| Juju | ||||||||||
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| Studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees | ||||||||||
| Released | 6 June 1981 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||||||||
| Genre | Post-punk Gothic rock |
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| Length | 41:06 | |||||||||
| Label | Polydor | |||||||||
| Producer | Nigel Gray, Siouxsie & the Banshees | |||||||||
| Siouxsie and the Banshees chronology | ||||||||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
Juju is the fourth studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees and was released in June 1981 through Polydor Records. After a slightly electronic bent made on a few tracks of their last album, the Banshees returned to a guitar-based sound for Juju, due to the now-official guitarist, John McGeoch. The album also featured prominently, for the first time, the intricate percussion work of band member Budgie. Juju was remastered as a single-disc digipack in May 2006.
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The album was hailed by both critics and musicians. In 1995, Melody Maker placed Juju as "one of the most influential British albums of all time".[1] In 2006, Mojo honoured John McGeoch by rating him in their list of 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time for his work on "Spellbound".[2] In 2007, The Guardian put Juju in its list of 1000 albums to hear before you die. Journalist Alexis Petridis wrote. "Perennial masters of brooding suspense, the Banshees honed their trademark aloof art-rock to its hardest and darkest pitch on Juju. With their musical alchemy at its peak and Siouxsie at her most imperious, pop marvels such as Spellbound and Arabian Knights were poised, peerless exercises in magic realism that you could dance to."[3]
Morrissey selected the first single of Juju, "Spellbound" during an interview for the US Kroq radio in 1997 and said
| “ | another great single, a hit in England, certainly not here, I don’t think. But they were one of the great groups of the late 70s, early 80s and very underrated, I think. Siouxsie and the Banshees were excellent".[4] | ” |
The ex-leader of The Smiths also later stated to GQ in 2005 that Juju is to him the second best Siouxsie and the Banshees album[5], while his previous guitarist Johnny Marr said on the BBC radio 2 in February 2008 that he rated guitarist John McGeoch highly for his work on the first song of this album, "Spellbound". Marr qualified it as "clever" with "really good picky thing going on which is very un-rock'n'roll".[6] In Uncut, Marr also rated McGeoch at number ten in his all time favourite guitarists for Juju and Real Life by Magazine.[7][8]
All tracks by Sioux, McGeoch, Severin, and Budgie.
