44th... Ghouls passing in the night...

Juju.

You are looking at the album that inspired this whole darn fest of gothic delirium. I hope you've enjoyed the show. Cut and wrap!

Siouxsie and the Banshees were the original goth band of the new wave. They beat Bauhaus to the punch with an inspired post-punk '78 debut. Interestingly, both Siouxsie Sioux and Peter Murphy turned out as gifted singers once they'd learned how to do it. Juju is the critic's pick for best Banshee record. In 1981 they had their classic lineup: Siouxsie to sing in imperious, angry tones; Budgie the spectacularly talented drummer, who favored a tribal rhythm; Steven Severin the bass player, contributing style and atmosphere and several lyrics; and John McGeogh the guest guitarist. This forms the dead center of the McGeogh trilogy, the Banshees' creative peak. But where Kaleidoscope and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse were highly experimental, Juju was pretty straight. It was a guitar propelled bad dream, a parade of ghouls in the night. Men, women and children are all implicated - even the television is a vehicle for evil. Juju sounds only one note, but the band is fiercely proud of that note and plies it well from start to finish. You could call it variations on a theme.

Spellbound is the instantly memorable single, and a popular, much loved tune. The subject is uneasy - children being possessed - but the relentless propulsion of guitar, bass and drums (getting a unique sound from so typical a set-up) makes it more fun, and more commercial, than anything coming afterwards.

Into the Light is the momentary hesitation, hovering on the edge between light and dark. Siouxsie sounds less like she chooses the darkness and more as if she's set on an irretrievable collision course with it. The die is cast; the claustrophobia inherent to this track dogs the whole album and it becomes quite impassioned. The random hisses and angular guitars give a sense of musical overflow.

Arabian Knights casts aspersions on the Middle East, ranging from "a monstrous oil tanker/its wound bleeding in seas" to its treatment of women "kept as your baby machine." Budgie's heavyhanded drumming redefines primitive and the chorus has a shimmering, diseased beauty that points the way to A Kiss in the Dreamhouse.

Halloween is a thrashier, punkish affair and Siouxsie hearkens back to her old toneless singing style. Memories of "a childish murder" casts doubt on the innocence of children. It's not one of the strongest tracks - frankly, it feels a bit gimmicky.

For sheer attitude, Juju has no better than Monitor. Siouxsie has some great howls and the music is so impressive that it's even better the second time round, when it repeats in encore fashion. "His face was full of intent/and we shook with excitement/then the victim stared up/looked strangely at the screen/as if her pain was our fault/but that's entertainment." Good God, what are they watching?

Night Shift is something of a sordid epic, the band in top form, crafting a wall of sound punctuated with squeals of feedback. Visions of the morgue, a sense of nausea, a narrator irredeemably in love with a murderer - and this isn't even the most distasteful song. That's just ahead.

Sin in My Heart is one of the Banshees' best rockers and eschews any lyrical incidents in favour of more of Siouxsie's howling. Not a whole lot can be said about it but it's not filler by a long shot - it's the only fun track on side 2.

Head Cut is about exactly what it says: severed heads, both real and plaster, not to mention the shrunken ones. Even the Banshees' had their limits - this one's a black comedy, maniacally cheerful, and the darkest Juju gets for that reason.

Last of all is Voodoo Dolly, which wastes the opportunity 9 minutes gives it; instead of a long, involved lyric, we're given a few opaque verses and a whole lot of "listen!"s. Musically, it holds up best at its most restrained. It's probably my fault I don't appreciate it more; I just don't find the notion of voodoo dolls all that frightening.

Overall, I would have to disagree with those critics (hell, I almost always do), as Juju is far too limited in scope to stand as Siouxsie and the Banshees at their very best. Good as it is, their next album would be better still.