Siouxsie And The Banshees’ fourth album, 1981’s Juju, stays the chameleonic post-punk outfit’s landmark launch. Darkish, attractive, and attractive, it peaked at No.7 on a four-month UK Prime 40 chart run, attracted reams of crucial acclaim, and cemented its creators’ fame as one of the vital exhilarating and distinctive rock acts of the early 80s.
Hearken to Siouxsie And The Banshees’ Juju proper now.
Barely extra contentiously, Juju can also be continuously cited as a serious affect on the then-emerging goth scene, one thing which Siouxsie Sioux has since performed down. “I’ve always thought one of our greatest strengths was our ability to craft tension in music and subject matter,” she informed Louder in April 2018. “Juju had a strong identity, which the goth bands that came in our wake tried to mimic, but they simply ended up diluting it.”
What is definite is that The Banshees have been on an almighty inventive roll as they ready to document the album. Although experimental in design, with synthesizers and drum machines spicing up their signature sound, their earlier album, 1980’s Kaleidoscope, peaked at No.5 within the UK on the again of two iconic Prime 30 hits, “Happy House” and “Christine,” and that document’s success spurred Siouxsie and co on to even better inventive heights.
Unique Banshees John McKay (guitar) and Kenny Morris (drums) had left following the discharge of the group’s second album, Be part of Palms, in 1979, however for Kaleidoscope, Sioux, and bassist Steve Severin discovered pedigree replacements in ex-Slits/Massive In Japan drummer Budgie and former Journal guitarist John McGeoch. The brand new-look Banshees quickly developed virtually supernatural chemistry and the songs they labored up throughout intensive rehearsals throughout the winter of 1980 despatched shivers up the spines of all involved.
“It felt like a solid, unified group around that time,” Sioux informed author Mark Paytress whereas reflecting on Juju in 2006. “A lot could be understood [between us] without anyone necessarily saying it.”
Juju’s title derived from the African statue adorning the album’s cowl, which Sioux and Severin had found within the Horniman Museum, in London’s Forest Hill. It stays the perfect leitmotif for an intoxicating, risk-taking document enriched by the sort of unique sonic textures that few of the band’s opponents would have dreamed of using.
On their very own, Juju’s signature Prime 40 hits confirmed that The Banshees have been now leagues forward. The heady “Arabian Nights” featured an impassioned Sioux lyric commenting on the oppression of girls within the Center East (“Veiled behind screens/Kept as your baby machine”), whereas the mesmeric “Spellbound” was merely an unstoppable whirling dervish propelled by Budgie’s relentless, spinning toms and McGeoch’s frenzied acoustic guitar.
Nonetheless, the remainder of Juju was equally satisfying, with The Banshees triumphantly pulling off a sequence of their most daring sonic heists. McGeoch once more excelled on “Into The Light,” together with his astonishing guitar tone (enhanced by an impact referred to as The Gizmo) mimicking the sound of a string quartet, whereas, on the dystopian punk-funk hybrid “Monitor,” Siouxsie associated a extremely prescient, Orwellian story of CCTV surveillance. Elsewhere, the entire band pulled out all of the stops on the anthemic “Halloween” and Siouxsie turned in two of her most intense vocal performances on the macabre “Head Cut” (“Shrunken heads under the bed… the flies are humming”) and the album’s finale, “Voodoo Dolly”: a maniacal, Exorcist-esque story of possession sprawling throughout seven unmissable minutes.
Reviewers have been fast to select up on the document’s future-shaping vibe, with Sounds’ Bettie Web page noting “the way this unit operates is impressively cohesive” and NME’s Paul Morley proclaiming Juju to be “the first integrated and sparkling complete Banshees since The Scream.”
Launched on June 6, 1981, Juju yielded the fourth of 5 successive silver discs for Siouxsie and her compatriots, and the album richly deserves its exalted fame within the post-punk pantheon. Luminaries from The Smiths’ Johnny Marr to Purple Sizzling Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante and Suede’s Brett Anderson have continued to sing its praises, whereas, in a 2014 BBC 6 Music interview, The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan insightfully asserted that Juju “unlocked certain rhythms and feelings that are still in alt.rock today.”
Siouxsie And The Banshees’ Juju might be purchased right here.
