POLL: Siouxsie & The Banshees albums

I would've gone with 'JuJu' buy you've gone an complicated things for me by including 'Nocturne'. So my vote is split; 'JuJu' is my favourite studio album but 'Notcurne' is my favourite Siouxsie release. I've never heard anything after 'Peepshow' which didn't really grab me. 'Tinderbox' is otherwise the most under listened to of those 80's record for me.

The Rapture is a really great album - maybe not my favorite, but far better than could be expected for a 1995 album from them.

yeah 'The Rapture' was a pretty massive "return to form",s hame that album never really got the attention it deserved. I'm debating btw 'the Scream' and 'Tinderbox' for the poll.

The Scream.

My Top 3 would be Scream>JuJu>Tinderbox. Enjoying JuJu and KIAD much more lately than I did back in the day when I wrongly found them too 'gothy' whatever that means. The Scream is still by far the best album though.

Dreamhouse gives the best psychedelia imo. Would've liked to vote for Join Hands but bollocks to "The Lord's Prayer" really.

Kaleidoscope, easily... i'm shocked at the lack of love.

The Scream (1978)
Juju (1981)
Tinderbox (1986)

One of these. I recently learned the greatness that is Kaleidoscope but my top three are pretty firmly entrenched (and "Night Shift" will likely always be my favorite song of theirs).

Argh impossible to choose.

But of course now I'm going to have to listen to all these on Spotify to help decide.

It is really a shame that Siouxsie sounds so terrible on Seven Year Itch

(OK, so far it's Juju winning hands down. I mean... MONITOR. Fuck. So awesome I want to roll around on the floor.)

Yeah, "Spellbound", "Monitor", "Night Shift", "Into The Light" and "Voodoo Dolly" all on the same album is very difficult to fuck with.

but does she have any 90s stans?

Well, I like The Rapture just fine... but I'm not gonna vote for it over Juju, Kaleidoscope, The Scream, Tinderbox, Hyaena...

What I'm wondering right now is: how come Siouxsie didn't seem to get named as a touchstone so much for that whole "quirky girl of 2009" thing in the same way as Kate Bush?

Is this due to modern crits being dumb and not familiar with the work of Siouxsie - or more than Siouxsie is an unmined "influence" when it comes to revivals?

It's due to modern crits being dumb, although Karen O has gotten a lot of comparisons IIRC

okay maybe "a lot" is stretching: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=karen+o+siouxsie+sioux&aq=0&aqi=g2&aql=&oq=karen+O+siouxs&gs_rfai=

Twice Upon a Time obv

I've seen Zola Jesus get some Siouxsie comparisons by reviewers:
http://mishkanyc.com/bloglin/2009/07/27/review-zola-jesus-the-spoils/
http://swayingwires.blogspot.com/2010/03/zola-jesus.html
http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2009/09/11/still-more-weekend-music

Though I don't think Zola Jesus is really part of the "quirky girl of 2009" phenomenon.

Who is part of the "quirky girl 2009" phenomenon? I'm guessing Fever Ray, Bat For Lashes... Who else?

Florence and the Machine, I'm guessing.

Susan Boyle

Initial gut reaction was to vote Hyaena but went with Tinderbox in the end. Not just because of my namesake.

oh yeah, Juju has "Sin In My Heart" too

this isn't nearly as close for me as I initially thought

Wow, this is much more difficult than I initially thought.

don't think they ever beat JuJu, but who else has?

think I'll vote for Tinderbox. Surprised no-one else seems to rep for that album.

So Juju's going to win then....

If disc 2 of the de-luxe reissue of The Scream (2 x Peel sessions and demos) was a proper album I'd have voted for that, but anyway...

It is really a shame that Siouxsie sounds so terrible on Seven Year Itch

It is, cos it's an interesting selection of songs on there. The guitar tone is pretty bad at times too. A little flange goes a long way, unless you're John McGeogh, and Jon Klein isn't.

Been listening to the singles comp and just amazed again and again at what a powerhouse singles band they were. I always kind of think of them as an albums band, but the singles are just diamond after diamond.

It's quite funny, though, listening to them again, even though they were solidly put into the "goth" genre, what a huge influence they had on lots of the shoegaze that I like - and not just the obvious Curve comparison - but on bands like Ride and especially Lush - that combination of BIG BIG DRUMS and washes of weird psychedelic chorus-effect guitar backing these incredibly distinctive off-kilter vocals.

that combination of BIG BIG DRUMS and washes of weird psychedelic chorus-effect guitar backing these incredibly distinctive off-kilter vocals.

