The Rapture (album)

The Rapture is the 11th and final studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The songs with cello arrangements, including the title track as well as "Fall from Grace" and "Not Forgotten", were produced by the band on their own in 1993. John Cale later produced the remaining songs in mid-1994.

This album was reissued in 2014 in a remastered version with three bonus tracks, including a previously unreleased song called "FGM", and "New Skin", a song recorded for the motion picture soundtrack of Showgirls.^[1]

Recording and release

After composing songs in Siouxsie and Budgie's house near Toulouse, France, in March and April 1993, the band went to Léon near Biarritz. They produced the first part of the album at Studio de Manoir in May. At the beginning of 1994, they recorded the final songs in London, this time with producer and former Velvet Underground member John Cale, who had previously produced albums that the band liked such as Patti Smith's Horses and the first Modern Lovers album. Cale also mixed one track, "Fall from Grace", from the previous recording session.

In the UK, Polydor only released the album on both CD and cassette, whereas in the US, Geffen also released it on vinyl LP. For the 2014 reissue, an unreleased and slightly different longer version of "New Skin" was included as a bonus track (the original version had been released in 1995 on the soundtrack for the Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls).

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Select	^[3]
Vox	7/10^[4]

The Rapture was well received by critics. Melody Maker hailed the record at its release and wrote: "The Rapture is a fascinating, transcontinental journey through danger and exotica". Describing the arrangements, they added, "it's a vivid cornucopia of lush instrumentation, mandolins vying with cellos and bells, sweeping strings describing starlit oceans and sirens calling from jagged rocks, and attics that hide secret worlds".^[5] Steve Malins of Vox also liked the album. He said, "The title-track is a sublime melodrama recalling the experimentation of Peepshow and 1982's Kiss in the Dreamhouse", before concluding with this sentence, "The Rapture represents an intelligent twist on familiar Banshees obsessions".^[4] Liz Buckley of Sun Zoom Spark also praised it, writing, "How is a band that first formed almost two decades ago able to remain both vital and celebrated? Answer: Metamorphosis". Buckley also declared that "the album is able to excite the hairs on the back of your neck".^[6] Select gave it a 4-star rating, hailing the band as "purveyors of scary pop par excellence". Matt Hall noted the ability of the group for "trotting out jolly tunes about mental breakdown, love bordering on obsession and severely dislocated relationships." The reviewer characterized The Rapture as a "fine little Russian doll of a record", and said, "Under the keyboard lines, swelling strings and OTT percussion, at the centre of every song is a nugget of disquiet that keeps you listening again and again".^[3]

Track listing

All tracks produced by Siouxsie and the Banshees except tracks 1-2 and 7-8-9 produced by John Cale. Track 4 produced by Siouxsie and the Banshees and mixed by John Cale.

All music composed by Siouxsie and the Banshees, except bonus tracks "FGM" by Siouxsie/Jon Klein and "New Skin" by Siouxsie.

All lyrics written by Siouxsie Sioux, except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"O Baby"		3:19
2.	"Tearing Apart"		3:21
3.	"Stargazer"		3:14
4.	"Fall from Grace"	Severin	3:43
5.	"Not Forgotten"		4:44
6.	"Sick Child"	Budgie	4:49
7.	"The Lonely One"		3:29
8.	"Falling Down"		2:53
9.	"Forever*"		4:04
10.	"The Rapture"		11:30
11.	"The Double Life"	Severin	4:10
12.	"Love Out Me"		4:43

2014 remastered reissue bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
13.	"O Baby (Manhattan Mix)"	3:27
14.	"FGM (Unreleased Demo)"	3:05
15.	"New Skin (Unreleased Showgirls Version)"	8:06

Personnel

Siouxsie Sioux - vocals
Steven Severin - electric bass
Budgie - drums and percussion
Martin McCarrick - cello, keyboards and accordion
Jon Klein – guitars

Additional personnel

Renaud Pion - woodwind
John Cale - producer and mixer
Martin Brass - engineer
Charlie Gray - engineer
Mark Saunders - mixer
Knox Chandler - guitar on "New Skin"
Gary Barnacle, Peter Thoms, Luke Tunney and John Thirkell [uncredited] - brass section on "New Skin"

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1995	UK Albums Chart	33
1995	US Billboard 200^[7]	127

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1995	"O Baby"	UK Singles Chart	34
1995	"O Baby"	U.S. Modern Rock Tracks	21
1995	"Stargazer"	UK Singles Chart	64

References

↑ "Siouxsie and the Banshees relaunch archival campaign, new reissues due out in October". Consequenceofsound. 22 August 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
↑ Ogg, Alex. "The Rapture - Siouxsie and the Banshees". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
1 2 Hall, Matt. "Siouxsie and the Banshees The Rapture - review". Select. February 1995.
1 2 Malins, Steve. The Rapture review. Vox. February 1995
↑ Unsworth, Cathi. "Baby, Come back". Melody Maker. 14 January 1995.
↑ Buckley, Liz. "Siouxsie and the banshees". Sun Zoom Spark. January 1995
↑ "Billboard 200 for Week Ending March 4, 1995". Billboard (magazine). 4 March 1995. Retrieved 17 August 2015.

Siouxsie and the Banshees

Siouxsie Sioux Steven Severin Marco Pirroni Sid Vicious Kenny Morris Peter Fenton John McKay Budgie Robert Smith John McGeoch John Valentine Carruthers Martin McCarrick Jon Klein Knox Chandler

Studio albums	The Scream Join Hands Kaleidoscope Juju A Kiss in the Dreamhouse Hyæna Tinderbox Through the Looking Glass Peepshow Superstition The Rapture

Live albums	Nocturne The Seven Year Itch At the BBC

Compilation albums	Once Upon a Time: The Singles Twice Upon a Time: The Singles The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions

Other albums	Downside Up

EPs	The Thorn

Singles	"Hong Kong Garden" "The Staircase (Mystery)" "Playground Twist" "Mittageisen" "Happy House" "Christine" "Israel" "Spellbound" "Arabian Knights" "Fireworks" "Slowdive" "Melt!" "Dear Prudence" "Swimming Horses" "Dazzle" "Overground" "Cities in Dust" "Candyman" "This Wheel's on Fire" "The Passenger" "Song from the Edge of the World" "Peek-a-Boo" "The Killing Jar" "The Last Beat of My Heart" "Kiss Them for Me" "Shadowtime" "Fear (Of the Unknown)" "Face to Face" "O Baby" "Stargazer"

Other songs	"Tattoo"

Videos	Nocturne The Seven Year Itch At the BBC The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees

Related articles	Discography Personnel The Creatures The Glove Bromley Contingent

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