Scream, The - Siouxsie & The Banshees > Reviews > A chill up my spine

Author's product rating:   

Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency of tracks
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Value for Money

Advantages:	Classic, the best by the band
Disadvantages:	A bit soulless

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

It was an eon before any record company took a gamble on the Banshees, even after (or maybe because) graffiti was scrawled across the entrance of all the London companies saying “Sign the Banshees.” Most of the band’s contemporaries like the Pistols, the Jam, the Clash and the Stranglers were onto the difficult second album phase by the time Polydor took the plunge and The Scream emerged onto the streets in 1978.

The delay was probably good for the group and allowed the vision and the article to be honed and polished and this is by any measures a startling piece of work, a very metallic, disturbing record which captures this version of the band with John McKay and Kenny Morris alongside Sioux and Severin, at their best. Disillusion and enmity set in soo after and the follow up, Join Hands, was a joyless (even by their standards), vapid affair.

Here though, the icy, metallic sheen of Banshees sound is to the far and cuts across most of the competition. I love it and it’s one of those albums which has “timeless” and “classic” scrawled all over it.

Metal Postcard, Switch, Helter Skelter, Suburban Relapse, Carcass … the list goes on and on and this collection remains as excellent and relevant today as it was all those many years ago, in fact, it’s probably more meaningful today than ever, with its preoccupation with madness and mental health and people swinging badly out of control.

Steve Lillywhite does an excellent job of harnessing the Banshees style and giving it the perfect setting – black, black, BLACK! The harsh metallic shards of McKay’s guitar and sax plus the boom boom boom of Morris’ drums provide the soul(lessness) of the album and as ever we have the Rheinmaiden over the top, counterpointed by the repressed menace of Severin’s bass.

The Banshees never did anything as strong (in my humble opinion) until the might of JuJu, although the singles which emerged later were probably easier listening and represented a refinement of the original approach. Budgie and McGeoch expanded the group’s horizons, but this is classic Banshee stuff. If you can find it …. BUY IT NOW!