Sioux and the Banshees - The Scream

 

I bought this LP when it first came out and always dug its atonal noize and post-punk energy and still listen to it regularly. As I'm now reading a book on the Banshees early years I was surprised to discover that I never wrote about this one so here we are...

Opening with slices of biting guitar mixed with Siouxie's shrieks and semi-random bass notes for "Pure", it quickly moves into the piercing, energetic post punk of "Jigsaw Feeling", with odd, half-step melody'n' chord lines, giving it a dark'n'mysterious sound. John McKay's guitar and Kenny Morris' somewhat Monks-like drums drive these numbers, but this is far from the by-the-numbers punk that had already started to infiltrate the scene - this was truly original'n'creative and certainly the beginnings of the Goth movement. 

Quietly creeping in is the equally dark'n'compelling "Overground". I never really understood more than a few snippets of the lyrics, but apparently this one is about gaining popularity (in England they had a big hit with "Hong Kong Garden" before the album came out) and trying to retain your credibility. It slinks, it slides, it creeps, it repeats while Siouxie spars with herself vocally before we move into one of the more traditionally (punk) rockin' numbers, "Carcass" - again, while I knew the chorus, I wasn't sure what it was really about - a butcher who falls in love with a slab of meat and removes his limbs to emulate it! Yes, they had seriously twisted senses of humor! In any case, this stomper was a great mover on early goth dance clubs!

A highlight of their early shows was their wildly demented take on the Beatles "Helter Skelter" - evidently, Siouxie was seriously a big fan of the White Album, although they wrench this one around enough to make it their own powerhouse. "Mirage" utilizes McKay's unusual guitar phrasings to great effect, generating a unique sound that foreshadowed their later work (and interesting enough, the lyrics "my limbs are like palm trees, swaying in the breeze" contrast "Carcass's" "limblessly in love"!).

Grating, machine-like guitar gives "Metal Postcard" an appropriate feel as Siouxie sings (and swoops'n'yelps) surreal lyrics (inspired by a surrealistic film, if I understand correctly) about dining on metal! Again, I would never have guessed that! Back to a more high energy, dare-I-say "punky" number in "Nicotine Stain", but still with enough dark noise to keep it from becoming complacent. Followed by more harshly jarring'n'shrill guitar howls for Siouxie's tale of mayhem behind the curtains of seemingly "normal" abodes in "Suburban Relapse" that builds into pure chaos. "Switch" starts with comparatively melodic guitar picking'n'vocal crooning that turns into a weirdly discordant section, followed by a dropout by everyone other than a heavily echoed guitar and Siouxie's vocals which moves into a driving drumbeat and back'n'forth, ending the album somewhat oddly but innovatively.

The original members of this band really worked as a "band", with no one standing out above the others and everyone working together to create something fairly unlike anything that came before (although with some obvious influences, of course). This LP really stood out from the rest of the "punk" scene and still stands the test of time.

(There is a deluxe version of the CD - that doesn't seem to be available - with demos, Peel sessions and various alternative cuts, that seems well worth it from a YouTube listen - with I could find it!)