The Creatures - Hai!
(Sioux)
For those who've forgotten, The Creatures is the percussive project vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and drummer/hubby Budgie formed on Siouxsie's birthday back in 1981 during the recording of the Siouxsie and the Banshees' Juju album. They released six albums over the ensuing 20 years and, following the conclusion of the successful SATB reunion tour in Japan, decided to stick around and record album number seven. From the cover art and album title (Japanese for "yes"), it's clear what you're in for: an opportunity for Budgie Rich to exercise his fascination with the Taiko rhythms of ex-Kodo drum master, Leonard Eto, who assists throughout.
However, it's Sioux's voice that attracts the greatest scrutiny here, and at 45, it hasn't lost any of its luster. Going for the jugular straightaway, her vocals are so up front and personal on the sexy, sultry "Tourniquet" that you'll swear she was standing right in the room next to you. "Imagoro" will surely fill Goth dance floors and batcaves around the world, "Seven Tears" is a particularly effective wall-of-sound presentation of her powerful pipes, and the beautifully haunting "Further Nearer" is the most Eastern-flavored track of her career, topping even the Banshee's Top 10 debut single "Hong Kong Garden" from a quarter of a century ago! Only the uncomfortably aimless "City Island" fails to generate any excitement. But the immediately accessible and immeasurably catchy pop of "Tantara!" washes that stale taste of sake out of my head and is my choice for first single (despite the band's opting for the fairly innocuous "Godzilla").
How you take to this album depends entirely on your reception to percussive albums in general and Japanese Kodo drumming in particular. By all rights, I should hate this with a passion. As one who has gone on record on numerous occasions to rue the boredom-inducing timewasters that drum solos often become, an entire album based around incessant skin pounding should be cause for immediate Frisbee fodder. But the triumphant return of one of the most powerful voices in rock is enough to assuage any fears and elicit a generous "thumbs up!"
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