Siouxsie and the Banshees Albums (13)
'The Seven Year Itch'
Release Date 5/19/2003
Tracks 14
Label Sanctuary
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
It's fairly safe to say that after the rather bland and lackluster, pompous career-ending album The Rapture, hope for a Siouxsie and the Banshees reunion (albeit live or otherwise) was probably less than enthusiastic. Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie had been making post-breakup waves with the Creatures, and Steven Severin seemed to settle in nicely in his little world of ambient music and erotic poetry. All that Banshees business seemed to be locked away in the past. So when it was announced that the reunited core three of Sioux, Budgie, and Severin would be playing a handful of shows across America and England, it was greeted with surprise and curiosity. What would they do? Was this another big cash in on the punk revival, à la the Sex Pistols reunion? Amazingly, it was quite the contrary. The lack of a huge itinerary made the shows that did happen seem more intimate. But the real treat of the shows (especially the London one, captured on Seven Year Itch and its related DVD release) was the set list. While in the States concessions were made for some of the tunes that made a (surprising) dent on the radio, the U.K. set list was a purist's dream. Culling material from early albums such as Kaleidoscope, The Scream, and Join Hands was not only a way to retain some semblance of respect, but it was the logical thing to do given the fickleness of casual fans who probably wouldn't have made the trek to wherever to see them. This tour and its CD and DVD releases were made for the true fans, the longtime supporters who understood that the true magic of the band was found in its ability to make music that was genuinely interesting and out of the bounds of standard play lists and popular fads. A gem of a live record, Seven Year Itch leaves the listener satisfied that for once a great band got together and opted for class instead of mediocrity. ~ Chris True, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
It would have been easy to write off the Banshees after the so-so Superstition, especially given the fact that it came after two uneven and disappointing albums (including the unnecessary covers collection Through the Looking Glass) Frankly, one of punk's most consistently invigorating acts seemed to have run their course. Sure enough, The Rapture proved to be their final recording. The surprise is that it's a career highpoint. The band deny, incidentally, that they knew this was to be their last album. Quite how Siouxsie, Severin and Budgie rediscovered their chemistry is a moot point - some credited producer John Cale, who worked on four tracks - but rediscover it they did. Despite nods to the band's past in the savage "Not Forgotten," the real gems are the sunny-side-up "O, Baby" (when did Siouxsie ever sound so genuinely happy?) and an 11-minute title-track that is as dazzling as anything they have ever performed. A classic case of leaving the scene on a high note, and a fitting final chapter from one of punk's finest, and most dignified, bands. ~ Alex Ogg, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Superstition is a similar album to that of Peepshow, this time with more precise production and a lighter feeling to many of the songs. While Siouxsie and the Banshees albums like Tinderbox and Juju were dark affairs, Superstition's sound is representative of the pink of the album cover. A softer pop sound, mixed with the Banshees' penchant for minor keys and strange imagery. They manage to pull it off quite well on most tracks. "Fear (Of the Unknown)" and "Drifter" are classic Siouxsie stuff, and "Kiss Them for Me" gave them their first significant entry into the U.S. singles charts. But it's tracks like "Silly Thing" that hold this album back. This track manages to do what the Banshees had avoided all their career -- sounding like someone else. One of their most accessible albums, Superstition has appeal without losing its edge. ~ Chris True, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The switch to Yet Another Banshees Guitarist in Specimen vet Jon Klein might have been seen as a cue for a time of tentative rebuilding -- the more so because another new member, cellist Martin McCarrick, was recruited at the same time. Anything but -- heralded by the spectacular "Peek-A-Boo," interpolating what sounded like the Charleston into hip-hop rhythms with a brilliant, choppy arrangement, Peepshow proved the band's best album in years. Once again showcasing the band's ace in the hole -- the ability to always provide an accomplished variety of sound and approach while still recognizably maintaining a uniquely Banshees style -- Peepshow is the sound of a band