| Kaleidoscope | ||||
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| Released | 1 August 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1980 | |||
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| Length | 40:44 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
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| Siouxsie and the Banshees chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Kaleidoscope | ||||
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Kaleidoscope is the third studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 1 August 1980 by Polydor Records. With the departure of John McKay and Kenny Morris and their replacement by two new musicians, Budgie on drums and John McGeoch on guitars, the band changed their musical direction. [4]
Following the departure of McKay and Morris, the band regrouped and redirected their sound for their third record. Departing from their previous work, the Banshees incorporated synthesizers and drum machines for the first time. They particularly experimented in electronic music on a couple of tracks: the electro-rock minimalism of "Red Light" and the atmospheric, synth-based piece "Lunar Camel". The album also contained what could be described as a ballad, "Desert Kisses". Kaleidoscope marked the debut of guitarist John McGeoch and new drummer Budgie. Siouxsie Sioux saw it "like a new lease of life". [5] The songs had been demoed at Warner Chappell studios with only a bass and a synthesizer played by Siouxsie and Steven Severin. After the 1979 tour, Siouxsie had been ordered to take one month of rest by doctors; she used this time to learn to play guitar and compose music for the first time. [6]
When they recorded the final track of the album "Skin", Budgie asked co-producer Nigel Gray if he could add a second drum kit, [7] as if "I was playing to myself a ‘call and answer'." [8]
Kaleidoscope was released on 1 August 1980 by record label Polydor. The album peaked at No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart, the highest position the band has achieved to date. [9] A 180 gram vinyl reissue of the album, remastered from the original ¼” tapes and cut at half-speed at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell, was released in December 2018.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [10] |
Melody Maker 's Paolo Hewitt gave the album qualified praise, summarising it as "a kaleidoscope of sound and imagery, new forms, and content, flashing before our eyes". Singling out the tracks "Paradise Place" and "Skin", Hewitt called them "classic Banshee pieces. Hypnotic, relentless and incisive". [11] Writing for ZigZag , Kris Needs hailed it as "probably the most varied, diverse and adventurous offering yet to shimmer under the Banshees' banner", praising the band's new musical direction: "Tracks veer from the lightest electronic backdrop pulse to surging soundwalls as mesmeric and powerful as anything they've done. But the subtlety evident in 'Happy House' and marvellous 'Christine' are the pointers to the main content of 'Kaleidoscope'". Needs noted that Siouxsie's voice "gained new strength and depth, but she's also widened beyond singing and writing to include synth, piano and a spot of guitar". [12]
The band's work on the singles "Happy House" and "Christine" was hailed shortly after their release by peers the Jam; singer-songwriter Paul Weller said that both songs used "some unusual sounds", while drummer Rick Buckler qualified them as "innovative". [13]
In his retrospective review, David Cleary of AllMusic described Kaleidoscope as a "strong record" with "extraordinarily imaginative production values, featuring intricate synthesizer-flecked arrangements; psychedelic touches in "Christine", spaceship synthesizer swoops in "Tenant" and rhythmic camera clicks in "Red Light" all enliven their respective songs". [10] The 2004 edition of The Rolling Stone Album Guide gave a 3 out 5 rating saying that with the change in personnel, Kaleidoscope refined "the Banshees' attack, diversifying the sound without losing its swirling impact". [14] In 2020, Rolling Stone included Kaleidoscope in the top 40 of their "80 Greatest albums of 1980" list, praising McGeoch as "one of the Eighties' unsung guitar masters" and Siouxsie's "vocal charisma". [15]
Kaleidoscope influenced several musicians including the Cure frontman Robert Smith, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Thom Yorke and Ed O'Brien of Radiohead, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, Red Hot Chili Peppers with John Frusciante, Tim Burgess of the Charlatans, Santigold and the Weeknd.
