new introductory bit here.

This is a reviews page based on my own collection, which just keeps growing despite itself. If it isn't listed here, it's because I don't own it yet, or I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Also, bother your local "new rock" radio station and make sure they are playing "new rock" and not "Rock the Casbah," which is not new.

note: entries in red text indicate my pick for the artist's best available album. A gold numeral indicates the POPocalypse winner of the year's best album; second- and third-place winners are in blue. Green lettering indicates an obviously exploitative record company compilation without apparent artist input.

Siouxsie Sioux and her partner Steve Severin formed the Banshees in 1976, exploding into the English punk scene on the coattails of the Sex Pistols, and racked up a 20-year career before calling it a day.

Their earliest efforts, with John McKay and Kenny Morris, are nihilistic and minimalist. The band chalked up a brace of top 30 singles and albums before acrimoniously splitting during a record store signing. They drafted Budgie in on drums in late 1979; he would remain in the band to the end and eventually, he and Siouxsie would marry.

The Cure's Robert Smith stepped in on guitar on tour, but in the studio, John McGeoch took over for the top 10 albums Kaleidoscope and Juju and 1982's #11 A Kiss in the Dreamhouse. Juju is definitely the best of this period, as Siouxsie perfects her detached goth queen image with strange poetry ahead of the band's sonic attack. It contains the classic singles "Spellbound" and "Arabian Knights". After Dreamhouse, their fifth album in five years, Siouxsie and Budgie took some time off to solidify their side-band as the Creatures, and Severin teamed with Robert Smith to form the Glove.

Reconvening in the summer of 1983, the Banshees (now Sioux, Severin, Budgie and Smith) quickly released their cover of "Dear Prudence," which made UK #3, and supported it with a pair of thundering shows at the Royal Albert Hall that autumn in front of a crowd so unruly that the venue banned rock acts for years. The shows were rush-released, without overdubs, for Christmas as the double-LP and home video Nocturne. Finding a cheap copy of Nocturne on CD isn't easy, since Geffen shamefully put the double vinyl onto one compact disc in 1990, and then listed it at double-CD retail price.

Returning to the studio, Siouxsie and her crew hit their creative pinnacle with the remarkable Hyaena, which contains, alongside "Prudence," their excellent singles "Dazzle" and "Swimming Horses." All the tracks have a chaotic urgency to them, and Siouxsie's voice wouldn't be this strong again for years.

While all parties, including Smith himself, are quick to downplay Smith's contributions, it certainly seems that his presence was an important one. When he left to rebuild the Cure, he was replaced by John Carruthers, but a certain spark was missing, and neither Tinderbox (1986) nor the covers album Through the Looking Glass (1987) were critically successful, although both, particurlarly the college radio/120 Minutes fave "Cities in Dust," did much to cement their growing cult appeal in America.

The Banshees' weakest effort was their 1988 US breakthrough, with the baffling "Peek-a-Boo," the naive "Carousel" and the stupid "Rawhead and Bloodybones." On the other hand, "The Killing Jar" is nearly amazing, and the last two songs hit an emotional level Siouxsie hadn't visited in a few years. Now without Carruthers, but with the stronger additions of guitarist Jon Klein and veteran sessioner Martin McCarrick. "Peek-a-Boo," a regular on radio playlists, dented the US top 60 and baffled high school kids nationwide.

Following a lengthy layoff and the resurrection of the Creatures, the Banshees hit their peak in America even as their British audience continued to decay. Superstition, polished, unemotional and very radio friendly, is played brilliantly, but with no heart behind the songs. Their biggest US hit "Kiss Them for Me" (#32) opens the album, and the strange pro-democracy "The Ghost in You" closes it, with a few sour notes like "Fear" within. However, touring for Lollapalooza saw the band in the uncomfortable position of British chart veterans from a bygone era mixing with the noisy newcomers of the American underground. Creative inertia followed and they finally had to call John Cale in to salvage 1995's The Rapture, which contains the minor hit "O Baby" and the epic, hours-long title track. There are a couple of duff moments, but mostly this is a hell of a note to go out on. However, it was their least successful UK chart album ever, and the good inroads they made to US radio seemed to have evaporated. "O Baby" was a credible final entry into the UK top 40. The single was backed by a pair of 1991 live tracks which showed that the band's live peak was probably well behind them.

As she saw the Sex Pistols reuniting for their beautifully tacky "Filthy Lucre" tour, Siouxsie finally admitted that the Banshees' time had gone, and they split. She and Budgie started an indie label and reactivated the Creatures in 1998.

SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES: Twice Upon a Time: The Singles (1992, UK #26, **)
While the music here is mostly little thunders of genius (best bets: "Dear Prudence," "Dazzle," "Overground" and "Cities in Dust"), this 1982-92 compilation (sequel to Once Upon a Time, which contained the 1977-81 singles) loses major points for being incomplete. It lacks the single "Song from the Edge of the World," which was never on an album and so it's still unavailable on CD. A sorry live version of "Last Beat of My Heart," which wasn't a single, subs for the studio version, which was. The packaging is subpar, lacking musician credits. If somebody had been paying attention to the project, this would wear better.