Siouxsie and the Banshees : The Staircase (Mystery)
On March 23, 1979 Siouxsie and the Banshees released a new non-album single, "The Staircase (Mystery)" b/w a cover of T.Rex's "20th Century Boy". It would enter the charts two days later at U.K.#33, peaking at number 24. As we shall see, this would be the highlight of a not very good year for the band.
Melody Maker reviewed the new single in this way :
"The Banshees have been able to come up with a couple of slices of excellent music for their singles. 'The Staircase' hasn't anywhere near the commercial potential or immediacy of 'Hong Kong Garden', but nevertheless it's a great song. A sinister almost mesmerising tune, dominated by Siouxsie's unorthodox vocals – it grows and matures with each play."
A review in Smash Hits compared the song to "late 60's acid rock:
The "mystery" of the song is solved if you speculate that the band were zonked out of their brains when they wrote it. This is not necessarily a criticism; just an observation. In fact both sides of the record are powerfully attractive.
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