Peepshow (album)
Peepshow is the ninth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in September 1988 on Polydor. It was their first record as a quintet. With the arrival of multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick and guitarist Jon Klein, the group recorded a multifaceted album with a variety of influences. Including the singles "Peek-a-Boo" and "The Last Beat of My Heart", the record was a commercial success, peaking at No. 68 on the Billboard 200 chart in the week of 3 December 1988.[1] It spent a total of 20 weeks on that chart.[2]
| Peepshow | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 5 September 1988 | |||
| Recorded | January–June 1988 | |||
| Studio | Marcus, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:41 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer |
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| Siouxsie and the Banshees chronology | ||||
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| Siouxsie Sioux chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Peepshow | ||||
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Peepshow was met with widespread acclaim. Praise centred around the unpredictability of the orchestrations and new nuances in Siouxsie's voice. The album was later remastered and reissued with bonus tracks in October 2014.[3] A 180g vinyl reissue of the original edition, remastered from the original ¼” tapes and cut half-speed at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell, was released in December 2018.
It is the subject of the 2018 book Peepshow by Samantha Bennett, part of the 33 1/3 series.[4]
Music
Parke Puterbaugh described "Peek-a-Boo" as a "collage of sound that incorporates a backward percussion track" with the voice bouncing from channel to channel. "The Killing Jar" opens with "a faint splash of reggae" and then the music dissolves into a trancelike drone in the style of Brian Eno. "Scarecrow" has a "Middle-Eastern feel" and the first side rushes to a climax in "Burn-Up", with cello and drums "simulating a train's mounting momentum".[5]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Q | |
| Spin | very favourable[8] |
| Record Mirror | |
| Stereo Review | very favourable[5] |
Peepshow received critical acclaim. Q wrote in its 5-star review: "Peepshow takes place in some distorted fairground of the mind where weird and wonderful shapes loom." Reviewer Mark Cooper hailed "Martin McCarrick's accordion that pokes its way into Peek A Boo [...] a carny piece of musical imagination". He noted that "the rest of the record bursts with similar acts of imagination", saying: "full honours go to the aforementioned McCarrick for all manner of shrewd decorations and drummer Budgie for endlessly inventive rhythm work that manages to pinpoint the tension inherent in each song without ever lapsing into an obvious beat".[7] Melody Maker highly praised its first single, "Peek-a-Boo", and called it "quite the most astounding British record" of 1988, and "a brightly unexpected mixture of black steel and pop disturbance."[10] The paper also praised the band for the ballad "The Last Beat of My Heart". Chris Roberts said: "The infinite pinnacle is their one joint effort, the bravura hymn "The Last Beat of My Heart"". As Martin McCarrick's accordion and Budgie's directly intelligent rhythms underlie its pathos, this elegy is translated by Sioux with capital beatitude. It's the Banshees' most courageous arabesque in some time."[11] Record Mirror also particularly enjoyed that song when reviewing the album: "The highlight is the restrained 'The Last Beat of My Heart', where Siouxsie's voice explores new ground as she caresses a haunting melody." Reviewer Kevin Murphy concluded by saying: "Brimming with confidence [...], Peepshow is the Banshees' finest hour."[9] NME noted a change of approach in the musical direction: "Peepshow is the best Banshees record since A Kiss in the Dreamhouse because it's the Banshees deciding to be a pop band rather than a rock group".[12]
Spin published a glowing review of the album in their November issue. Discussing "Peek-a-Boo", critic Tony Fletcher said that it's "mood fell in perfectly with their beloved London's summer fascination with the sparsity and confusion that call Acid House, Psychedelic and how!" He described the music of "Peek-a-Boo" as "a crazed assortment of fairground accordions, abrupt horns, distant to-and-fro vocals-exotic, erotic, a dancefloor winner for sure and all of three minutes short."[8] Fletcher also hailed the other tracks, noting "an almost lilting reggae feel to the beginning of "Killing Jar", a fragile, waif-like Siouxsie backed only by translucent guitar and a keyboard bass on the brief "Rawhead and Bloodybones", and a delightful, majestic ballad the likes of which it had been a safe assumption was beyond their reach on "The Last Beat of My Heart". [...] As Peepshow ends with the drawn-out "Rhapsody", Siouxsie's operatic flings seem to be a celebration of her reawakened capacity to thrill."[8] Fletcher concluded: "She and the band sound as confident, abandoned and excited as when they started".[8] In Stereo Review, the album was published in the column, "Best of the Month". Reviewer Parke Puterbaugh wrote that the record was "a fascinating plunge into the subconscious" and was "Dream-like" and "hypnotic", further emphasizing, "Peepshow brims with nonlinear logic, compulsive rhythms, and icy, crystalline textures." The critic concluded his review, qualifying it as an "utterly unconventional and thoroughly intoxicating album" [...] "a transcendent feat: They are not playing music, the music is playing them".[5] A retrospective review in The Telegraph praised the end result, saying that "lush, folk-rock orchestration produced perfect pop".[13]
Legacy