reenergized. Siouxsie's thrilling call and response with herself on "Peek-A-Boo" really can't be beat, but her star turns throughout the album all deserve notice, especially with the bravura one-two conclusion of the stately "The Last Beat of My Heart" and the dramatic, lives-up-to-the-title "Rhapsody." McCarrick's cello work is excellently integrated into the music, adding a purring extra bite on songs like the pummeling "The Killing Jar," while both Steven Severin and Budgie acquit themselves well as always. If their moments of total flash are subsumed for the overall arrangements, it's to the benefit of the songs, overseen with another fine production job from semi-regular Banshees studio cohort Mike Hedges. The band's knack for a combination of title, lyric, and atmosphere remains strong -- "Carousel" sounds indeed like a slightly demented version of such a thing, while "Rawhead and Bloodybones," appropriately for two English bogeyman characters, is quiet, creepy, and very much sneaking-up-on-you-in-the-night. "Scarecrow" is a secret highlight, ominous guitar and bass tones and swirling arrangements supporting a great Siouxsie turn, while the hints of flamenco on "Turn to Stone" perhaps inadvertently suggest where the Creatures would end up with their next album two years later. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
'Through the Looking Glass'
Release Date 1/1/1986
Tracks 10
Label Geffen
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What The Critics Say
Following Tinderbox's success but still not working as well with John Valentine Carruthers as they could have, Siouxsie and the Banshees kept him on for one further album -- a covers collection, much in the vein of band inspiration David Bowie's Pin-Ups. Through the Looking Glass is more than a time killer but less than a total success -- if anything it's seen more now as a chance for the band to refocus before ditching Carruthers and creating the stunning Peepshow. But there have been far worse efforts from other performers in this vein, and there's a cool, giddy fun at work throughout that makes it a fine listen. The inspired range of covers reaches from glam-era landmarks (Roxy Music's "Sea Breezes," John Cale's "Gun") to Billie Holiday's sorrowful touchstone "Strange Fruit" to, in one of the best such efforts ever (and a year before Hal Willner's Stay Awake project), a Disney classic -- namely the slinky "Trust in Me," originally from The Jungle Book and given a spare, mostly-Budgie backing that could almost be a sparkling Creatures outtake. Some takes are more or less direct clones without much to add -- Sparks' "This Town Isn't Big Enough for Both of Us" misses the sheer hysteria that Russell Mael brought to the original, but Iggy Pop's "The Passenger" adds a bit of horn-section punch and lets Siouxsie demonstrate her ability with calm, dismissive cool. Turning Kraftwerk's empty, haunted "Hall of Mirrors" into a much more propulsive, Morricone guitar-tinged number makes for a fine reinvention, though, while Bob Dylan-via-Julie Driscoll's "This Wheel's on Fire" made for an enjoyable, string-touched single from the album. And if anyone needed proof that the Banshees were obsessive fan types when they started, the concluding cover of Television's debut obscurity "Little Johnny Jewel" would provide it. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
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, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Broadening the eclectically experimental landscape of 1982's Kiss in the Dream House with the occasional string arrangement and a spacious sound mix, Siouxsie and the Banshees' Geffen debut nicely bridges the gap between the band's handful of more-punk-than-pop early releases and their run of new wave, radio-friendly hits from the late '80s and early '90s. And though echoes of classic albums like Kaleidoscope and JuJu are heard in dark and menacing tracks such as "Bring Me the Head of the Preacher Man" and "Blow Your House Down," the emphasis here is on layered arrangements and pop tunes disguised as art-house production numbers ("Dazzle"); tasteful horn and keyboard parts expand the group's guitar-dominated sound and provide Siouxsie with an airy and dreamlike backdrop in which to fully display her considerable vocal talents. Siouxsie further refines things by also including a generous share of fleet and gothic-tinged pop numbers like "Belladonna," "Running Town," and the band's hit cover of "Dear Prudence." Anchored by the signature sound of Steven Severin's guitar-like bass and Budgie's exotically adept percussion work, Hyaena qualifies as one of Siouxsie and the Banshees' finest moments. ~ Stephen Cook, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Nocturne is a top-notch live double album recorded in 1983 at the Royal Albert Hall. The sound quality is first-rate and the band performs excellently here. The songs on this release run a wide chronological range, from early numbers like the Lennon/McCartney cover "Helter Skelter" (here given a fire-breathing performance) to their recent single of the time (another Beatles song), "Dear Prudence." Much of the material is culled from the group's recent releases: Juju, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, and Kaleidoscope. This platter serves as an excellent, no-nonsense introduction to the band's music for neophytes, while fans of the group will appreciate the tight, gutsy, stripped-down performances. ~ David Cleary, All Music Guide
