TS: Siouxsie & The Banshees - Kaleidoscope vs. Juju

only one of these has "Night Shift" on it

I love Kaleidoscope but Juju is so far ahead it's not a fair fight.

Should maybe have A Kiss In The Dreamhouse here too to complete the McGeoch set.

Kaleidoscope gets my vote. Tinderbox and Peepshow are my two favourite Banshees albums these days, Kaleidoscope would probably be my third favourite.

I love Kaleidoscope but Juju is so far ahead it's not a fair fight.
xpost
I totally agree. However, Kaleideoscope has Desert Kisses, possibly my favourite Banshees track

I do think "Christine" is wonderful but OTOH "Sin of My Heart"

Should maybe have A Kiss In The Dreamhouse here too to complete the McGeoch set.

― RAWK Mobster (onimo), Wednesday, 28 August 2013 12:17 (4 hours ago) Permalink

Funnily enough, I was going to do a McGeoch-era Banshees poll but ended up settling for a TS between these two, if only because these are the two Banshees I seriously have difficulty choosing between. Some days I think Juju pips it, but then I put on Kaleidoscope and it just totally hits the spot. I love Dreamhouse too, but always feel like I have to be in a particular mood for it. Is there anyone out there that rates Dreamhouse above these two?

To say I rate McGeoch highly as a guitarist is an understatement, and indeed if the Magazine albums were polled I'd have a very tough time choosing between the albums he was involved in. An interesting poll would be a poll of post-punk guitarists... or a TS between McGeoch and Keith Levene... that would be interesting!

I rate A Kiss in the Dreamhouse above these two. I like its eclecticness and expenrimentation.

Out of these I would've thought Juju easy. Both have very strong singles, with Juju's just edging out Kaleidoscope. But then on Kaleidoscope you have "Clockface", "Trophy", "Red Light", and "Paradise Place" which might tip the scales in its favor for me.

Juju has more tightly constructed songs, and many of them could have been singles - not just the two which were. But I have to favor Kaleidoscope's much wider array of textures and super surplus of IDEAS.

The period between the albums is when the Banshees started making their best music on b-sides. "Drop Dead / Celebration" sounds like a leftover from Join Hands, and "Eve White / Eve Black" is weaker than anything on Kaleidoscope. But starting with the "Israel" / "Red Over White" single and the four b-sides from Juju, the Banshees best music took a backseat to the front-and-center but lesser album tracks for the next several albums. Until everything they did kind of sucked.

Yes, it's difficult to decide. Kaleidoscope has many good songs (Clockface, Lunar Camel, Happy House, Tenant). Even though A Kiss in the Dreamhouse isn't part of this poll, it has its standout tracks too (Cascade, Green Fingers, Melt, Slowdive). But I will most likely vote for Juju because almost all of its tracks are exceptional; even the two relatively weak tracks (Into The Light, Halloween) are not so bad. And, of course, Juju has Head Cut, one of my favorite songs. I probably don't have to remind the people here that Juju also has Spellbound and Nightshift.

(And, oh yeah: I'm new here. Just registered a few days ago after lurking for a while. Previously, I did try to register two separate times, some time back, but each time, the site was completely down! I guess you should probably get used to seeing my 'name' am.curious.sometimes on some of the boards. Is there some place on the boards where I should go to introduce myself? I looked around on the site but I couldn't find anything like that.)

juju

Never thought of Into the Light as weak, it's incredible

Never thought of Into the Light as weak, it's incredible

A matter of personal taste, which is OK. Personally, I think the song is a bit too 'light', ('light' for a Banshees song, that is), and kind of clashes with the rest of the album's 'darkness'. Maybe on another album, I'd feel differently. But, you like it; that's cool; no problem. And I'm not trying to be snarky or anything like that. I really do think that it's OK to have differences of opinion, especially where subjective stuff like musical taste is concerned. And I don't hate the song. Just doesn't work for me, especially placed among the rest of the album's intensity.

Never thought of Into the Light as weak, it's incredible

That's how I hear it too.

Yeah Into The Light is amazing, it would rival Melt as my favourite Banshees song.

Both these albums are great but I voted Juju for those opening three songs, so classic.

Regarding Into The Light, to each his (or her) own. It's cool. Voted Juju.

Voted Juju because of Into The Light tbh, John McG at his best imo

Join Hands

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The thing about Juju is how coherent it all is, from the dazzling orientalist magic of side 1 to the utter frenzy of side 2. Kaleidoscope is a collection of amazing songs, but it does not have that sense of a journey.

I always kind of dismissed Kaleidoscope as a pleasant but inessential transition album btw the punky Banshees and the gothier beast to follow - but hearing it this morning, I realized what a woderfully strange album this is. Pretty interesting that that is the album Siouxise chose to play front to back on her comeback this year.

juju - can't beat night shift!

Oh man, I really should have included Dreamhouse in this...

I dig the drum machine experiments on Kaleidoscope, and McGeogh rules on "Paradise Place" and "Skin."

It's Steve Jones playing guitar on both of those!

Ha! Not at all what I expect from Ol' Sledgehammer.

Not sure which I prefer but Downside Up probably had the better B-sides (all two of them)

but Kaleidoscope* rather