Bloc Party later praised "Peek-a-Boo", which their singer Kele Okereke described: "It sounded like nothing else on this planet. This is just a pop song [...], but to me it sounded like the most current but most futuristic bit of guitar-pop music I've heard."[14] DeVotchKa later covered "The Last Beat of My Heart" at the suggestion of Arcade Fire singer Win Butler.[15] The Decemberists also listed "The Last Beat of My Heart" as one of their favorite Siouxsie and the Banshees' songs.[16] Peepshow was also one of the albums Nic Offer of the band !!! ("Chk Chk Chk"), listened to the most during his formative years.[17]
Track listing
All music is composed by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Peek-a-Boo" | Siouxsie Sioux | 3:12 |
| 2. | "The Killing Jar" | Steven Severin | 4:04 |
| 3. | "Scarecrow" | Severin | 5:06 |
| 4. | "Carousel" | Sioux | 4:26 |
| 5. | "Burn-Up" | Sioux | 4:32 |
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Ornaments of Gold" | Sioux | 3:50 |
| 7. | "Turn to Stone" | Severin | 4:05 |
| 8. | "Rawhead and Bloodybones" | Sioux | 2:29 |
| 9. | "The Last Beat of My Heart" | Severin/Sioux | 4:30 |
| 10. | "Rhapsody" | Severin | 6:23 |
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11. | "El Dia De Los Muertos (Espiritu Mix)" | Sioux | 5:36 |
| 12. | "The Killing Jar (Lepidopteristic Mix)" | 8:06 | |
| 13. | "The Last Beat of My Heart (Live Seattle Lollapalooza 1991)" | 5:32 |
Personnel
- Siouxsie Sioux – vocals
- Steven Severin – electric bass
- Budgie – drums, percussion and harmonica
- Martin McCarrick – cello, keyboards, accordion
- Jon Klein – guitar
- Additional personnel
- Mike Hedges – producer, engineer
Charts
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | UK Albums Chart | 20 |
| US Billboard 200 | 68 | |
| Germany Top[18] | 64 | |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | "Peek-a-Boo" | UK Singles Chart | 16 |
| "Peek-a-Boo" | US Hot Dance Club Play | 14 | |
| "Peek-a-Boo" | US Modern Rock Tracks | 1 | |
| "Peek-a-Boo" | US Hot 100 | 53 | |
| "The Killing Jar" | US Modern Rock Tracks | 2 | |
| "The Killing Jar" | UK Singles Chart | 41 | |
| "The Killing Jar" | US Hot Dance Club Play | 37 | |
| "The Last Beat of My Heart" | UK Singles Chart | 44 |
References
- "Billboard 200 -week 3 December 1988". Billboard.com. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
- "Siouxsie and the Banshees - Chart History Billboard 200", Billboard.com, retrieved 15 August 2015
- "Siouxsie and the Banshees relaunch archival campaign, new reissues due out in October". Consequenceofsound. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
- "Samantha Bennett - Peepshow Siouxsie and the Banshees". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
- Puterbaugh, Parke (January 1989). "Best of the Month: Siouxsie and the Banshees Peepshow". Stereo Review. Vol. 54. p. 101.
- Ned Raggett. "Peepshow – Siouxsie and the Banshees". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
- Cooper, Mark. Peepshow review. Q magazine. September 1988.
- Fletcher, Tony. "Peepshow" review. Spin magazine. November 1988. Page 92-93.
- Murphy, Kevin. Peepshow review. Record Mirror. 10 September 1988
- Mathur, Paul. "Born Again Savages". Melody Maker. 9 July 1988.
- Roberts, Chris. "Psalm Enchanted Evenings" [Peepshow review]. Melody Maker. 10 September 1988. "Peepshow is hesitantly hypnotic. It seduces you back. More than ever, the composition credits go to Sioux or Severin individually, this accounting for the suppliant proximity of their airs. Sioux's 'Turn To Stone' and 'Rawhead And Bloodybones' are simply disquieting, 'Burn Up' is flushed with Eros. Severin's 'Rhapsody' allows some stirring melodrama but the infinite pinnacle is their one joint effort, the bravura hymn 'The Last Beat Of My Heart'. As Martin McCarrick's accordion and Budgie's directly intelligent rhythms underlie it's pathos, this elegy is translated by Sioux with capital beatitude. It's the Banshees' most courageous arabesque in some time. If they have enough majesty in their guts to put it out as a single we really will be witnessing a renaissance."
- Shelley, Jim. "Ornament of Gold". NME. 24 September 1988.
- Bernadette McNulty, Neil McCormick, Helen Brown and Mark Hudson (09 December 2014). "Best 11 album reissues for Christmas 2014". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2016
- O'Kane, Josh (18 September 2008). "Talking Bloc during Harvest Jazz - Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke talks life, love, music and Ultimate Fighting". [Here] New Brunswick. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
With the new record, he said he was inspired by a song written years ago by Siouxsie and the Banshees called Peek-a-boo. "I heard it for the first time, and it sounded like nothing else on this planet. This is just a pop song that they put out in the middle of their career that nobody knows about, but to me it sounded like the most current but most futuristic bit of guitar-pop music I've heard. I thought, that'd be cool, to make music that people might not get at the time, but in ten years' time, people would revisit it."
- Frenette, Brad. "DeVotchKa finds joy in the sadness – interview" Archived 22 January 2014 at Archive.today. Nationalpost.com. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2014. "We were playing in Montreal, and Arcade Fire stopped by, back in the earlier days. We were doing this covers album and Win [Butler] recommended that we record The Last Beat of My Heart"
- Meloy, Colin. Decemberists interview.Pitchfork.com. 15 September 2006. "The Last Beat of My Heart" : "It's one of my favorite Siouxsie and the Banshees songs".
- Moorman, Trent (28 August 2013). "Sound Check !!!'s Nic Offer Talks Celebs, Acid Trips, and Ratt". Thestranger.com. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
- "Germany Top". Swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 10 August 2015
Bibliography
- Bennett, Samantha (October 2018). Siouxsie and the Banshees' Peepshow (33 1/3). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 1501321862.