Siouxsie: Mantaray

Siouxsie: Mantaray
Decca: 10/2/2007

I have to admit that I'm nowhere near objective about this album. I once had every Siouxsie & The Banshees album and listened to all of them constantly. I have been waiting more than ten years for this album, ever since the Banshees originally broke up. Siouxsie and her husband, Budgie, soldiered on as The Creatures, but they have never matched the beauty of any of the Banshees albums (except the downright terrible Join Hands).

I began salivating buckets when I heard that this album had been completed and would soon be released. I tried not to get my hopes up too much, for fear of disappointment. Luckily, Mantaray has surpassed my expectations. Most of the songs are great, better than most of Peepshow and The Rapture in fact. Siouxsie's new songs, while more mature and more pop-oriented than anything else she's done, come close to matching the energy of "Cities in Dust" or the melancholia of "Rhapsody". I was surprised to find out that Budgie had no part in the album, but the three separate percussionists definitely augment a number of the songs, particularly on "Into a Swan". I hope this is the first of many solo albums for Siouxsie.