Reception
Peepshow was received very warmly by critics. Q wrote in its five-star review: "Peepshow takes place in some distorted fairground of the mind where weird and wonderful shapes loom." Melody Maker highly acclaimed its first single "Peek-a-Boo" and called it "quite the most astounding British record" of 1988, and "a brightly unexpected mixture of black steel and pop disturbance." The paper also praised the band for the ballad "The Last Beat of My Heart". Chris Roberts said: "the infinite pinnacle is their one joint effort, the bravura hymn "The Last Beat of My Heart". As Martin McCarrick's accordion and Budgie's directly intelligent rhythms underlie its pathos, this elegy is translated by Sioux with capital beatitude. It's the Banshees' most courageous arabesque in some time." Record Mirror also particularly enjoyed that song when reviewing the album. "The highlight is the restrained 'The Last Beat of My Heart', where Siouxsie's voice explores new ground as she caresses a haunting melody." NME noted a change of approach in the musical direction: "Peepshow is the best Banshees record since A Kiss in the Dreamhouse because it's the Banshees deciding to be a pop band rather than a rock group".
Spin published a glowing review of the album in their November issue. Critic Tony Fletcher first insisted on "Peek-A-Boo" and wrote it is "a deconstruction and reconstruction of a backwards Banshees backing track, its mood fell in perfectly with their beloved London's summer fascination with the sparsity and confusion that call Acid House, Psychedelic and how! A crazed assortment of fairground accordions, abrupt horns, distant to-and-fro vocals-exotic, erotic, a dancefloor winner for sure and all of three minutes short. A return so victorious that the Banshees had their biggest homeland hit in years before most of us knew that it was out". Spin then talked about the other tracks in positive terms and said : there is "an almost lilting reggae feel to the beginning of "Killing Jar", a fragile, waif-like Siouxsie backed only by translucent guitar and a keyboard bass on the brief "RawHead and Bloody Bones", and a delightful, majestic ballad the likes of which it had been a safe assumption was beyond their reach on "The Last Beat Of My heart". There is a more familiarly foreboding rock approach to "Scarecrow" and "Burn-Up", which sounds like "Spellbound" reworked into a furiously frenzied finale, angry and unforgiving. As Peepshow ends with the drawn-out "Rhapsody", Siouxsie's operatic flings seem to be a celebration of her reawakened capacity to thrill." Fletcher concluded by this sentence : "she and the band sound as confident, abandoned and excited as when they started.
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