Hong Kong Garden

"Hong Kong Garden" is the debut single released by British band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was produced by their manager Nils Stevenson and sound-engineer Steve Lillywhite. Issued in the UK by Polydor Records in 1978, the single quickly hit number seven in the UK Singles Chart.[1]

The song is now widely acknowledged as a classic.[2]  In March 2005, Q magazine placed it in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever"[3]  and British writer Colin Larkin qualified it as "sublime".[4]

On 7 April 2014, a double seven-inch vinyl of "Hong Kong Garden" will be reissued via Universal.



Contents
[hide]  *1 History and recording  ==History and recording[ edit] == The instrumental first version was called "People Phobia": it was composed by guitarist John McKay in 1977.The first time the band heard it, they were on a tour bus.[5]
 * 2 Critical reception and legacy
 * 3 Different versions
 * 4 2014 Reissue
 * 5 Media
 * 6 References

The song was named after the Hong Kong Garden Chinese takeaway in Chislehurst High Street. Siouxsie is quoted as explaining the lyrics with reference to the racist activities of skinheads visiting the takeaway: Siouxsie put all her anger and frustration into the words: Siouxsie and the Banshees' first line-up for the single "Hong Kong Garden", left to right: Siouxsie, Kenny Morris, John McKay and Steven Severin<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Polydor booked the Olympic Studios in London in July 1978 to record the song with the help of an American producer Bruce Albertine, who was more into soul music. The result wasn't convincing: the band hated it.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-g_8-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]  Their manager Nils Stevenson quickly decided to call another sound engineer who had a musical approach closer to theirs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Independent_5-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5]  Steve Lillywhitewas at that time in the capital recording with Johnny Thunders.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Lillywhite finally re-recorded the song in two days:<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Independent_5-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5]  "Hong Kong Garden" would be his first hit record as a producer.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-g_8-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]  He was hired because of his ability to get a certain sound on drums.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-g_8-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]  Lillywhite told Banshee percussionist Kenny Morris to not record all the drums at the same time. Morris did the bass drum and the snare drum first.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-g_8-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]  Then he did the cymbals and the tom-toms later.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-g_8-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]  Lillywhite also added echo on the drums : that would give a lot of space to the whole recording.NME retrospectively said that Lillywhite's work, "revolutionis[ed] the post-punk band's sound with an innovative approach to laying down the drums.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9] ==Critical reception and legacy<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The record was single of the week in the NME,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-n_10-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[10]  Melody Maker,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-m_11-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[11]  Sounds<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-S_12-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]  and Record Mirror.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-r_13-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[13]  The song was described by Paul Rambali in the NME as "a bright, vivid narrative, something like snapshots from the window of a speeding Japanese train, power charged by the most original, intoxicating guitar playing heard in a long, long time."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-n_10-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[10]  Melody Makerunderlined: "The elements come together with remarkable effects. The song is strident and powerful with tantalising oriental guitar riffs."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-m_11-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[11]  Sounds hailed the song as "constructed in the time-honoured tradition of all good singles - catchy, original arrangement coupled with an irresistible sing-along chorus."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-S_12-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]  Record Mirror described the effect the record had as "accessibilty incarnated ... I'm playing it every third record. I love every second."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-r_13-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[13]  One year after its first broadcast on John Peel session, critic Ian Birch reviewed The Cure's song "Killing an Arab" in early 1979, saying: "as Hong Kong Garden used a simple Oriental styled riff to striking effect, so [Killing An] Arab conjures up edginess through a Moorish-flavour guitar pattern".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[14]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In 2014, Sonic Youth's singer and guitarist, Thurston Moore, named "Hong Kong Garden" as one of his all time 25 favourite songs.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[15] ==Different versions<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">On the first studio version recorded by the BBC in February 1978, the oriental hook was played on a pixiphone, a toy glockenspiel with metallic bars : this one would be later issued on both Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions and At the BBC.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">On the second version recorded for Polydor in June 1978, the instrument used was a xylophone, an instrument with wooden bars. This Polydor version was released as a stand-alone single and hit number seven in the UK Singles Chart. When the Banshees' debut album The Scream came out later in the year, "Hong Kong Garden" was not included. It later surfaced on the singles compilation album Once Upon a Time: The Singles. In 2002, the song was remastered to feature on The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In 2006, a re-worked version of "Hong Kong Garden" was included on the soundtrack for Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette, in a slightly different version with an orchestral string introduction. ==2014 Reissue<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In April, "Hong Kong Garden" was reissued on double 7-inch vinyl with new artwork and an 8 page booklet, overseen by Siouxsie and Severin. The first disc featured the original a-side and b-side ("Voices"). The second disc included the 2006's version of "Hong kong Garden" with the orchestral introduction (re-worked for the Marie Antoinette's movie soundtrack), backed up with the 1984's version of "Voices" from The Thorn EP.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16] ==Media<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The song was used in HBO TV series Girls, in the episode 9 of the first season.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17]