#174: Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju (1981)

Emily: There’s something about female vocalists doing post-punk that just makes sense to me. I think it’s because of the contrast between the high, almost ethereal vocals and the distorted, noisy guitar music. Or maybe it’s the female vocals alone, breathy one moment and growling the next. Or maybe these women just kick major ass. Perhaps it’s all three, and all three are embodied by Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Juju. Lead singer Siouxsie Sioux (pronounced Susie Sue, who knew?) takes the noisy, hard-driving post-punk guitar rhythms that her band throws out and adds haunting vocals, ethereal and gothic at the same time. The result is suspenseful, intriguing, and surprisingly danceable (if swaying back and forth is your kind of dancing, which mine often is). Siouxsie definitely gets added to the list of 80s women who kick major musical ass. In my mind, at least, post punk continues to belong to the ladies.

Favorite Tracks: Arabian Knights; Halloween; Night Shift

Zack: I’ve mentioned before that some albums are just sneaky good. You sit there and listen to a song and really like it, then you like the next one, and the next. They don’t blow you away or anything; but every song is just really solid. This may be the new Sneaky Good Album champion of the world. I listened to this song while doing a stationary bike ride, texting myself short messages about each song to remind myself later. When I reread my texts, I discovered that I had actually loved this album. It had certainly entertained me, but I didn’t think I had thought so highly of it until it was via recollection. The key is how catchy the powerful guitar hooks are. They hit you from track one. It’s sort of like an edgier Bon Jovi really. Paired with those sweeping hooks are some brilliant female vocals. The zenith (GRE word, sorry) of this formula occurs for a stretch in the middle of the album where they switch into a haunting mode. The whole thing is rather formulaic, and I did occasionally wish they would switch it up a little more. Then Night Shift came on and I got exactly what I wished for. The guitars retreat a little and they play with the distortion in a way that, when coupled with those vocals, creates the sensation of being in a haunted house. As good as that switch up was, when they tried it again it was a pretty harsh fail, and at the worst time. The last two tracks both go in different directions and miss miserably. Voodoo Dolly gets a pass because the album is called Juju and it’s at least kind of cool that they made it sound like a voodoo drum circle, even if the slower pace doesn’t suit them. But Head Cut has no excuse for its repetitiveness and general boringtude. Coincidentally, that was one of the harder miles I had to ride. But, ultimately, those two weak concluding songs made the rest seem a little better. Juju reminded me a lot of Myths of the Near Future by Klaxons. I still listen to that album all the time. I think there’s a decent chance Juju ends up in the same category.

Favorite Tracks: Night Shift; Monitor; Arabian Knights