Round 3 Murderers

[rayge]

A Siouxsie & the Banshees - Night Shift



B Sufjan Stevens – John Wayne Gacy Jr.

[Mr. FOLLARD]

Never been arsed about Siouxsie. Isn't the guitarist highly rated? McGeogh, is it? Shards of sound, are they? Shimmering and vital, is it?

Sufjan was a big deal about 15 years ago, I remember. This one is pretty sweet and easily beats the sonic cathedrals

B

[toomanyhatz]

Though I like some things I've heard by him, I've been wary of Sufjan since I saw a live TV appearance of him decked out (without any apparent irony) in butterfly wings. This sounds pretty wimpy and wispy to me too, despite the subject matter (which is probably the point).

I'm trying to get past it, but I can't. A is pretty Siouxsie-by-numbers, but it's at least somewhat intense. Maybe there's some irony to Sufjan's approach that I'm not giving him enough credit for...

Nah. It was butterfly wings.

[Deleted]

Like Siouxsie and company, but this isn't a favorite..Never bought into Stevens though, so Vote A

[DarknessFish]

For what it's worth, I prefer Siouxsie without McGeogh, it always seemed his jangle was just more acceptable than to the indie press once they'd let go of punk, but there's a decent amount of screech here. Not a bad song by any means, though there's far too much cymbal going on. Drags like RuPaul on tranquilisers though.

B isjust a delicate and beautiful thing, it was the centrepiece of this album, and I don't think Sufjan's reputation would have lasted for quite as long if he hadn't written something this stunning. That "Oh my God, are you one of them?" is just a chill through the soul, pure emotion. The only other thing I remember from this album was the one that nicked that Cure riff. I've heard of a muse being fleeting, but I guess it's better to have written one great song than none at all.

[fange]

What an interesting match up, such a contrast. B makes a very pretty noise, but I don't really like it lyrically; it's playing with some very touchy images and feelings, as a lot of artistic expression does, but I find it hard to like. A is much more sonically elaborate but it suits the mood of the lyrics too, and the guitars are gorgeous.


A

[Deleted]

The Banshees had developed such an all conquering sound by this stage that it could hold up quite underwhelming material, as it does here. The song itself never really materialises in any convincing way, but the guitars in particular are magnificent giving the record a brooding power (although John I'd argue the guitars aren't shimmering so much as jagged, think broken glass ).
I think of B in the same way I think of Don MacLean singing about Van Gogh. It's either egregiously sincere or quite a cynical exercise in pretending to care, it doesn't matter which though as it is laid on so thickly that the effect is the same regardless of intent. This has "intellectual exercise" written all over it. The prettier it gets the more calculated it appears. Meh.

A

[osgood]

I can live without hearing either again. Both acts bring the word dull to my mind every time I hear them, no matter how different their approaches are. A reluctant vote for

B

[Deleted]

Agree that this is Siouxsie by numbers and I wanted to like the Stevens song more than I did. It seemed like it was trying to be more than some random lines that strung together somehow, but the video was the best thing about it if you grew up around that time in an American suburb.

A

[fonz]

I’d never heard B. Pretty creepy. A pretty song with a terribly morbid lyric.

I prefer the funtime frolic of A. I love this era of SATB. McGeoch was ace.

[oleandermedian]

I’ve completely gone off S and the Bs by this point – the Angst is gone and it feels arty and contrived and it’s all flapping about in diaphanous chiffons from here on in.

I was reading about JWG – what a story. Some of it’s real Twin Peaks stuff, even without the killing. I really like this one and the slant he throws on it. A good pick.

B

[Sneelock]

A by virtue of her distinctive & warbly voice.

[rayge]

So apparently this is in this category because it is 'about' Peter Sutcliffe. I only know this because I couldn't work out the lyrics and so I googled them. You have a lot of time on your hands on a track like this. And now I've read the lyrics, what a load of pooeticals they are, about as inspired as the backing, just a string of vaguely allusive cliches over a rumble with soupçon of menace. S&tB and their various guitarists made some damnfinio tunes here and there, but this is just a drag.

In my former life as a crime writer I read and indeed wrote and edited far more about Mr Gacy than is healthy. In the interests of fairness I googled the lyrics to this, too. And again, I think, what was the point of this? There's a few details of JWG's life - number of victims, childhood head injury drunken father, his redefinition of the concept of the crawlspace, the clown routine - strung together like mismatched beads on a necklace threaded with a pretty tune, and all I can think of is Why? What is point?

Lyrically, they're both rubbish, and morally and ethically dubious, too. But sonically, Stevens is prettier and it's over quicker, so scrapes the least-bad vote


b

[Deleted]

Yep for me the problem with Siouxsie and the Banshees is Siouxsie. Had it been an instrumental, I may haved liked it.

B seems fey (and therefore irritating) but actually has nice counterpoint, different tonal textures ... yeah. Nice, actually. Given the subject matter.

B

[neige]

This was harder than I thought, Siouxsie is aces... but the Sufjan fanboy in me is stronger.

B