The Rapture Reviews

THE RAPTURE - PRESS RELEASE


	Unknown source 1995

	One of pop's most enduring female icons welcomes in the New Year with a brand new album. 'The Rapture' is Siouxsie & The Banshees' 14th major work in 18 hyperactive years, and was produced in part by former Velvet Underground legend John Cale and partly by the Banshees themselves. led off by an addictive first single 'O Baby' on December 28th, 'The Rapture' will also receive the support of the band in the shape of a 15 date tour of the UK between January 21st and February 8th. Media attention is sure to be avid, with several covers and numerous other major features already set to tie in with the album's release. The album receives a further boost come February 6th when the second single 'Stargazer' will be launched.

THE RAPTURE - ADVERTS/REVIEWS


	Q 1995

	So what do we expect from a Banshees record? Sixteen years is time enough to get the measure of any band, especially one whose line-up has endured so (Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Severin from day one; elegant drumming from Budgie since 1980). Sales have waned (clue: 1981's Once Upon A Time best-of enjoyed 26 chart weeks, 1992's second volume just the two), but oddly, quality has not. If the initial brightness of this album - best heard on the O Baby single and Forever - is commercially motivated, so be it; their janglesome joss-stick rock has known many pop hooks in its time. John Cale part co-produces (the jolly ones), Sioux - the natural mother of Dolores O'Riordon and Liz Frazer - still sings 'grace' as 'gray-hee-ay-ace', and only an undisciplined, non-rapturous title sequence drags too much. 3/5 Andrew Collins



	Webmaster 26/10/01

	A powerhouse, a complete contrast to Superstition, sounds like a release from captivity. Sounds like a different band!!! Only marred by the final track listing and the overly loud production. Sadly there is a loss of subtlety on some of these songs, some of the more delicate aspects of the 'Banshees sound' have been quashed out by heavy instrumentation. O Baby and The Lonely One feel like they popped there heads up unexpectedly in a strange barren land, but have insisted upon staying, however ill fitting that might be. O Baby, was a missed opportunity, given the right treatment, tightened and polished and Siouxsie's 'singing while gargling' dropped; this song could have sat happily on the Superstition album and perhaps have been loved instead of derided by most. So, to the rest of the album. This album is heavy and muddy and has very little lightness of touch. The Banshees hammer the songs home. Given the production qualities of, say, Juju; this album could have been another classic Banshees album. There are elements of the elder statesmen of rock playing at being punk, especially on songs such as 'Falling Down'. 'Forever' glides in and out on a wave of guitar sound that is soothing and yearning and The Rapture itself is full of longing and despair. Siouxsie's voice is not at it's best on this album, it sounds old and tired much of the time. The cover is a let down and to be appreciated needs to be seen as it was intended on the vinyl version and not the CD case. The b-sides from this period have everyone in raptures apart from me it would seem, but if Hang Me High, B Side Ourselves and Black Sun had been included on the finished album and O Baby and The Lonely One dropped the album would have been more consistent and complete and on a par with their best.



	People Magazine 13/02/1995

	Although Siouxsie and the Banshees have recorded a gaggle of great songs in their 19 year, 11 album career, they have yet to turn out that one for the ages pop classic, their very own "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The Rapture offers a few contenders (like the jangly "O Baby," the first single), but don't expect to be swept away by a wave of catchy jingles. Instead, as usual, the band emphasizes oblique, offbeat thrills: "Not Forgotten," a throwback to the primal post punk punch of the group's early work, finds Siouxsie's detached vibrato hovering over a thunderous wall of rhythm. There are slightly more accessible numbers like "The Lonely One," which could be incidental film music for some twisted playground scene on a merry go round, and "Forever," an impressionistic gem that's as lovely as anything the band has ever recorded. Chances are no one will be humming much of this stuff six months from now, but The Rapture never fails to be engrossing.