Pop music as done by The Banshees

Superstition.Three stars, more's the pity.

The Banshees sound changes completely yet again on their first nineties album. And it's sad that it makes use of the cheezy synths and slick production they'd mostly avoided before. This is quite a disappointing turn of events, but if you accept it as it is, you may get more out of it.

The opener is Kiss Them For Me, one of the best songs on Superstition. It's a pop song, but it works and has a great melody. It's very enjoyable and I always like hearing it. Unfortunately, it's so commercial it feels like a guilty pleasure.

Fear (of the Unknown) goes way over the edge. It's incredibly cheezy, and nothing can save it.

Cry is better. It's got a serious quality and the melody is easy to like. It's an aquired taste, shall we say.

Drifter is honestly one of the record's standouts. Dark, atmospheric, slow-moving and with a good lyric. This is one of the reasons to own Superstition.

Little Sister is another. It moves faster but has the same haunting and beautiful quality. My other favorite song from here.

Then there's Shadowtime. It's an innocuous (?) pop song. Though not on Kiss Them For Me's level. Demand nothing edifying from it and it's kind of enjoyable.

Silly Thing is the song most people hate, and I'll admit it doesn't sound like something Siouxsie would do. It's filler, but really no worse than Fear was, so I've no cause to dislike it.

It's Got to Get Up I can't stand. The beginning is full of promise, but it's got a feel-good lyric. I mean come on; what's it even doing on a Siouxsie record? And her voice aggravates me to no end here. Like I said, I can't stand it.

Silver Waterfalls has a nice melody. It's a bit like Shadowtime really. A nice moment in its own way.

Softly. It should be called Slowly. It's really long, the tempo never shifts, nothing happens, and Sioux sings so slowly and quietly I can hardly hear a word. I tend to tune this one out.

The Ghost in You is a nice ending. It's pretty and soft, reminiscent of the cover art. It provides a bit of interest after Softly. Provided you're still awake to hear it.

I've never had the slightest interest in anything Siouxsie and the Banshees did after this, so I neither own or have heard The Rapture. If you're a real completist, by all means keep going, but this is where I disembark. I own the first ten CDs, and the Singles Collection (which I'll review at first opportunity). That's more than enough for me.