Siouxsie and the Banshees week: finale
Tinderbox (1986): The Banshees went through guitarists like Spinal Tap go through drummers. This time John Valentine Carruthers has slipped through the revolving door, and on “Cannons” and “Party’s Fall” you don’t miss his predecessors. Don’t know how anyone finds the lyrics to “Candyman” defensible. B-
Later Banshees: “Trust in Me”, “This Wheel’s on Fire”, “Strange Fruit”, “The Passenger”, Peek-a-Boo”, “Face to Face”: “Strange Fruit” is the shark-jump, with Siouxsie projecting zero understanding of Southern racism — or of suffering beyond her own.
Some Peel sessions: “Mirage”, “Hong Kong Garden”, “Into the Light”, “Cannons”: None match the studio versions, though “Into the Light” is a testament to their McGeoch-era groove.
Solo Siouxsie: “Into a Swan”, “About to Happen”, “Here Comes That Day”, “Loveless”, “Alchemy”: Better than late Banshees in all aspects, but only the comparatively spare “Heaven and Alchemy” is necessary.
It doesn’t count but: “Cish Cash” is the best her singing has ever sounded, with actual variations in timbre.
Summary
The Scream (1978) B
Kaleidoscope (1980) B-
Juju (1981) B+
Once Upon a Time/The Singles (comp, 1981) B+
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982) B
Tinderbox (1986) B-
20 greatest hits (including solo Siouxsie, but I never listened to the Creatures):
- Happy House (Kaleidoscope)
- Hong Kong Garden
- Melt! (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse)
- Into the Light (Juju)
- Spellbound (Juju)
- Jigsaw Feeling (The Scream)
- Mirage (The Scream)
- Cannons (Tinderbox)
- Dazzle (Hyaena)
- Arabian Knights (Juju)
- Heaven and Alchemy (solo, Mantaray)
- Party’s Fall (Tinderbox)
- Cascade (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse)
- Cities in Dust (Tinderbox)
- Voodoo Dolly (Juju)
- Green Fingers (A Kiss in the Dreamhouse)
- Dear Prudence (Hyaena)
- Christine (Kaleidoscope)
- Carcass (The Scream)
- About to Happen (solo, Mantaray)
Next: Tina Turner week! Probably Tina Turner fortnight actually, since I’ll be busy moving in a few days.
Siouxsie and the Banshees week
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982): “Cascade” is the only rocker I need to ride again. “Melt!” is the only one of the pretentious ones that makes its point. Might be their best pretentious one — the sex is unvanilla enough to be plausibly pointing forward to PJ Harvey. B
From Hyaena (1984): “Dazzle”, “Swimming Horses”, “Dear Prudence”, “Pointing Bone”: They’d been short on proper songs, so it’s a relief that the Beatles cover gives them a live song to work with, but interpretation isn’t their strength.
Very good song: “Melt!”
Good songs: “Cascade”, “Dazzle”
Kind of good songs: “Green Fingers”, “Dear Prudence” et al.
Siouxsie and the Banshees week
Some tracks from Join Hands (1979): “Regal Zone”, “Placebo Effect”, “Playground Twist”: distinctions not cost-effective.
Kaleidoscope (1980): “Happy House” stands out, with Siouxsie paying attention to her lyrics for once — her aspiriation of “happy” adds disdain. Not much else sticks for me. Even “Christine” doesn’t quite manage to say something about multiple personality disorder. B-
Juju (1981): The band is very tight at this point, with Budgie on drums the main upgrade. The lyrics are heavy on repetition. Siouxsie turns them into incantations, and I’m often spellbound. B+
Great song: “Happy House”
Very good song: “Spellbound”, “Into the Light”
Good song: “Arabian Knights”
Kind of good: “Christine”, “Voodoo Dolly” et al.
As part of my quest for non-pro wrestling content, I’m ripping off One Band One Week. A catch is that I want to work through artists to whom I haven’t previously spent much time listening. To that end:
Musicians of the week: Siouxsie and the Banshees
Background knowledge: I recall the above bit from Marie Antoinette and Siouxsie’s Basement Jaxx track. That’s it.
Once Upon a Time/The Singles (comp, 1981): “Hong Kong Garden” doesn’t explicate its glockenspiel orientalism, but it’s as crassly effective as MSG. I don’t know how to divide the credit for the epochal guitar between John McKay and Steve Lillywhite, though Lillywhite would go on to have a stronger track record of epochal guitar. Both soon disappear, but to compensate, the band plays tighter when they aren’t wandering the Sinai. “Happy House”, which marks their transformation into some kind of groove band, sounds the best of the rest. B+
(Edit: Ah, that’s why “Happy House” sounds familiar. I had blocked the Weeknd out of my mind.)
The Scream (1978): McKay! Lillywhite! The guitar is better when it’s post-punk-not-punk, but the writing isn’t. The sparser songs give Siouxsie a lot of room, and it’s apparent she’s no Poly — the second repetition of “drastic side effects” on “Switch” is tough. She’s a lot better on “Mirage”, selling the mixed metaphors with her contempt. “Jigsaw Feeling” is a more straightforward lyric, and though Siouxsie isn’t interested in portraying insecurity, there’s value in a commanding woman showing that she understands insecurity. B (I’d guess a B+ for the reissue with “Hong Kong Garden” and “The Staircase (Mystery)”)
Great song: Hong Kong Garden
Very good songs: Jigsaw Feeling, Happy House, Spellbound
Good songs: Mirage, Arabian Knights
Kind of good songs: Carcass, Christine among many others
