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Rating: The importance of Siouxsie And The Banshees in the global music scene has already been sufficiently documented, even in other great DeReviews dedicated to this group. Twenty years of career, starting with Vicious in 1976; their first album in '78 with the definitive lineup, featuring the great Steven Severin (Havoc) on bass and the extraordinary Budgie on drums, concluding in '95 with "The Rapture".
The five-year period from 1978 to 1983, in my opinion, is the best of the Banshees' entire artistic output. 'Juju' was released in 1981 by Polydor, the first label to have the courage and wisdom to produce the Banshees. And here is the masterpiece. Sepulchral atmospheres, macabre dances, repetitive ballads, and litanies on the verge of a chant share the field with great Dark rides led by Budgie's obsessive percussion.
The album opens with the most punk track, "Spellbound." To break the ice, the obsessive rhythms of the drums and McGeogh's acoustic guitar are perfect. "Into The Light" is the first truly macabre dance of the record. It is difficult to define precisely, the melody is deliberately repetitive, and Siouxsie's voice is a rare embroidery. "Arabian Knights" is one of the manifestos of the entire Dark punk. The union of European and Eastern traditions is fully realized. Siouxsie's political diatribe against the progressive Westernization of the Middle East is harsh and leaves no escape. But it leaves a mark. "Halloween" is the first macabre dance in Banshees' style. (And Danzig's Misfits in '82's Walk Among Us thank them). "Monitor" is a particularly electronic and alienating piece (industrial?). Here, there's nothing to be done, just wait for the Banshees to stop demonstrating how deep a song can delve. The subsequent "Night Shift" is a missed beat. Yes, indeed. In the album's economy, it is definitely a transition piece.
The last three songs form a single ascending dark climax where first the syncopated drums of Budgie take over, then the distorted (almost "weeping," one might say) guitar of McGeogh, and finally Siouxsie's great voice and interpretation. Three tracks that cannot be separated. The Banshees succeeded in bringing all the specters and deep mists of old Albion into a territory where strange African dances and distressing Middle Eastern litanies meet, thereby recreating the perfect nightmare. Don't believe it? Try experiencing it.
Or do you want Siouxsie to try her new voodoo doll on you?
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Spellbound (03:18)
From the cradle bars
Comes a beckoning voice
It sends you spinning
You have no choice...
You hear laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice...
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
And don't forget
When your elders forget
To say their prayers
Take them by the legs
And throw them down the stairs
When you think
Your toys have gone berserk
An' it's an illusion
You cannot shirk
You hear laughter
Cracking through the walls
It sends you spinning
You have no choice
Following the footsteps
Of a rag doll dance
We are entranced
Spellbound
03 Arabian Knights (03:06)
The jewel, the prize
Looking into your eyes
Cool pools drown your mind
What else will you find
I heard a rumour -- it was just a rumour
I heard a rumour -- what have you done to her
Myriad lights -- they said I'd be impressed
Arabian Knights -- at your primitive best
A tourist oasis -- reflects in seedy sunshades
A monstrous oil tanker
Its wound bleeding in seas
I heard a rumour -- what have you done to her
I heard a rumour -- what have you done to her
Veiled behind screens
Kept as your baby machine
Whilst you conquer more orifices
Of boys, goats and things
Ripped out sheeps' eyes -- no forks or knives
Myriad lights -- they said I'd be impressed
Arabian Knights -- at your primitive best
04 Halloween (03:42)
The night is still
And the frost it bites my face
I wear my silence like a mask
And murmur like a ghost
"Trick or Treat"
"Trick or Treat"
The bitter and the sweet
The carefree days
Are distant now
I wear my memories like a shroud
I try to speak but words collapse
Echoing
"Trick or Treat"
"Trick or Treat"
The bitter and the sweet
I wander through your sadness
Gazing at you with scorpion eyes
Halloween... Halloween
A sweet reminder
In the ice-blue nursery
Of a childish murder
Of hidden lustre
And she cries
"Trick or Treat"
"Trick or Treat"
The bitter and the sweet
I wander through your sadness
Gazing at you with scorpion eyes
Halloween... Halloween
05 Monitor (05:35)
Monitor outside
for the people inside
a prevention of crime
a passing of time
The come and they go
it's a passing of time
they come and they go
Whilst we sit in our homes
Sit back and enjoy
the real McCoy
our new air of authority
our sentinel of misery
His face was full of intent
and we shook excitement
then the victim stared up
looked strangely at the screen
as if her pain was our fault
but that's entertainment
what we crave for inside
no more second rate movies
from those people outside
06 Night Shift (06:05)
Only at night time I see you
In darkness I feel you
A bride by my side -- I'm inside many brides
Sometimes I wonder...
