Customer Reviews
Progressive Stuff - By: Stewart F. King, 09 Jan 2008 
As a long time fan of Siouxsie (albeit sporadic) I recently heard a couple of tracks from this album & thought it would be worth a punt. Good decision - Siouxsie is a class act & this album delivers at all levels. Stand out tracks for me are "Sea Of Tranquility" which showcases her voice & song-writing ability superbly & "About To Happen" which could be by any of the upcoming wannabes - it sounds so up to date that you wouldn't think it was being delivered by someone who has been around this long. No resting on her laurels here then - nice one Siouxsie - where to next - can't wait.
Something to celebrate - By: Laurence Upton, 03 Jan 2008 Over the years Siouxsie has spoken a number of wise words that have acted as a guiding light, a beacon through my perilous journey through life. Once she said that anyone who doesn't like cats, she doesn't like them. Not only does this seem a very sound principle that has yet to let me down, it is rather the way I feel about Siouxsie herself. So having declared an interest, it may come as little surprise to learn that I like this album, her first solo recording since her career began over thirty years ago. It also marks, I believe, the first time her name has appeared on a composer credit on its own, as it does on One Mile Below.
Of course there are other musicians on the record but unlike the democracy involved with the Creatures & Siouxsie & the Banshees, here their purpose is to support & realize Siouxsie's vision. To this end producers Steve Evans & Charlie Jones at Bath's Riverside Studios have supplied guitars, keyboards, programming, bass guitar & upright bass, anchored throughout by drummer extraordinaire Clive Deamer. All three had previously served time with Robert Plant, & Steve Jones co-produced his recent Mighty Rearranger album. Siouxsie has chosen to set out her stall by showcasing a variety of styles, mostly close to areas she has exploredin the past butin fresher settings that highlight her irrepressible vocal gymnastic talents to excellent effect & show her as always moving forward.
On If It Doesn't Kill You she evokes the mood of a Bond movie, while Here Comes That Day is dramatically largein Big Spender Bassey-esque fashion. Several tracks have a chorus of other Siouxsiesin the background. Other musicians have been used sparingly; a dulcimer here, some notable Egyptian percussion there, the occasional use of strings & a one man horn sectionin the form of Terry Edwards on the single Here Comes That Day & on Drone Zone.
Judging from the sound of it, Siouxsie clearly enjoyed the sessions, recorded over timein occasional short bursts, rather like her beloved B-sides sessions, each session involving a commute from her homein France. Sometimes the chemistry that can only come from a unit that regularly plays & performs together is not quite there, though as she has subsequently embarked on a tour with her new musical mates, this minor issue should be addressed on future releases. The album is lean, clockingin at just over 40 minutes, free of filler & sounding better with every play. It isn't the Banshees, it isn't the Creatures, but it is Siouxsie, & to be celebrated.
Sioux-perb - By: Nanou, 07 Nov 2007 
Mantaray is a very mature, beautifully written album. It's graced by more than just the good quality of the music, but also by its artwork: the Fiona Freund pictures are absolutely awsome. I adore this CD, & am glad that Siouxsie's back!
Sad, very sad - By: Keith Murphy, 06 Nov 2007 
I wanted to like this very much. I'm a longtime Siouxsie/Creatures fan, & respect her desire to be constantly evolving. Unfortunately that desire seems to have disappeared. There's some Creatures style marimba driven groove here & there, some Banshees guitar wail(along with Siouxsie's). It is difficult for any artist to come up with new sounds every album, but to dredge up 20-25 year old ones(even if you created them) is dull. She needs to get some spiky muso's into the studio with her, rather than some overly reverential youngsters intent on recreating a mid-80's Banshee vibe. Maybe a Marc Ribot or a John Lurie style player to throw down some avant-rock weirdness for her to cut loose on. This is deeply uninspired, throwaway stuff.The only reason I keep playing it, & looking for some hooks to get into is THAT VOICE.
Well, I like it! - By: Johnny Myo, 24 Oct 2007 I guess that,in this day & age, if Amy Winehouse can get away with putting out an album barely over 40 minutes, then punk/goth/rock high priestess Siouxsie (apply whichever crusty old epithet you prefer) thinks she can do the same, & with one fewer track. Well, she's right!
Having been a little inattentive to her last couple of releases, this album has surely got to skyrocket Siouxsie into whatever music Halls of Fame she's not yet been inducted to. Except that might suggest a coda to a 30-year career which clearly isn't over yet.
Produced with Steve Evans & Charlie Jones, this, like Amy's bestseller from the spring & Roisin Murphy's recent opus, is very much a unified album with an overall vision - the type that those Mercury Music Prize judges are so keen on, & Mantaray deserves to be appreciated with such concentration - only at a very HIGH VOLUME!
I can understand why some die-hard fans might be a little disappointed by its maturity and, for Siouxsie (if no one else), "poppiness". But we've already got Kaleidoscope, we've already got Juju, A Kiss In The Dreamhouse & Boomerang, so why not embrace something new?
When I first heard themin isolation, I wasn't crazy about either the first single, Into A Swan, nor the (better) follow-up, Here Comes That Day; I thought they skated uncomfortably close to self-pastiche. But, cranked up loud, they really hit the spot. Lyrically, one or two of the tracks might seem a little flaccidin places (I think another reviewer has already noted the House of cards/feet of clay mixed metaphor on the current single), but they are delivered with such oomph, & are such well-crafted songs that it doesn't seem to matter after all. "Don't be bitter/Don't be gloomy/All your torment/Flowers blooming" could almost be from Kim Appleby's unlistenably trite "Don't Worry", except that it's from the quietly stunning If It Doesn't Kill You, which reminded me of nothing so much as Siouxsie's version - many years ago - of Strange Fruit, but with a much more epic sweep. So much so that any right-thinking person must think that, if there's a battle on to do the next Bond theme, Siouxsie must now be neck-and-neck with the aforementioned Ms. Winehouse (after Love Is A Losing Game... but I wonder who would generate more column inches?).
Seriously, though, I always thought there was something quite beautiful about Siouxsie's voice -in fact, getting this album made be go out & buy the remastered version of Juju, the mangled vowel sounds of which must be etched deepin my cerebral cortex - & they're all present & correct on Mantaray's compelling closing track, Heaven And Alchemy. Maybe we're "in love with the idea of her", but I when I was soaking up the energy of her stage performances 25 years ago, I never imagined she'd become such a grande dame of music, & still radiating the same energy as she grasped each new baton - the video for Here Comes The Day demonstrates that, & a ticket to one of her live shows is so much more than a vote for nostalgia.
Respect!
