Siouxsie & The Banshees
Siouxsie & The Banshees, ‘The Scream’, 1978. The debut album. Post-punk before that was even a thing. ‘Pure’ sets the mood. Echo, sparse drums, Siouxsie’s banshee wail. ‘Jigsaw Feeling’ pounding tribal drums and metal guitar riff with Siouxsie swooping down. ‘Overground’ slow slashing guitar with rolling toms and rat-a-tat. ‘Carcass’ riff and stomp. ‘Helter Skelter’ starts slow with single bass note before exploding with fierce guitar. The Beatles ripped apart. ‘Mirage’ phased guitar and acoustic chug with solid drum pound. ‘Metal Postcard’ like a demented Kurt Weill tune with more slashing guitar. ‘Nicotine Stain’ another grinding riff. ‘Suburban Relapse’ intense riffing, thunder drums, and saxophone for added room-clearing dissonance. ‘Switch’ starts slow, building up then dropping away before returning, the guitar distorted, loud and proud.
Not an easy listen but Siouxsie’s voice and the overall noise still sounds unique. Indeed, you can hear elements of this album in pretty much every post-punk, alt-rock band ever since. It’s amazing they ended up effectively becoming a pop band, having hits, appearing on ‘Top of the Pops’ and the pages of ‘Smash Hits’…
Siouxsie & The Banshees
Siouxsie & The Banshees, ‘The Scream’, 1978. The debut album. Post-punk before that was even a thing. ‘Pure’ sets the mood. Echo, sparse drums, Siouxsie’s banshee wail. ‘Jigsaw Feeling’ pounding tribal drums and metal guitar riff with Siouxsie swooping down. ‘Overground’ slow slashing guitar with rolling toms and rat-a-tat. ‘Carcass’ riff and stomp. ‘Helter Skelter’ starts slow with single bass note before exploding with fierce guitar. The Beatles ripped apart. ‘Mirage’ phased guitar and acoustic chug with solid drum pound. ‘Metal Postcard’ like a demented Kurt Weill tune with more slashing guitar. ‘Nicotine Stain’ another grinding riff. ‘Suburban Relapse’ intense riffing, thunder drums, and saxophone for added room-clearing dissonance. ‘Switch’ starts slow, building up then dropping away before returning, the guitar distorted, loud and proud.
Not an easy listen but Siouxsie’s voice and the overall noise still sounds unique. Indeed, you can hear elements of this album in pretty much every post-punk, alt-rock band ever since. It’s amazing they ended up effectively becoming a pop band, having hits, appearing on ‘Top of the Pops’ and the pages of ‘Smash Hits’…