Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Scream


4.0
excellent

Review

by Fluorine USER (5 Reviews)
July 10th, 2011 | 28 replies


Release Date: 1978 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Marquis Moon, Unknown Pleasures, and...

Siouxsie and the Banshees are an anomaly of a band. Influenced by glam, beginning with punk, later lumped into post-punk revolution of the 1980s which they helped engineer, all with a certain goth swagger and a female lead singer (a very rare feature for such a rock band at the time), they could never be categorized as commonplace or static. Their consistent career and their unmistakably singular style have influenced a great many artists from Robert Smith and Morrissey to Shirley Manson and PJ Harvey.

Fluffing aside, the flight of the Banshees begins here with The Scream…sort of. Previously, they had released a stellar and successful single “Hong Kong Garden” which somehow incorporated a xylophone motif into a fist-pounding, anti-racist punk song. They opted not to include it on the album perhaps because it would have been too flamboyant among its surroundings. Indeed, The Scream is a muddier yet similarly brilliant affair from a band that seemed to know what they were doing even though they had just begun.

The album begins with an interesting introduction to the band. Pure sports lonely guitar strums and barely audible plodding drums through which halfway in a choir of Siouxsies begin spookily yelling into the monotonous void. As if propelled by the rallying cry of Siouxsie, the album then begins to spring to life. Henceforth, the guitars only get more claustrophobic and nuanced and the drums begin pounding with greater intensity.

Siouxsie’s strong voice and the personality that comes with it are a staple and a common touching point for much of the album (and future albums). Her singing is a bit more unleashed than it would appear in subsequent recordings, and sometimes it hits a few sour spots. Then again, who really wants total precision in a punk-ish album like this? Many of the songs and the lyrics are dramatic and foreboding as they often were for the band, and here they are directed towards bombs, dismemberment, and the ills of complacent suburbia. Siouxsie matches the subject matter with her own uproarious singing doused generously among the chaos.

However, for all the attention Siouxsie gets, the Banshees were always an extremely tight and versatile band. Bassist Steven Severine, the only constant member here other than Siouxsie herself, along with guitarist John McKay wrote most of these focused yet varied songs. Jigsaw Feeling is full of uneasy discord. Carcass displays a sort of pop sensibility once the handclaps come in near the end. The guitar of John McKay can’t be understated either. Some songs like Overground and Mirage employ a jangly style which would make its way into later albums. Other songs have McKay roaring over quick-paced tirades. Others like Metal Postcard and Overground have him marauding as a strutting tough guy. All throughout, there is a messy, scorching feeling best exemplified by Helter Skelter. I suppose it’s fitting that they chose to cover The Beatles’s loudest, most frantic and maddening song. The Banshees do it justice and add the rhythmic push the original may have needed.

Despite the messy, manic nature of much of the album, Switch ends things in a more melodic note than what comes before, providing a breather from the ruckus and asserting that the Banshees have much more in them. With Switch, the band seem more focused on trying to create a more brooding mood to match the doomsaying going on behind Siouxsie’s mic. Siouxsie and the Banshees would eventually develop themselves more around this style, but as it stands, The Scream, through its late punk leanings, is a true progenitor of the post-punk and goth of the 80s and a fine album in itself. So…find your favourite cemetery, and have yourself a good dance.


user ratings (295)
3.9
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
Fluorine
July 11th 2011


104 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Things that need saying:



1) This whole Siouxsie + Banshees page is a shambolic mess. Imma fix it soon



2) I’m very, very surprised they haven’t gotten more attention



3) Characteristic of my spiritual Sputnik partner Tom93M, I aim to review the discography. Wish me mounds of luck.



wabbit
July 11th 2011


7059 Comments


man when did new sputnik users become me and porch?

Awesome band, pos cause the band fucking rock I might read the review if I am less lazy


ps summary is kinda stupid and needs an edit

Tom93M
July 11th 2011


1105 Comments


Hey good luck, man. I'll certainly read this tomorrow cos its really late here.


Acanthus
July 11th 2011


9812 Comments


Great band, like the Cure I need to get more of their material. Oh and that last sentence, I like it.

Jethro42
July 11th 2011


18281 Comments


Good review, I love me some good Siouxsie's

Tom93M
July 11th 2011


1105 Comments


Good work, keep it up. I'm almost halfway thru my Cure discog reviews - it flys by if you crack on.

Aids
October 4th 2013


24540 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

this rules

dylantheairplane
October 4th 2013


2181 Comments


best band ever. Juju and Peepshow have always been my favorites

Aids
October 4th 2013


24540 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I'm just gonna go chronologically because I've learned opinions are terrible

scottpilgrim10
May 7th 2014


4750 Comments


This is sweet. Definitely better than the Cure's first 2 albums.

laughingman22
May 7th 2014


2838 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Liked Juju a lot should I check this out?

scottpilgrim10
May 7th 2014


4750 Comments


IDK this is the first album I've listened to since I'm going through their discography in chronological order, but it's really good. So yes you should check it out.

laughingman22
August 7th 2014


2838 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

great stuff

AmericanFlagAsh
May 16th 2016


13611 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Rules

RunOfTheMill
June 3rd 2016


4569 Comments


Much prefer their later stuff

FullOfSounds
March 31st 2017


15821 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Overground's a jam. Really love the layering going on

RunOfTheMill
March 31st 2017


4569 Comments


Check the version of Overground off of The Thorn

RunOfTheMill
March 31st 2017


4569 Comments


Carcass and Overground are the best on this tho

FullOfSounds
March 31st 2017


15821 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

definitely more immediate than juju

SandwichBubble
January 28th 2020


13810 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Needs a bump, definitely my fave of theirs.

Really wish that Beatles cover was dropped, cause this would've been better off without it.



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