That's always been my favorite thing about the mid-to-late period records (and even in spots on the early ones).

A little flange goes a long way, unless you're John McGeogh, and Jon Klein isn't.

Uh - I was wrong. It's not Klein on SYI - it's some guy who used to be in the Psychedelic Furs. Anyway....still too much flange.

aaaahhh the drums on JuJu is what absolutely gets it for me. That line on "taken by the legs AND THROWN DOWN THE STAIRS..." and then the toms exactly duplicate the sense of tumbling headfirst down a staircase. Fucking amazing.

I love the 12" version of 'Spellbound'. That groovy bass line in the middle could go on forever for me.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I must say. After a few listens this weekend I have thus far completely underestimated 'Tinderbox'.

That was the second album of theirs I heard and I fell so hard for it that I was kind of afraid to get any of their other albums out of fear of disappointment. I did eventually get Hyaena because of the the RSmith connection and disliked "Dear Prudence" enough to feel justified in avoiding the rest of their catalog (at the time I had those two, Peepshow and Superstition).

Much later, Ned foisted a bunch of mp3s scattered across their career on me and I realized I'd made a terrible, terrible mistake.

I loved Tinderbox when I was 16, but not nearly as much now. I tend to gravitate to the first four and, oddly, Peepshow.

(oh and to go back to Seven Year Itch, that was where I first heard "Icon" and even though Siouxsie sounds a little like she's attempting to pass a bowling ball through her colon it's still a fucking fantastic song)

vote join hands or hang your goth heads in shame

my goth head is attached to a pop body, so it is voting Juju

I still infinetly prefer the the first LP's. Esp. 'Juju'. It's gotta win.

I listened to all of these albums last week, and it was Juju by a ... well, a more than slim margain.

(That said, I could not find Superstition.)

I think I appreciate Join Hands more than I actually like it, if that makes sense. Like, I admire what it was going for but that's not quite enough to make me want to play it.

man I am listening to it right now and gothing the fuck OUT to "Premature Burial" - I yam what I yam

Join Hands is like a lesser version of The Scream -- still goth, weaker songs, slightly experimental re: new directions taken on Kaleidoscope, but never really getting off the ground.

btw I will put my goth hand-movement dance up against anybody's, and it has the added benefit of you can do it without getting up from your rocking chair

gotta say that rave and hip-hop has totally subsumed my goth-fu ;_;

like now I can only truly dance to Gravediggaz

lol!

tolhurst

btw this conversation is inspiring me to listen to Join Hands, assuming Simplify stops being a sandy jock strap and allows me to connect to my home iTunes library

btw this seems like as good a place as any to unleash the righteousness of Bats Day in the Park

I will be taking a pass on this for the 12th year in a row

Guys, I hope your goth hands have got a hold of the BBC box set and the b-sides box set. Both are astounding and worthy of that black place in your hearts.

Only 45 tix left to The Bats Day Ghoulish Gala (Package 3)

I misread that as "Goulash Gala" and was all "huh, goths are down with pasta; who knew?"

lol I am totally above image searching to find evidence of what goth pasta love has done to once-legendarily-slender goth waistlines but let it suffice to say the the concessions dudes at Bats Day will probably not regret showing up to work

Much later, Ned foisted a bunch of mp3s scattered across their career on me and I realized I'd made a terrible, terrible mistake.

Better late than never. And glad to help.

Listening to Hyaena right now for the first time in eons. "Dazzle" is really a beast of a song, but it all really kind of trails after that yeah?

You complaining about "Swimming Horses" over there?

Maybe I am...

I'm a big fan of "Bring Me the Head of the Preacher Man" and "Blow the House Down"

I haven't gotten to the second half yet, Dan. Perhaps I'll be surprised.

(Even years ago, this was never an album I listened to all that much.)

I'm a big fan of "Bring Me the Head of the Preacher Man" and "Blow the House Down"

Haha those were the other two I was thinking of.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The Scream (1978) 8

Join Hands (1979) 3

The goths hath spoken.

