I was ready to enjoy Peepshow, but I donāt really think itās much better than Tinderbox or Hyaena, really. First two tracks are strong. After that my minds a blank.
2 Likes
Not my fav but a little brutal I think.
Peepshow
Here we go, got a third listen in this morning to what was a new to me album as of last week.
So starting off, first impression on first listen was āIs this Janet Jackson?!ā Very 80s production in the beginning of āPeek-a-Booā. Oh wait, I know this song. Itās been ages since Iāve heard it and it almost sounds like a different version. This has to be the biggest style shift in their career so far. The accordion?! Anyway it is a pretty great song.
āThe Killing Jarā was decent on first listen, onn second listen I wondered if this was a known song or deep cut. Kind of familiar but didnāt do a lot for me. On third listen I realized it is good and I like it. Probably on a Best Of.
āScarecrowā also passed over me on first listen, but I paid more attention on second. Nice having this to balance out the more pop material so far, although itās also quite accessible. Kind of enjoy the chorus. Good song. So far so good on this album.
Didnāt we already have a song called āCarouselā? I like it overall, nice change of pace that works as part of the whole. On third listen Iāve realized that musically it reminds me of a Plaid song, which is interesting.
Oh my what is this? āBurn-Upā? More like round-up (sounds like what youād call a lasso event) or Cowboy BeGoth. This is nuts and totally unexpected. But do I hate it? No. ā Those were my thoughts on first listen. Naturally itās a lot less jarring on second listen, and it contributes well to the carnival theme I suppose. But I donāt know, gets a little much with the Jack be nimble stuff toward the end and overstays its welcome.
As Iām listening I kind of feel like they needed this change of direction. Something has breathed new life into their sound, which was getting a little flat and treading too much of the same ground. I think this was a first listen observation and I took some notes and reflected on the material up to now while the next song or two were playing in the background, mostly passing me by.
Something at the start of āOrnaments of Goldā was quite familiar, like a Coil song at the turn of the decadeā¦something from Loveās Secret Domain? I donāt know how to describe it, like drum machine loops resulting in a kind of clapping sound. No, wait a minute. As Iām here finalizing this review Iām actually able to check out samples from that Coil album and replaying the beginning of this track trying to nail it down. Think I might have it. The Associates! āMessage Oblique Speechā from 1981, thatās exactly it. Not saying it was ripped off of course, but itās pretty dead-on. Decent song overall, pretty by-the-numbers for SatB. The Associates song, on the other hand, is really great.
āTurn to Stoneā is another decent song I donāt have much to say about even after 3 listens. First vocal brought to mind another singer but I canāt place it. Actually, again now that Iām at my desk and can check out samples real quick, itās Kazu Makino from Blonde Redhead. Just that first second of vocal made me think of her. I donāt see how Blonde Redhead would not have been influenced by Siouxsie. I like the synth melody that runs throughout but becomes more obvious toward the end. The bass tone is nice too when you can actually hear it. Better sound now as Iām quickly scanning clips, perhaps? Maybe the song is too layered and I miss the more stripped-down sound.
Now it feels weird to think about my initial thoughts that there was new life in their sound, as these last two songs feel more like treading previously covered ground.
āRawhead and Bloodybonesā is weird. Cute little intro and certainly not terrible, but itās little more than an interlude. Kinda creepy at the end with what sounds like a crying child.
This album really seems to be fizzling out at this point, with āThe Last Beat of My Heartā also being quite slow. It actually feels like their first proper Art Pop song. Not that I was waiting for that, but Iāve seen the label assigned to some previous albums and didnāt think it was quite there. Actually on 3rd listen itās quite ethereal I guess, like the next track. Could be a closer. Quite bored with the album at this point tbh.
āRhapsodyā is indeed a closer. Ethereal vibes abound. Glad some guitars and drums are introduced around 1:20 to breathe some life into the song. Itās decent but Iām not much a fan of this vocal style and ethereal stuff. It sounds pretty but pretty isnāt what I look for in music. Cocteau Twins for example, couldnāt really be bothered with them from what little Iād heard till I heard their debut album which is great post-punk. Thereās only been one album in my life so far Iād refer to as ethereal that I really enjoyed, and that was the Front Line Assembly offshoot project Deleriumās Karma in 1997, because I had some really good times with it on MDMA. Wasnāt ever bothered checking out their other albums.
So Siouxsie and the Banshees werenāt really trend setters at this point were they? Peek-a-Boo and Burn-Up are pretty unique, there are some other tracks I like that blend some previous ground theyāve covered but with a slightly new spin (more polished, accessible but not overly so), and others like Rhapsody where they being in outside influences. The album definitely has a stronger A-side, itās interesting how the vibe really shifts. Obviously there are moments I like but Iām not prepared to give this a higher score than any of the last few. Just realizing I gave Tinderbox 6/10, and I think this is on par with that.
