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Rating:
I don't know what the vibe was like in England in '78 of the last century, but it certainly was a rather heavy atmosphere. Among the clanging, screams, syncopation, and screeches, this album, the debut of Siouxsie and The Banshees, paints a picture of alienation and maladjustment that leaves you quite somber after listening. Let's be clear right away: it is neither an easy nor a light album. And some might say it's not even good, but who can say what a river will be like at the mouth by looking at the source? The sound pays tribute to punk, but by incorporating dark elements, with obsessive, square, martial melodies. Even the clothes go dark, black leather wraps around bodies, and stockings tear: welcome to dark-punk!
The dance starts with "Pure": from the lament of the bass, a languid guitar introduces the depressed atmosphere that Siouxsie Sioux's screams sublimate into alienation. Are you cold? There's no time because from the bass line emerges a rattling guitar, everything grows, the drums come in and then off we go into the gallop of "Jigsaw Feeling," a track that is somewhat the sum of what's to come in the rest of the album. The epic elegance of "Overground" with those few guitar chords (one of the best tracks, because it's different from the rest), gives way to "Carcass," which strongly resembles Lou Reed's "Vicious" in its intro, but then it's a classic punk song with a chorus to shout at the top of your lungs (ahem, I can see you singing "Be a carcass - Be a dead pork/Be limblessy in love"). There's also room for the cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" (from the "White Album") rendered much more furious, both in the vocals and in the sound, making it a sure bet for a "pogofest". This is followed by a triad of alienation with "Metal Postcard," "Nicotine Stain," and "Suburban Relapse," all based on the obsessive form of the melodies (indeed, very poor): a clear example of the group's compositional limitations. The album closes with one of its best moments: introduced by an arpeggio that gradually envelops, we enter "Switch," a reflection on the state of things accompanied by the melody of the saxophone.
The merits of this album lie not so much in its musical qualities, but in being seminal: indeed it helped to chart the course of dark-punk, especially iconographically.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Jigsaw Feeling (04:37)
Chorus:
Send me forwards-say my feelings
But all the signals-send me reeling
Jigsaw Feeling
One day I'm feeling total
the next I'm split in two
My eyes are doing somersaults
staring at my shoe
My brain is out of my hand
there's nothing to prevent
The impulse is quite meaningless
in a cerebral non-event
Chorus
Five fingers do my walking
ten toes unravel 'Knots'
Amorphous jigsaw pieces
falling into slots
Chorus
So I just sit in reverie
getting on my nerves
The intangible bonds that keep me
sitting on the verge...
of a breakdown
of a reaction
of a result
(defeat me...)..Complete me...maybe...defeat me
(Jigsaw feeling)
Lyric: Severin Music: Severin/McKay
03 Overground (03:50)
Got to give up life in this netherworld
Got to go up to where the air is stale
And live a life of pleasantries
Mingle in the modern families
Overground--from abnormality
Overboard--for identity
Overground--for normality
Overboard--for identity
This limbo is no place
To be a digit in another space
In another crowd
I'm nameless bound
Overground--from abnormality
Overboard--for identity
Overground--for normality
Overboard--for identity
Overground--I'll be worse than me
Overground--it's clear to me
I'll be worse than me
04 Carcass (03:49)
Someone's in cold storage
Seeking heinz main-courses
Craving for a raw love
He'll hide you from the cleaver
He'll hang with you forever
Longing for a fresh meat
By hook or by crook
You'll be 1st in his book
For an impaled affair
By hook or by crook
You'll be last in his book
Of flesh oh so rare
Be a carcass -- be a dead pork
Be limblessly in love
Be a carcass -- be a dead pork
Be limblessly in love
Someone's left in cold storage
Thawed in heinz main-courses
Carving for a new tin
He got you with the cleaver
He hung you up forever
Anticipating new skin
Out of the frying pan
And into the fire
58th variety
Out of the frying pan
And into the fire
Mother had her son for tea
Be a carcass -- be a dead pork
Be limblessly in love
Be a carcass -- be a dead pork
Be limblessly in love
In love with your stumps
In love with the bleeding
In love with the pain
That you once felt
As you become a carcass
You become a carcass
Carcass
05 Helter Skelter (03:48)
When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again.
Do you, don't you want me to love you
I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you
Tell me tell me tell me come on tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer
So look out
Helter skelter
Na la la la la la
Helter skelter
Na la la la la la
Helter skelter
Will you, won't you want me to make you
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
Tell me tell me tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no fucking dancer
When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop...
06 Mirage (02:50)
I'm just a vision on your TV screen
Just something conjured from a dream
Seen thro' your x-ray eyes,
A see-thro' scene
The image is no images
It's not what it seems.
My limbs are like palm trees
Swaying in no breeze
My body's an oasis
To drink from as you please
I'm not seeing what I'm meant to believe in
Your non excuse for human being.
It's not plain to see
That I'm playing with me
A photo-fit of loose ends, framed in 3-D
Seen thro' your x-ray eyes,
A see-thro' scene
The image is no images
It's not what it seems
08 Nicotine Stain (02:58)
Lyric: Sioux Music: Severin
It's just a habit
when I reach to the packet
for my last cigarette
until the day breaks
and then my hand shakes
but it it's just driving me insane
when the smoke gets in my brain
I can't resist it
Chorus:
Wallow in that ash bath
soaking up the fumes
and see the nicotine stain
start to spread
I'm so congested
cos north, south, east and west
catarrh rests on my chest
congealed and twisted
cough up and shift it
but I can feel my lungs collapse
sinking deep into my lap
I'm so useless
Chorus
I'm so useful
if you don't want to fight
just give your foe a fright
say you'll drop me
on every country
see all will be stone dead
when the nicotine stain spreads
just light me
09 Suburban Relapse (04:12)
I'm sorry that I hit you
But my string snapped
I'm sorry I disturbed your cat-nap
But whilst finishing a chore
I asked myself "what for"
Then something snapped,
I had a relapse... A Suburban relapse
I was washing up the dishes
Minding my own business
When my string snapped
I had a relapse... A Suburban relapse
(Should I?)
Throw things at the neighbors
Expose myself to strangers?
Kill myself or... you?
Now memory gets hazy?
I think I must be crazy
But my string snapped
I had a relapse...
A suburban relapse
10 Switch (06:51)
Different lives
In different places
Familiar problems
Same old faces
Shuffle lives
Into wrong categories
Cross the wires
And fuse humanities
Watch the muscles twitch
For a brand new switch...
Scientist G.P.'s
With patient guinea pigs
Curing their headaches
With drastic side-effects
Watch the muscles twich
For a brand new switch�
Doctor rectorates
Condescending from on high
For all hallucinators
See druggist in the sky
Vicar experiments
But 'tis blasphemy
Dismissing thought of progress
As the mark of devilry
Switch
People walk
And even talk
People listen
Then they halt
Something blows up
Won't come down
Scattered muscles twitch
Too late to switch
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