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There are multiple souls coexisting in "Kaleidoscope", the third album by Siouxsie and the Banshees, and there are even twenty-two personalities inhabiting Christine, the schizophrenic girl, who really existed and to whom the eponymous song is dedicated, the second single from the record. In the first one, "Happy House", behind the respectable facade of a happy house lies a mental asylum ("We are happy here, in the happy house / we forget ourselves, we pretend everything is fine / there is no hell").
The theme of madness silently creeps through this album. For Siouxsie, the '80s open with a new season: the post-punk era for her is already over, but the restlessness has not passed. Meanwhile, a lineup change from the first two works should be noted: alongside the faithful Steven Severin, John McGeoch joins on guitar and Budgie on drums. The new direction is felt, with the introduction of electronics and more refined sounds in nocturnal, mysterious tracks like "Tenant", "Lunar Camel", or the splendid and Arabic-tinged "Desert Kisses". The stylistic remnants of punk are present instead in the more upbeat tracks, with McGeoch's sharp guitar in the foreground, in "Trophy", "Hybrid", or in the closing "Skin".
The sound effect of a camera click in "Red Light" is curious, where photographic technique terms are the metaphor for a romantic encounter ("She has a professional look in the frame / but the polaroids burn upon seeing the subject / too much exposure / as the emulsion drips down / the diaphragm closes").
Finally, the cover is beautiful, with three dots of red, green, and blue that, when combined, result in white, which forms the title of the album. Susan is curled up on the ground, wearing white pants and a shirt streaked with color. It’s full of light outside, but the interior is in shadows. In this dialectic, which is reflected in the sounds, between black and white, light and shadow, color and monochrome, "Kaleidoscope" moves, an album that was Siouxsie's best-selling success, reaching number 5 on the UK charts in 1980.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Happy House (03:52)
This is the happy house -- we're happy here
In the happy house -- oh it's such fun
We've come to play in the happy house
And waste a day in the happy house
It never rains
We've come to scream in the happy house
We're in a dream in the happy house
We're all quite sane
This is the happy house -- we're happy here
There's room for you if you say you do
But don't say no or you'll have to go
We've done no wrong with our blinkers on
It's safe and calm if you sing along
This is the happy house -- we're happy here in the happy house
To forget ourselves -- and pretend all's well
There is no hell
02 Tenant (03:41)
Squatting on doorsteps -- following footsteps
Nocturnal habits are surveyed with interest
So we crawl into corners -- ignore any callers
And imagine our radiators clang for our neighbours
When we crawl on all fours -- upon the cushioned floor
Still they cling to the walls and knock on our doors
And the tendency for tenants is tenacity
The paint is cracked -- and the paper peels
The plaster falls and a body reels... softly
Forty watt bulb swing from a light cloud
On lawnmower groan, the carpet has grown
But they have eyes at the keyholes and ears at the walls
And the tendency for tenants is secrecy... ssssssh
03 Trophy (03:19)
Headhunters, headshrinkers, and long distance runners
Dust gathers on mementos -- dust gathers on proud moments
Young voices grow thick and old
The cheers are distant wearing thin
Take it to the wall
To be hung on the wall, to be viewed by all
A tribute in the grand hall
Yes they're locked away or polished every day
For the maintenance man -- in the back of a van
Oh young voices grow thick and old
The cheers are distant wearing thin
Take it to the wall
To be hung on the wall, to be viewed by all
A tribute in the grand hall
Bring yourselves out from your showcase parties
But you've been shut away too long
You've been shut away too long
Frightened faces in the rain
Misplaced features lost down the drain
Oh wash away and start again
Take it to the wall
To be hung on the wall, to be viewed by all
A tribute in the grand hall
04 Hybrid (05:31)
It's a hybrid of me -- I'm a hybrid of he
You're a misfit of me -- I'm a misfit of you... in limbo
Carbon copies run blue -- a reminder for you
But they're only skin deep crumpled shells in a heap
Marked "cheap"
Surrogate heads of a no-no domain
Shoulders form rows to make waves again
Catch the next plane
When you walked through the door marked "enter if you dare"
Reasoned with a friend marked "do not bend"
Bit on that finger marked "handle with care"
A tear soiled your cheek -- a broken finger on the floor
A mess in sawdust -- a shop window burst... no repairs
It's a hybrid of me -- I'm a hybrid of he
You're a misfit for me -- I'm a misfit for you
In limbo... do you speak the lingo?
05 Clockface (01:53)
Chasing a monsoon over the dune
Oh fly me to the moon, get me there soon
I don't have to prove I'll last longer than you
One hump or two any handicap will do against you
I'll be there soon-over the moon
I'll be there soon-over the moon
Chasing a monsoon over the dune
Oh fly me to the moon, get me there soon.
06 Lunar Camel (03:02)
Chasing a monsoon over the dune
Oh fly me to the moon, get me there soon
I don't have to prove I'll last longer than you
One hump or two, any handicap will do against you
I'll be there soon -- over the moon
I'll be there soon -- over the moon
Chasing a monsoon over the dune
Oh fly me to the moon, get me there soon
07 Christine (02:59)
She tries not to shatter, Kaleidoscope style
Personality changes behind her red smile
Every new problem brings a stranger inside
Helplessly forcing one more new disguise
Christine - the strawberry girl
Christine - banana split lady
Singing sweet savages lost in our world
This big-eyed girl sees her faces unfurl
Now she's in purple now she's a turtle
Disintegrating
Christine - the strawberry girl
Christine - sees her faces unfurl
Now she's in purple, now she's a turtle
Christine (2x)
Christine - the strawberry girl
Christine - sees her faces unfurl
Christine (4x)
22 faces�
Disintegrating
Christine (2x)
Disintegrating
09 Red Light (03:21)
She falls into frame
With a professional pout
But the Polaroid's ignite
Upon seeing their subject
And the aperture shuts
Too much exposure
Voyeur sucks into focus
Floodlit the glossy kiss-pit
But as emulsion drips down - down
The aperture shuts
Too much exposure
Come into this room
Come into this gloom
See the red light rinsing
Another shutterslut wincing
The sagging half wit sister
Pretty, pretty picture
Of an ancient nipple shrinking
That kodak whore winking
'Til the aperture shuts
Too much exposure
10 Paradise Place (04:34)
Sioux: vocals, rhythm guitar
Severin: bass
Budgie: drums
Jones: lead guitar
Look to the hills-now look at my face
Do you notice my eyes-are they in the right place?
There's a Mantovani backdrop-to pucker-up a tummy tuck
A voice soft as lint-mashed up with shades of pink
You can hide your genetics under drastic cosmetics
But this chameleon magic is renowned to be tragic
Look to the hills-now look at my face
Do you notice my eyes-are they in the right place?
11 Skin (03:49)
Mink, seal and ermine smother fat women
I have a noble cause for skin -- there's just too many of them
The only necessary coat -- carries a brain inside its skull
Just a bitch in the manger to the balances of nature
Cover me with skin and accuse me of sin
But you know what I mean
There's just too many of them
Give me your skin for dancing in
Hairless and streamline -- fits like my own skin
Tattooed and sun-dyed -- it's warm and it's human
There was too many of them -- the animals like them
Shame about the smell but they're fine steeped in perfume
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