Hyaena is really the only album with 0 votes that deserved at least a couple; it's damn good.

not really Dazzle and Bring me the Head are the only standout songs on this. Probably their least interesting release after Superstition

Through the Looking Glass (1987) 0

To this album's credit, I was turned on to many things early on by figuring out what bands originally did the songs that were being covered (Kraftwerk, Television, etc).

not really Dazzle and Bring me the Head are the only standout songs on this.

I would replace "Bring Me the Head" with "Swimming Horses" though.

The results are pretty much spot on how I feel. With the exception of the neglected 'Nocturne'. Ironically I'm sure 'Nocture' would gather more than a few votes in a Best Live Album poll. It's the best one stop shop for Siouxsie for me.

I wish people wouldn't refer to the Scream as goth!

Gerald OTM about both box sets.

Glad to see Kaleidoscope got 4 as I always thought it was under-rated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ffSWA5b_s

Kaleidoscope has some great great songs on it but I haven't really gotten into it as an album.

It needed "Israel" to anchor it, but that song was released as a stand-alone single instead.

How the hell did "Hyæna" end up with zero votes? Life makes no sense!

I guess part of the answer to that is "Abbott didn't vote."

Hyaena deserves something, even if it's just for Swimming Horses.
Parts of Kalaeidoscope can sound sparse and underwhelming, but its standouts are just so great. Desert Kisses is one of the best things they ever did - and they never had another song in the same style. They were just inventing whole styles of music around this perdiod and then moving on.
Juju is the epitome of this inventiveness, and deserves to win.

OTOH, Juju has "Spellbound" and "Night Shift" on it.

Actually, I take back my last comment. At no point is Kaleidoscope underwhelming.

http://open.spotify.com/user/djperry1973/playlist/3f8NhEZkbfmDYRZjuEKbNg

one day I went through all of the SatB material on Spotify and made a playlist of the songs I thought were absolutely 100% indispensible

today I am playing it and I was totally OTM

some friend of humanity has added the full DVD from the At The Beeb box. 30 songs herein. goth-out at your leisure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qlm234lbeM

How did Hyæna get 0 votes?

that performance of Happy House rules. i love that song.

although, lip synced. :(

I was thinking the same thing about Hyaena!

I'll go years without listening to Siouxsie and then it'll be time for the full immersion.

damn, the At the Beeb stuff is great, i've never seen any of it before. the live version of "tenant" is so good!

Hyaena has Swimming Horses, which is just gorgeous

until you watch the video where the guys stand around embarrassed in their longjohns while film is projected onto them and Sioux swans around in front.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/54/83/fa/5483fac4d4ecbcff7546d2940a89a317.jpg

In full Siouxsie mode atm. Finally listened to "The Rapture". What a mess until the last three tunes then WOMP!!

It's a glittering prize!

how is "spellbound" not in your top ten?

So many glittering prizes!

Peepshow was my first Siouxsie album and I probably would have voted for it had I seen this poll.

I wonder the identity of the one voter who chose it and their criteria? Was it you, Johnny fever?

How did Hyæna get 0 votes?

― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Wednesday, March 1, 2017 9:35 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Fantastic Hyaena-era show. Audio only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM7qPO5sIYU

Hyæna is so weirdly underrated now; granted McGeoch's shadow was astoundingly long but still, it's Robert Goddamn Smith on that thing! That whole two year stretch of him doing that, the tours, the Glove AND UK pop breakthrough Cure is so insane.

Yes! And his playing on the tour and album as heard in that link was fire and brimstone in a way I never heard come from him in his band.

wait, there's a BBC box set?!

Yup: https://www.discogs.com/release/1800195-Siouxsie-And-The-Banshees-At-The-BBC

And I very happily own it

"5 for sale from $103.26"

oh well

Yeah a nice run but Hyaena is by far the weakest thing to come out of it. Not his fault by any means

Hyaena had the most reverb slathered on of all their albums, eh?

Just saying because I picked up the Uncut collection of their interviews (it's phenomenal) and relistening to the discography in order. On Hyaena atm and it is glorious yet hella reverby.

Also "Running Town" is such a Cure tune.

I don't think the singles comps do them justice, they need a proper anthology to serve as a gateway for new listeners.

Reading the Paytress book recently and it’s incredible how much death, illness and injury was happening around the band. It seems like a miracle that the core three were relatively unscathed. Severin made some barbed comments on his Facebook about the new Budgie book which I thought was a shame. Especially after what they’d all been through.

I’ll have to pick up that Uncut special.