Siouxsie And The Banshees* ‎– Juju

This album both enthralls me and frustrates me. Why, you say? Let me explain:

I first saw the video for "Spellbound" on MTV and ran out to get the album. So I put it on, get my "Spellbound" fix, but lo and behold, the 2nd song is great too, and so on through Track 4.

I don't know how Steven Severin gets these sounds out of a guitar, but I'm in rapture when I hear him play. Beautiful chords, cool distortion effects -- he's got it all. The best is "Halloween," where he plays a sequence of chords like a scale against a drone chord, giving it almost an Indian or Arab feel.

But then, after Track 4 the album suddenly dies. Gone is all the cool guitar work, the melodies are boring and repetitive -- I can't listen to it. Nowadays I listen to Tracks 1-4 and then shut it off.

How can one album be such a mix of extremes? I wonder if this started out as a 4-track EP, which record execs then demanded be extended out to a full-length LP so they could get people to cough up more dough for it.

In any case, it's more than worth it for Tracks 1-4.