Album Reviews

** Siouxsie & the Banshees, “The Rapture,” Geffen. This group, which plays the Wiltern on Thursday and Friday, long ago put its class of ’76 British-punk origins behind it in favor of hothouse Gothic romanticism. The band tries to get by on the surface appeal of its cannily spun pop confections. Siouxsie Sioux’s voice has lost its bite, and she sounds labored and wan amid compensating lush production (some of it by John Cale).

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).