'A Kiss in the Dreamhouse'
Release Date 1/1/1982
Tracks 9
Label Polydor
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse shows Siouxsie and the Banshees backpedalling a bit from their excellently forthright predecessor, Juju, to update the more avant-garde stylings of Kaleidoscope. This album is in fact the Banshees' crowning glory in this experimental vein. Production and arrangements are highly varied and accomplished, and Sioux's singing by now is excellent, capable of imaginative shadings and free of its former tunelessness. "Obsession" is scored for chimes, overdubbed breathing, swallowed synthesizer sounds, strings, and very occasional guitar touches; this all supports a fine vocal with lyrics about the speaker's fixation on her object of desire. "Green Finger" is a driving, up-tempo number with Joy Division melodic bass, sparkling synthesizer touches, and wacky recorder tootlings. "Painted Bird" features a full helping of multi-tracked vocals propelled by a drumbeat that is alternately skittering and thumping; portions of this song suggest a nightmare version of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way." "Cocoon" is best characterized as mutant bopping jazz with an often breathy, cooing vocal. "She's a Carnival" and "Slowdive" suggest eccentric stabs at mainstream acceptance, the former being a comparatively gutsy and forthright rocker, the latter a violin-colored dance beat number with hints of New Order or David Bowie that is a catchy melodic hook away from being the real thing. This fine platter is well worth purchasing. ~ David Cleary, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
One of the band's masterworks, Juju sees Siouxsie and the Banshees operating in a squalid wall of sound dominated by tribal drums, swirling and piercing guitars, and Siouxsie Sioux's fractured art-attack vocals. If not for John McGeoch's marvelous high-pitched guitars, here as reminiscent of Joy Division as his own work in Magazine, the album would rank as the band's most gothic release. Siouxsie and company took things to an entirely new level of darkness on Juju, with the singer taking delight in sinister wordplay on the disturbing "Head Cut," creeping out listeners in the somewhat tongue-in-cheek "Halloween," and inspiring her bandmates to push their rhythmic witches brew to poisonous levels of toxicity. Album opener "Spellbound," one of the band's classics, ranks among their finest moments and bristles with storming energy. Siouxsie's mysterious voice emerges from dense guitar picking, Budgie lays into his drums as if calling soldiers to war, and things get more tense from there. "Into the Light" is perhaps the only track where a listener gets a breath of oxygen, as the remainder of the album screams claustrophobia, whether by creepy carnival waterfalls of guitar notes or Siouxsie's unsettling lyrics. "Arabian Nights" at least offers a gorgeously melodic chorus, but after that the band performs a symphony of bizarre wailings and freaky imagery. As ominous as the cacophony is on its own, close attention to Siouxsie's nearly subliminal chants paints a scarier picture. A passage such as "I saw you...a huge smiling central face with eyes and lips cut out but smiling and eating lots of other lips" doesn't exactly brighten one's day. Siouxsie is full of such quips throughout the album's running time, but her delivery packs as much punk as her message. Her attack-the-world dynamic range on "Voodoo Dolly" predates and out-weirds Björk's similar styling years later. McGeoch, Budgie, and bassist Steven Severin deserve just as much credit for crafting an original sound that would inspire a diverse group of future bands from Ministry to Placebo. All the while, producer Nigel Gray maintains the sense that the album is an immediate, edgy performance unfolding right in front of the listener. The upfront intensity of Juju probably isn't matched anywhere else in the catalog of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Thanks to its killer singles, unrelenting force, and invigorating dynamics, Juju is a post-punk classic. ~ Tim DiGravina, All Music Guide
