"Working in collaboration with Leonard Eto, a remarkable Japanese drummer, this is one of Siouxsie and Budgie's best releases since "Boomerang." The addition of Eto is a natural fit, both with Budgie's throbbing percussion and Siouxsie's ethereal voice. My favorite tracks so far are "Godzilla" (clearly a hit), "Imagoro" (ditto) and the opening percussion-filled "Say Yes" which has Budgie and Eto hammering away gloriously for a few minutes before Siouxsie finally enters, to dramatic effect. Naysayers may think some of the tracks sound too much alike, and they wouldn't be completely wrong. (I'm not among them.) If this project might be "too much of too little" for some, most Creatures fans will delight in the chemistry between these three outstanding musicians. Sound quality is excellent, with the percussion sounding very "present" but not boomy, and other effects swirling around in great electronic clouds. I hope these three decide to tour with this so we can hear these tracks live. This recording definitely seems like a new artistic direction for the duo, and more power to them. Meanwhile, crank up your sound system and enjoy."
The auditory equivalent of being snow blind
loce_the_wizard | Lilburn, GA USA | 03/15/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This exploration of Japanese themed music on "Hai!" strikes many interesting chords with the powerful drumming that energizes and defines the songs, the chants and shouts, cultural touchstones (e.g., Godzilla, City Island, Tantara). Collaborators Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie manage to harness enough energy for a good ride, but after a couple of listens, the territory appears the same and the result is the auditory equivalent of being snow blind. That is, the songs tend to blend together, melded by the wonderful drumming, and they inhabit a middle space without any soaring moments or any dreadful stumbles save the second half of the final song.
This consistency on "Hai!" yields a CD that is one the one hand unified and level but on the other a bit numbing for listening straight through. I think these tracks works better fragmented and scattered among other music (e.g., compilation, noncommercial radio, DJ) than as a block.
"
Say yes!
Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 09/30/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Creatures came about in March 1981 when Siouxsie and the Banshees recorded a piece called But Not Them for their next album which turned out only to involve Siouxsie and Budgie. This accidental pairing soon turned into a side project and instead of appearing on JuJu, the remixed track turned up in September 1981 on the Wild Things EP by the newly christened offshoot the Creatures. An exotic album recorded in Hawaii called Feast followed in 1983, then in 1989, Boomerang, recorded in Cadiz. Anima Animus came after a ten year gap on their own Sioux label, by which time the pair were married and living in France.
Hai! (meaning 'Yes!') came about because the Creatures had a chance to work with legendary ex-Kodo drummer Leonard Eto in Tokyo. The spontaneous drum-duet improvisations were recorded in one Anglo-Japanese marathon at Gok Sound Studios on 19 August 2002 in a "spiritual symbiosis" between Budgie and Eto's Taiko rhythms. Budgie's contributions include marimba, yueh ch'in, percussion and synthétiques, some of it added back at Maison Néko in France whilst the piece was being edited down to the fifty minutes on the finished album, along with Siouxsie's swooping vocal melodies and words, sometimes ecstatic, sometimes playfully theatrical, as on Godzilla! The result is a minor minimalist triumph: "No more maybe, no more could be, say yes!" - Siouxsie"
I KNEW THEY COULD REALLY DO IT
Laurence Upton | 11/01/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"i think that the siouxsie and the banshees/creatures' fans that have written those stanky reviews are way off. i am obsessed with their music and feel that HAI! shouts back to their origins as a vocal/percussive duo. ANIMA ANIMUS was disappointing in that the songs lyrics were underdeveloped and the electronic effects already sounded stale. it was also disappointing when judged by its predesesor the ERASER CUT ep, a collage of diverse and soundscapes and textures.back to HAI! it is an album of both immediacy and sensitivity. its the creatures at their best, when the results are spontaneously mad YET somehow fully developed. the songs progress abstractly as a journey to and thru tokyo, both internally and externally, past, present. i think that it would have been too obvious to have the music sound like it should be more 'japanese'. the textures of the city and country are there, as well as in the vocal key range structure of several songs and in subtle and sparse instrumental touches here and there. i don't think that sioux's vocals are mixed incorrectly. they break thru and pierce the wall of drums with either thick heavy deep vocals or sweet and chilling ones.the highest points of the ice-caped mountain are IMAGORO, an interwoven vocal/chant and AROUND THE WORLD, which perfectly captures the magic and excitement of traveling, like SINATRA"S 'let's get away from it all". really. TOURNIQUET is the moody, jazzy centerpiece and SEVEN TEARS characterizes the album's unconventional song structures. the only song i don't really LOVE is the single GODZILLA!. it just sounds ok and cute but not nearly the most exciting moment on the album.get the album. sounds absolutely original. i knew they could still really do it, better and differently than the rest of the pack."