Join Hands - Siouxsie And The Banshees

In 1978 Siouxsie and the Banshees released their debut album "The Scream" to the unsuspecting world. This blast of punk inspired rock classics was both commercially and critically a huge success. Today, "The Scream" is considered by many to be amongst the greatest albums of all time. Such a strong debut album would always be difficult to follow. It is even harder to follow when the band members are in turmoil with one another, quibbling over which musical direction they should take. The results of these frictions are sadly clearly evident in the band's second album "Join Hands" which was released in 1979. "Join Hands" ...

Originally released in the late 70's during the heyday of punk, this was the 2nd album release by Siouxsie and the boys. Overall a very good release though probably the Banshees at their most downbeat and sombre - possibly due to the enormous group friction at the time ( the drummer and guitarist did a runner in Aberdeen a few months later!). Best tracks are the majestic 'Playground Twist' and the extremely powerful 'Icon' and 'Placebo effect'. Most of the original second side was taken up with a 14ish minute version of 'The Lord's Prayer' (which was their total set list for their 1st concert in '76!) Overall a great ...