a sample from the 1953 film It Came from Outer Space with the line: "Did you know ... that more murders are committed at 92 Fahrenheit than any other temperature? I read an article once. Lower temperatures, people are easygoing. Over 92, it's too hot to move. But just 92, people get irritable".

The sleeve reproduced a picture of a tornado, taken by Lucille Handberg near the town of Jasper, Minnesota, on 8 July 1927. Her photograph has become a classic image; it had previously been used on the covers of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (1970) and Deep Purple's Stormbringer (1974).

Tinderbox was praised on its release, by saying that it was a refreshing slant on the Banshees' disturbing perspective and restores their vivid shades to pop's pale palette, it was a good collection for the Banshees to relaunch themselves into the international market this spring. Carruthers fits in to the point that you wouldn't know there was a change, and Budgie's drumming is superb. Apart from the singles "Cities in Dust" and "Candyman" (which perpetuates the Banshees' sinister view of childhood), the sparks fly on the crystal clear "Cannons" and the unsettling "Parties Fall", an "exciting" and "superb offering" with "its own charms" with rocking drumming, drivingly aggressive yet fully textured guitar playing, and masterful, gutsy singing. The songs were intense and with a certain satisfying feel to the musically uniform wall of sound here. ... there are ... plenty of subtle, effective production touches to be found throughout.

 

Tinderbox Track List: 

 

1. Candyman

2. The Sweetest Chill

3. This Unrest

4. Cities In Dust

5. Cannons

6. Party's Fall

7. 92º

8. Lands End