When Robert Smith described the Cure's album The Head on the Door to the press in 1985, he said: "It reminds me of the Kaleidoscope album, the idea of having lots of different sounding things, different colours". [16] During a TV interview to promote The Head on the Door, Smith also included Kaleidoscope in his "five favourite albums". [17] In a February 2008 interview on BBC Radio 2, Johnny Marr discussed McGeoch's contribution to "Happy House": "What it is about "Happy House" from a guitar playing point of view, is for a start it's modern. It's not got any of the sort of creaky old rock'n'roll aspects to it and it still sounded like the Banshees, almost more so. That's when I really began to become a fan of John McGeoch. It was an extra bonus for me that they'd got a great guitar player who had left another band and came in as a ringer and joined and not surprisingly, that to me was a very good scenario ". [18] Thom Yorke selected "Happy House" as one of his milestones in an interview for the BBC in 2017. [19] Radiohead stated in 2008 interviews that they had rehearsed "Happy House" before going on tour. O'Brien added: "We've been doing all this ... stuff, ... which is our youth, really. You know, when we were teenagers. They were very formative years, and those bands". [20]
Red Hot Chili Peppers covered "Christine" in 2001 with John Frusciante on guitar. [21] Bobby Gillespie was inspired by both "Happy House" and "Christine" because they were pop songs with dark subject matter. He stated: "That's the idea, yeah—to use the conventional way of constructing a pop song to communicate what I feel about the world and my take on relationships. It's a twist that makes it darker than it seems. When we were growing up, Siouxsie and the Banshees were doing this kind of stuff—they were getting in the charts with songs about mental hospitals! "Happy House"? That was nearly number fucking 10 in the charts! 'Christine, the strawberry girl, Christine, banana split lady'—they were writing about a girl with schizophrenia! They were getting in pop magazines and on TV; they were getting played on daytime radio. It's fucking subversive! They were outsiders bringing outsider subjects to the mainstream". [22] Tim Burgess of the Charlatans said: "my favourite Banshees album is Kaleidoscope, because it's been the most played [...] or maybe because of one or a dozen other reasons, 'Happy House' and 'Clockface' are both in my top 100 songs of all time". [23] Santigold took inspiration from the song "Red Light", explaining, "'My Superman' is an interpolation of a Siouxsie Sioux song, 'Red Light'... I love her song..." [24] Santigold also later sampled "Lunar Camel", on her Top Ranking remix album. Jeremy Jay covered the same song on his Airwalker EP.
Kaleidoscope was also praised by the singer of Suede, Brett Anderson. [25] Erasure's Andy Bell cited it as one of his favourites :"More commercial offering from Siouxsie was much more up my street – and consequently, as with all my favourite teen angst albums, I learnt all of the songs inside out and backwards". [26] The Weeknd sampled and used the chorus of "Happy House" on the 2011 track "House of Balloons / Glass Table Girls", [27] included on the Trilogy album.
In the 2006 film Notes on a Scandal , the sleeve of Kaleidoscope is shown in one of the scenes: the character played by Cate Blanchett tells her lover that it is her favourite album, calling it "a masterpiece", and that listening to the album as a teenager made her feel "invincible". [28]
All tracks written by Siouxsie and Steven Severin, except "Trophy" written by Siouxsie, Severin and John McGeoch. All lyrics by Siouxsie except "Christine" and "Red Light" by Severin.
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Additional personnel
Technical
| Chart (1980–1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [29] | 30 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [30] | 5 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI) [31] | Silver | 60,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Siouxsie and the Banshees (were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later acts. The Times called the group "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era".
Nocturne is a live double album and video by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 25 November 1983 by Polydor Records. Co-produced by Mike Hedges, Nocturne features performances recorded at two shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, on 30 September and 1 October 1983, featuring Robert Smith on guitar.
Susan Janet Ballion, better known by her stage name Siouxsie Sioux, is an English singer. She came to prominence as the leader and main lyricist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, who were active from 1976 to 1996. They released 11 studio albums, and had several UK Top 20 singles including "Hong Kong Garden", "Happy House" and "Peek-a-Boo", plus a US Top 25 single in the Billboard Hot 100, with "Kiss Them for Me".
