Customer Reviews

Reflections In The Looking Glass: A Tribute To Siouxsie And The Banshees

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This album consists of 14 synth heavy interpretations of some of the best Siouxsie and the Banshees songs.
Highlights include a striped down rendition of 'Night Shift' by Switchblade Symphony, a manic, guitar driven 'Head Cut' by Corpus Delecti and a dreamy, ethereal version of 'Last Beat of My Heart' by Edera.
Not a bad collection at all, really. Only disappointments are Waiting For God's too slight version of 'Red Light' and Stone 588's plodding 'Night Shift'.
Fans of newer goth music and even industrial shouldn't be unhappy with this.

After reading the reviews posted about this record I felt obligated to write a more even handed assesment than those found here.This album is infact nowhere near as terrible as others would have you believe.Ordinarily I would have afforded this effort only 4 stars but I felt in this instance that five was more appropriate to raise the overall rating.
I don't know what possessed the other reviewers here to post such negative comments.I would imagine that some were simply not interested in Siouxsie's importance in the Gothic movement, in which case a tribute album comprised entirely of Gothic/Industrial/Electro artists wouldn't be to their liking anyway (The first review notes The Banshees' influence on Hole,Garbage and Curve but fails to note their far more prominent influence on nearly every Goth band that came in their wake.Musically The Slits had more of an influence on Hole and their contemporaries than Siouxsie, who merely brought female rock vocalists to the attention of pop audiences).As for the others, I can only assume that they are hardcore Siouxsie purists who cringed at the sound of Banshees classics being debased by the use of distorted synthesizers and re-interpreted by a new breed of Goth bands.Give this album a try with an open mind and you'll see that most of the songs measure up well and some even surpass the originals.
The album starts of with Goth/Pagan band Inkubus Sukkubus's version of Spellbound.Not much different from the original but the Inkies patented orchestral sound adds a depth to the music lacking on Juju.The next one up is Israel performed by Mephisto Walz.Again, not much deviation from the orginal but sharper production creates a more Gothic feel.Switchblade Symphony blend their post-Serpentine Gallery trip-hop style with Juju's Night Shift to create one of the weakest moments on the album.The only thing that holds this song together is the fact that it's one of Siouxsie's best.Without a doubt the weakest song however, has to be the lamentable Silly Thing.The performance neither adds nor takes away from the original, it's simply not a good song and should never have been here in the first place.On the other end of the spectrum, one of the finest moments on this album is the fantastic Corpus Delicti cover of Head Cut.Doing away with the calculated temperance of the original, the song is compressed to under 3 minutes of roaring guitar riffs - bettering the original in the process.Other highlights are The Shroud's delicate interpretation of Red Over White and the Stone 588 (who sound remarkably like Siouxsie even on their own records) version of Night Shift which,while not varying greatly from the original, has an edgier rock style to it.Other songs worth checking out are Ex-Voto's Industrial guitar-charged Monitor and the excellent electronic groove of Red Light performed by Waiting for God.The rest are mostly electro-tinged reworkings of old classics which work surprisingly well, whether it be the tender minimalism of Last Beat of My Heart or the cold electronic rhythm of Skin.One to watch out for though is the unfortunate Last Dance cover of Cities in Dust where Kelly Garret muddles her way through an under-produced mess on top of a bland guitar performance.
All in all if you're a fan of Goth/Industrial music give this one a go.It has it's weak points but not nearly as many as the other reviews here would indicate.Sorry about the overly-long review but I didn't feel like just dusting off my thesaurus to look for 17 different ways of saying awful.

This album has so many incredible covers it's hard not to like it. Inkubus Sukkubus starts out the album with a distraught reinvention of "Spellbound", Switchblade Symphony & Stone 588 capitolize on the gothic beat of "Night Shift", while Collide improves the tainted "Obsession" into a phenomenal meloncholy ballad. For the darkwave fans Corpus Delicti pounces on "Head Cut" (also the only male vocal cover on the album). Regenerator utilizes an 80's beat that strengthens "Ordinates Of Gold", and The Shroud's "Red Over White" is a dramatic masterpiece.