What goes on in your mind, always silent and kind
Unlike the others...
Fuck the mothers kill the others
Fuck the others kill the mothers
I'll put it out of my mind because...
I'm out of my mind with you
In heaven and hell with you...
My Night Shift sisters
Await your nightly visitor
They don't bother me
No they don't bother me
The cold marble slab submits at my feet
With a neat dissection...
Looking so sweet to me -- please come to me
With your cold flesh -- my cold love
Hissing -- not kissing
A happy go lucky chap -- always dressed in black
He'll come to you, he'll come to you
My Night Shift sisters
With your nightly visitor
A new vocation in life
My love with a knife
Fuck the mothers kill the others
Fuck the others kill the mothers
I'll put it out of my mind because...
I'm out of my mind with you
In heaven and hell with you...
07 Sin in My Heart (03:38)
Sin in my heart
Sin in my heart...
Sin in my heart flying like a dart
Oh sin in my heart
It's beginning to start...
When you're lying like a tart
Oh sin in my heart
When you grovel at my feet
Oh sin in my heart
It's short and sweet
Sin in my heart...
Swift as a dart sin in my heart
Oh sin in my heart
When you grovel at my feet
Keep it short and sweet
Sin in my heart...
08 Head Cut (04:24)
The head is the best part
My headcut my woodcut
I saw you in the gallery
With your torso and family
A huge smiling central face
With eyes and lips cut out
But smiling and eating
Lots of other lips...
A beautiful mask in plastercast
Such a beautiful mask in plastercast
Can I take it back with me?
Back to the flat with me?
Oh severed head
I'll feed your head with bread
And paint your lips bright red
I'll keep it fresh on ice
It will look very nice
Can I take it back with me
Back to the flat with me
Shrunken heads under the bed
The flies are humming
There's a red under the bed
The spit is turning
Roasting burning
Shadows dancing -- by the fire
Flickering flames laugh -- with desire
The head is the best part
My headcut my woodcut
09 Voodoo Dolly (07:03)
She's your little voodoo dolly
And she's gonna make you lazy
Like the little drum in your ear
Transfixes you to your fear
And now she's transfixed in your fear
And you know she's gonna stay there
Because her nails are deep in your hair
And she made you so... unaware
Are you listening to your fear
The beat is coming nearer
Like that little drum in your ear
Transfixes you to your fear
She's such an ugly little dolly
And she's making you look very silly
And when you listen in to her ear
You get paralyzed with her fear
Oh down... down in your fear
Now this little voodoo dolly
Has made you very lazy
You're anaemic from her sucking
And when you're dead she'll find another
Better break that little dolly
And sling her in the corner
Now she's a sorry little dolly
Such a sorry little dolly
Are you listening to your fear
The beat is coming nearer
Like that little drum in your ear
Transfixes you to your fear
Listen....
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By TenshiSell
A gloomy and bloody sabbath unfolds around the visionary union of ethnic and electronic music, in the masterpiece of dark punk.
Siouxie is possessed by her inner demons, she surrenders to delirium and heart-wrenching screams.
