My earliest walkthrough reviews are for The Beatles. However, they'd need a great deal of editing before I'd even consider posting them. As do most of my reviews. So I've decided to start with my current project: reviewing all twelve of my Siouxsie and the Banshees CDs. Beginning with their debut...
The Scream by Siouxsie and the Banshees. And it gets four stars...
It's really interesting to note that The Banshees started off as a punk rock group, because they lost that sound in short order. Which is a good thing, but as The Scream proves, they had an impressive amount of talent in that field. The Scream is a rough, mechanical, dark and dripping affair, a ten song study of humanity's vices, from smoking to going postal.
It's not a cheery listen. But it is powerful and affective. Sioux's voice is eternally flat on this record, but the delivery's so ferocious that you quickly forget about how bad it is on a technical level. The musicianship is far above your typical three-chord slam from bands who don't know how to play and won't take time to learn. (I've got a bad opinion of punk rock, can you tell?)
The opener is Pure. It's a good experiment, nearly two minutes of creepy guitar with Siouxsie wailing over it like some just-murdered spirit come back to vent her anger. Works well as an opener, setting the tone.
Jigsaw Feeling does a quick build-up and is a decent rocker. It's about a "cerebral non-event." I like the guitars on this track and on the record in general. It really compliments the whole outfit.
Overground has the same building start (most of the songs do), and the riff is certain to stay in your head all day. I mainly like the song because of that. It's a bit repetitive though. Easy to get tired of.
Carcass is a punkish rocker and it's a really fierce little tune, but I can't stand the annoyingly repetitive chorus. The rest of it is really interesting and the sudden inclusion of handclaps at the end gives the bizarre impression of twisted good cheer. Disturbing lyric...
Then there's the cover of Helter Skelter. The first minute is one of the creepiest I've ever heard in a song, then Siouxsie starts up. Keep in mind that I've never liked this song, but I find this version of it more tolerable than the original (sacrilege, I know...). She's not screaming and the song fits better here than on The White Album.
Mirage is another catchy one. It's one of the hardest to understand, seems to be about a television. It's short and kind of enjoyable because it's a bit nonsensical. Even has some noticable acoustic guitar at the beginning.
Metal Postcard (Mittageisen) is the real standout. This song makes the whole CD. It just sounds cool. Great riff, Siouxsie's delivery is right on the money. This one is the centerpiece. I'm surprised most people think Carcass and Switch are the great ones. Ah well...
Don't like Nicotine Stain so well. It sounds like an amalgamation of the rest of The Scream and doesn't have much melody either. I can never remember it well, it's just sort of there. Filler.
Suburban Relapse has a bit of saxophone that gives it some individuality. So does the lyric, which is probably the scariest of the bunch. It doesn't have a good backing though. It's just another part of the album.
Luckily it finishes on Switch, the most ambitious track on here, longest too. More segments to this one, and it upholds interest all the way. It's a strong end-note and bodes well for what this band can do.
Alas, if you've heard Join Hands you'll know they didn't exactly hold that promise up. But that's another review...
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