I would like to have given no stars but it was not an option, I don't usually like to out and out slam a musician, but in this case every one of these groups has woefully fallen short of the musical talent of the woman they are supposedly trying to pay tribute to. I guess I can blame this fiasco of an album on the fact that idiot music critics have chosen to label Siouxsie as a goth songstress, which in my humble opinion she is most definately not. The atonal screeching, hissing, and wailing I was subjected to listening to this alblum hardly even resembled the songs that I love and cherish by Sioux. In closing save your money, either buy the real thing or if you are into these bands buy their tapes and CDs and keep this travesty from ever occuring again.

Most A TRIBUTE TO... compilaions are quite bad. They insult the original artist and their fans. But this one is actually quite good!The best song, and is even better than the original and even the rework by Siouxsie on The Thorn, is The Shrouds version of "Red Over White". The vocals are top notch and envoke more passion that Siouxsie does on her 2 versions. Ever se the movie "Deep In The Woods" the scene with the young man in the woods,and the erie light shinning down on him in the darkness...this song creates a disturbing vision like that one.Best tracks:NIGHTSHIFT: SwitchBlade SymphonyMONITOR: Ex-VotoRED OVER WHITE: The Shroud HEADCUT: Corpus DelicitiSillyThing: Deep RedLAST BEAT OF MY HEART: EderaBiggest embarrassment:SKIN: Sin

While some of the tracks contained on this album are mediocre interpretations of Siouxsie's songs, most are truly terrible. 'Night Shift', possibly the Banshee's eeriest song, is misrepresented twice: Stone 588 tortures it in an absurd mockery, and Swithblade Symphony mess up the lyrics several times..... BAD!

i adore siouxsie sioux & i adore this tribute! while it's true no one compares to siouxsie herself these creative gothic bands do an amazing job recrafting these songs. early banshees tunes are a bit rough compared to her new creatures masterpieces. these bands highlight the sheer eerie brillance of the banshees lyrics. the stone 588 version of "night shift" is simply stunning overshadowing even switchblade symphony's beautiful version. corpus delecti do a fantastic version of macabre "headcut". ex-voto breathe new life into the claustraphobic "monitor". overall an excellent compilation demonstrating fully that gothic music is better than ever.

The cover of Red Over White is SUPERB on this album (dare I say it? better than the original? sacrilege!! well, in true Banshee tradition, The Shroud covers a song and makes it their own!), however, things are a bit downhill from there. Too many of the tracks sound like they are the same band, too synth-heavy and simply not interesting enough. Love them or hate them, the Banshees' music was so multi-faceted you can listen to a song a hundred times a find some new twist to it. Not the case here. I was terribly disappointed by Switchblade Symphony's version of Nighshift! So flat! The vocals are OK, a bit haunting, but otherwise dullsville! I suppose what this points out is that NO ONE can adequately cover the Banshees. They are in a class, a world ALL their own.

The cover of Red Over White is SUPERB on this album (dare I say it? better than the original? sacrilege!! well, in true Banshee tradition, The Shroud covers a song and makes it their own!), however, things are a bit downhill from there. Too many of the tracks sound like they are the same band, too synth-heavy and simply not interesting enough. Love them or hate them, the Banshees' music was so multi-faceted you can listen to a song a hundred times a find some new twist to it. Not the case here. I was terribly disappointed by Switchblade Symphony's version of Nighshift! So flat! The vocals are OK, a bit haunting, but otherwise dullsville! I suppose what this points out is that NO ONE can adequately cover the Banshees. They are in a class, a world ALL their own.

BR>There is one saving grace: Inkubus Sukkubus's portrayal of "Spellbound," which was truly great. However, that one excellent song isn't worth the price of the horrible screeching and cthulhu-growls adorning the rest of the album (I expected much more from Switchblade Symphony).