3 Likes
Weāll be back next week folks.
4 Likes
Great, because Superstition is ā¦ I wonāt say return to form, since it doesnāt come close to the consistency of Juju, but it is generally a whole lot better (to my ears) than anything since (and including) Hyaena.
2 Likes
Up until the listening club was announced, Superstition was the only other Banshees album I owned besides The Scream. Obviously very different records but imo itās pretty good, and I think (???) itās pretty well regarded as a ālaterā Banshees album overall. Really striking cover, too.
1 Like
For some reason I thought we only had one album left but we have TWO!
1 Like
And weāre off again!
Superstition is the 10th studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1991.
The lead single, āKiss Them for Me,ā gave the band its first top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit in the United States, peaking at No. 23, with the album peaking at No. 65 on the Billboard 200 chart.[1] The band widened its musical influences with the arrival of Indian musician Talvin Singh, who played tablas on the songs āKiss Them for Meā and āSilver Waterfalls.ā
(This is the first mention of Talvin Iāve come across. He won the Mercury Music Award in ā98 for his album OK.)
So here we go with the Bansheeās second last album.
4 Likes
The Schooly D drum sample that kicks everything off is so thrilling; Kiss Them For Me is such a banger. This album would really benefit from a remaster imo, the production lacks the dynamism it deserves.
[EDIT] Oh wait, thereās a 2014 remaster. Never going to find that, haha. Banshees albums are like henās teeth.
1 Like
It being an early 90s gothic pop album it shouldnāt be surprising to hear influences like Angelo Badalamenti and late/Fontana years era Cocteau Twins creeping in to some of the songs on Superstition. I actually wondered if Siouxie had ever worked with Badalamenti and she did (!) on the soundtrack for The Edge Of Love in 2008.
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Have played this twice already this week. Canāt remember anything other than Kiss Them for Me, itās all just washed over me.
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Really? I think it is easily the best of the post-Dreamhouse albums. I know thatās probably not saying much, but I would happily consider it alongside The Scream, maybe Dreamhouse too, when trying to rank their albums.
KTFM is obviously a monster, but more than a couple of the tracks leave with the same impression that Monitor from Juju does ā not that they sound similar, but they have this kind of really generic (in a good way) feel to them, like theyāve laid down a commercial rock template that has been used a thousand times, but still feels fresh, because no one has done it as well as the Banshees. Shadowtime, especially, but also Cry and Silly Thing could have been songs on the Killersā second album, if they hadnāt veered towards Springsteen.
1 Like
Superstition
- Kiss Them for Me
- Fear (of the Unknown)
- Cry
- Drifter
- Little Sister
- Shadowtime
- Silly Thing
- Got to Get Up
- Silver Waterfalls
- Softly
- The Ghost in You
0 voters
the longer this club goes on, the more I realise that the Banshees were a great singles band who only made one solid gold album
2 Likes
It really looks like once upon a time is all you really needā¦
Iāll still go to bat for Juju, but an awful lot of the rest is less than essential, isnāt it?
1 Like
This could be exactly what contributed to this washing over me. But my first two spins were not fully attentive, I was working part of the time, maybe walking the dog for a few songs, and sometimes playing while my g/f was making dinner and the vent was on. Went through a 3rd listen this morning (walking dog and then driving) and do think I was able to pick up on more this time. Itās certainly not worse than the last few, possibly like it more than Tinderbox and Peepshowā¦but those are no longer fresh in my mind after the break.
One comment I have in my notes for review is about how in the late 70s they influenced a lot of the 80s sound, essentially creating a template as you say here, but that they didnāt necessarily create a template or influence the 90s sound. Am I wrong? Am I just having a hard time seeing it because the 90s were my formative years and I just havenāt thought much about what exactly influenced the 90s (aside from the punk & electronic angles perhaps). But commercial rock, not that much I guess. Thought if The Cure were in question I might be more likely to say itās obvious, now that I think about it. And theyāre cut from the same cloth.
Iāve intentionally avoided listening to The Killers so canāt relate to that bit.
1 Like
Thought about this too today on my 3rd listen of Superstition. Although I do feel 3 or 4 albums are great, Iām tempted to listen to a comp after we get through all the studio albums and see how it feels. I think itās like most bands really, a few classic albums and the rest could be condensed into a Best Of.
1 Like
Not wrong at all. But I kinda feel the same way with the Cure (whom I adore). Wish is fantastic, but by that point, theyāre drawing on contemporary sounds rather than setting trends. I guess you could say that The Cure influenced a lot of the emo bands, but Iām not sure in the sense of giving them a template.
At any rate, once I feel that a bandās truly innovative peak has passed, I tend to look more just for consistency of song writing, with a few interesting sounds, rather than anything groundbreaking. Superstition (for me) scores better on that measure than anything since the innovative period, which is why Iām mildly enthusiastic about it.
1 Like
What do we think?
Superstition
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0 voters