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Uncut 11/05 | ||
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Knowing Siouxsie as Godmother of Goth, it's easy to forget that the
Banshees were originally regarded as exemplary post-punk
vanguardists. Laceratingly angular. The Scream reminds
you what an inclement listen the group was at the start. Sure,
there's a couple of tunes as catchy as "Hong Kong Garden", which
appears twice here on the alternative versions-crammed second disc of BBC
session and demos. "Mirage" is a cousin to "Public
Image", while the buzzsaw chord drive of "Nicotine Stain"
faintly resembles The Undertones, of all people.
But one's first and lasting impression of Scream is shaped by the album being bookended by it's least conventional tunes. Glinting and fractured, opener, "Pure" is an instrumental in the sense that Siouxsie's voice is just an abstract, sculpted texture whooping across the stereo-field. Final track "Switch" is closer to a song, but structurally as unorthodox as Roxy Music's "If There Is Something". Glam's an obvious reference point for the Banshees, but The Scream also draws from the moment when psychedelia turned dark. "Helter Skelter" is covered, surely as much for the Manson connection as for Beatles love. Guitarist John McKay's flange resembles a Cold Wave update of 1967-style phasing, and the stridency of Siouxsie's singing channels Grace Slick. In songs like the autism-inspired "Jigsaw Feeling", there's even a vibe of mental disintegration that recalls trippy Jefferson Airplane's "Two Heads". Another crack-up song "Suburban Relapse", always make me think of the middle-aged housewife in every neighbourhood with badly applied make-up and a scary lost look in her eyes. Siouxsie's suspicion, not just of domesticity but of that other female cage, the body, comes through in the fear of flesh anthem "Metal Postcard", whose exaltation of the inorganic and indestructible ("Metal is tough, metal will sheen - metal will rule in my master-scheme") seems at odds with the song's inspiration, the anti-fascist collage artist John Heartfield. The Scream is another Banshees altogether from the lush seductions of Kaleidoscope and Dreamhouse. McKay and drummer Kenny Morris quit the group on the eve of the band's first headlining tour, and their replacements - John McGeoch and Budgie - were far more musically proficient. Yet The Scream along with early singles such as "The Staircase (Mystery)" and the best bits of next album Join Hands does momentarily make you wonder about the alternative-universe path the original Banshees might have pursued if they'd stayed together and strayed monochrome and minimalist. Simon Reynolds |
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Mojo 11/05 | ||
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Archetypal post-punk opus remastered, with extra CD
The band might have eschewed political sloganeering and deliberately created a visual aesthetic that distanced their work from punk but The Scream - philosophically cold, sonically arid but driven by evidently deep-rooted antagonisms - remains hallmarked by the times nonetheless. Britain in 1978 was a tatty mess, and the repressed emotional angst of the suburbs oozes from these caustic blasts. Much of the Banshees' debut still sounds magnificent: Jigsaw Feeling and Carcass the reverse of glam's tribal hedonism. Overground a downcast riddle, the pulverising take on McCartney's Helter Skelter. Siouxsie's vocal presence dominates, but every element, however rudimentary, is crucial. The extras constitute the album in rehearsal, via demos and Peel sessions, plus non-album singles Hong Kong Garden and The Staircase (Mystery); nothing too significant, bar the first ever release of early live signature Make Up To Break Up. 4/5 Keith Cameron |
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Q 11/05 | ||
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Comprehensive reissue of electrifying 1978 debut.
You could try post-punk or goth, but Siouxsie & The Banshees debut album still resists categorisation. The deviant power of punk and glam is detectable but The Scream shows a band turning their dread and disgust into something new. Powered by Siouxsie Sioux's imperious vocals, Suburban Relapse deals with mental breakdown. Carcass equates love with the abattoir, while the cover of The Beatles' Helter Skelter explains why Charles Manson loved the song. Disc two includes a tremendous selection of Peel sessions. 4/5 |
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