release date: Jun. 10, 1991
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,84]
producer: Stephen Hague
label: Polydor Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Kiss Them for Me" (5 / 5) - 2. "Fear (Of the Unknown)" (remix) - 3. "Cry" - 4. "Drifter" - 5. "Little Sister" - 6. "Shadowtime" (4 / 5) - 9. "Silver Waterfalls" - 11. "The Ghost in You"
10th studio album by Siouxsie & The Banshees (as the band is stylised here) is released nearly three full years after Peepshow (Sep. 1988) and that's with a new experienced producer - something the band otherwise has been a bit reluctant about, since Mike Hedges and the band have been close collaborators on this job since '83 [Tinderbox from '86 is exclusively produced by the band]. Hague has established his name over several years in the '80s as a successful producer for especially British synthpop artists such as Pet Shop Boys, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, New Order, Erasure, and was most recently as co-producer on Robbie Robertson's Storyville-album (1991) (recorded earlier this year, but released on a later occasion). Mike Hedges and the band was especially known for a special darkwave tone with ties to post-punk, and here it's obvious that the band with Hague as producer has taken the full step into another stylistic universe.
Stylistically, you won't find many similarities with Pet Shop Boys, New Order, or any other of the aforementioned artists on Superstition, but the album clearly appears as a purer art pop and especially as an alt. dance outing. The band's line-up for once remains the quintet consisting of Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, Budgie, Martin McCarrick, and Jon Klein as the one we met three years earlier, although, the hiatus in between album releases has given the band members the opportunity to work on other projects. After their last live tour, Steven Severin made the soundtrack Visions of Ecstacy (1989) (for a short film), Siouxsie and Budgie released their critically acclaimed second album as The Creatures, Boomerang (1989), an album they also found time to promote via a following tour, and in May '91 the two married. Martin McCarrick featured on both releases and also found time to resume his work as studio musician on various albums, including Marc Almond's Jacques (1989), This Mortail Coil's final album Blood (1991). Jon Klein was occupied as film director on "Doctor Jeep" (1990), a promotional video for Sisters of Mercy, and together with Barry Andrews (of XTC / Shriekback), Matthew Seligman, and Kevin Wilkinson (of Waterboys), he formed the project, Illuminati.
Much as usual, the new album garnered positive reviews, although Allmusic, among others, weren't exactly enthusiastic, and the album marked a so far worst performance with a 25th position on the national charts. Although, the first single "Kiss Them for Me" may only have peaked at number #32 nationally, it simply topped the US Alternative Airplay chart, just as "Peek-a-boo" from Peepshow had done - and the song also reached an 8th place on the Dance Club Songs list - also in the US.
The two songs "Shadowtime" and "Fear (Of the Unknown)" were respectively chosen as the second and third singles from the album without achieving notable positions on a national scene, but they also performed better than fine on the other side of the Atlantic with positions as no. #13 and #12 on the Alternative Airplay list - so the Americans had caught sight and ears of the band (Superstition, ranked at no. #65, is the highest ranked album from the band on the Billboard 200).
Imho, the album may not be one of the band's absolute best, but they've made so many really good albums that less will do, and it's still the band's best since Hyaena (1984). Again, The Banshees deserve great credit for being highly innovative and at the same time anchored in an unmistakable tone, which is theirs and their only.
Highly recommended.
[ 👎allmusic.com 3 / 5, Q Magazine, Select 4 / 5 stars ]