The Glove was a 1983 English musical collaboration and recording project by the Cure's Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees' Steven Severin. They released one studio album, Blue Sunshine, in 1983 as part of Severin's solo deal with Polydor. The latter came up with the band name, the album title and the blue/yellow sleeve concept, as Smith had to leave the project before completion due to prior commitments with the Cure.
John Alexander McGeoch was a Scottish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977–1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980–1982).
Once Upon a Time/The Singles is Siouxsie and the Banshees's 1981 compilation album featuring the band's UK single releases to date. The album featured several songs that had been released as singles yet had not appeared on any of the Banshees' four albums. Once Upon a Time/The Singles spent twenty six weeks in the UK albums chart. The sleeve was designed by Stylorouge.
Juju is the fourth studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was recorded at Surrey Sound studio with Nigel Gray as co-producer, and was released on 19 June 1981 by Polydor Records. Two singles were released from Juju: "Spellbound" and "Arabian Knights".
A Kiss in the Dreamhouse is the fifth studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 5 November 1982 by Polydor Records. The record marked a change of musical direction, as the group used strings for the first time and experimented in the studio. Guitarist John McGeoch played more instruments, including recorder and piano. For Julian Marszalek of The Quietus, the release proved the Banshees to be "one of the great British psychedelic bands."
Hyæna is the sixth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 8 June 1984 by Polydor Records. The opening track, "Dazzle", featured strings played by musicians of the London Symphonic Orchestra (LSO), a 27-piece orchestra called the "Chandos Players"; it was scored from a tune that Siouxsie Sioux had composed on piano. Hyæna is the only studio album that guitarist Robert Smith of the Cure composed and recorded with Siouxsie and the Banshees.
The Seven Year Itch is a live album by Siouxsie and the Banshees, composed of performances recorded at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire on 9 and 10 July 2002 and released by Sanctuary Records in 2003.
"Happy House" is a song written by Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin and recorded by their band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released as a single in March 1980 by record label Polydor, then later included on the band's third album, Kaleidoscope. "Happy House" was the group's first record made with guitarist John McGeoch and drummer Budgie.
"Christine" is a song by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, written by Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin. It was released in 1980 by Polydor as the second single from the then-unreleased third album, Kaleidoscope. The title of said album also comes from a lyric in "Christine".
"Israel" is a song by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released as a stand-alone single in 1980 by Polydor Records.
"Spellbound" is a song by English gothic post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The group wrote it and co-produced it with Nigel Gray. It was released in 1981 by record label Polydor as the first single from the band's fourth studio album, Juju.
"Slowdive" is a song by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in 1982 by record label Polydor as the first single from the band's fifth studio album, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse.
Wild Things is the first release by British duo the Creatures. It was issued on 25 September 1981 by Polydor Records as two 7" single records in a "double-album" style card cover, and is usually referred to as an EP. It peaked on the UK Singles Chart at No. 24, and the pair performed "Mad Eyed Screamer" on Top of the Pops. The EP was entirely remastered in 1997 and reissued as part of the A Bestiary Of CD compilation – which was also released on Spotify.
Dreamshow is a live DVD by Siouxsie, released in 2005. It was filmed at the Royal Festival Hall in London in October 2004. The songs are performed on stage with the Millennia Ensemble orchestra. The setlist incorporates music from her bands Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Creatures.
Nigel Gray was an English record producer. His album credits include Outlandos d'Amour (1978), Reggatta de Blanc (1979), and Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) for the Police, Kaleidoscope (1980) and Juju (1981) for Siouxsie and the Banshees, as well as five albums for Godley & Creme.
"Red Light" is a song by rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It is the ninth track from their 1980 album Kaleidoscope. It was co-produced with Nigel Gray.
Alongside other albums of the era like Siouxsie and the Banshees' Kaleidoscope...Quiet Life served as a bridge between post-punk and the burgeoning new-wave scene.
They went in a more electronic direction on 1980's Kaleidoscope...
We've kind of been rehearsing Happy House – Siouxsie & the banshees.
In rehearsals yesterday, Thom, Ed and I were running through a Siouxsie and the Banshees cover called "Happy House".
