The Creatures: album reviews and ratings

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Reviews & Recommendations

Plumes of Dirt, Caress a urine colored sun Swarms of angels, Come to kill your sons -- The Creatures	The Creatures (Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie)

Artist Listing:

S - Z

"When the Banshees disbanded in 1995, The Creatures (Siouxsie and her now husband Budgie) had already put out two albums and numerous singles. Unfortunately, their Polydor and Geffen record labels didn't take these albums seriously.
(...) Siouxsie is as much a performance poet as a cryptic Goth icon, transforming lyrics that seem simple enough on paper into captivating songs with cleverly placed and intense vocal intonations. "Here it comes again/ Taste of jagged glass and rusty can/ There are just black holes/ Where the stars would be watching/ Just black holes/ Where the stars should have been," Siouxsie sings on "Exterminating Angel." Poetry.
(...) Though Siouxsie always takes the spotlight, without Budgie the album wouldn't be half the gem it is. A master of percussion, Budgie steers the album's seamless progression from dance beats to drum and bass style rampages to sensual Gothic treasures. "

-- Jessica Hampton, daily.umn.edu/ae/Print/1999/12/storys/music2.html, 12/99

The Creatures Discography - Album / CD Reviews

1983: Feast
Track Listing: 1. Morning Dawning 2. Inoa' Ole 3. Ice House 4. Dancing on Glass 5. Gecko 6. Sky Train 7. Festival of Colours 8. Miss the Girl 9. A Struting Rooster 10. Flesh
"In the height of the later day punk era, I remember seeing a video on what must have been the UK's, Top of the Pops and found myself enveloped by not only the enticing imagery, but also by the experimental sounds of The Creatures. Unlike later albums, 'Feast' is quite unique and to this day, I can't think of any other compareable album, by anyone. If one views a darwinian theory to the development of music Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie's side project, The Creatures most definately follows this course with 'Feast' predating 'Boomerang'. 'Feast' does not contain melodies so familiar, rather it is pure raw sound flowing like a streams gentle rapids. One only needs to listen to Siouxsie and the Banshee's early work, such as The Scream to begin to comprehend basics of Feast. Feast is a revelation by their return to primordial sounds and the subsequent producing of music that is not harsh on the ears, but rather is melodic in its own right."

-- Robert (Max) Mullins, for musicfolio.com, 2/05

½ 1989: Boomerang

"Not a bad song on here, you discover more as you listen each time on this wonderfully produced CD. I thought it wouldn't be as good as the regular Siouxsie and The Banshees CDs but much to my surprise I was completely wrong, this disc is BETTER then any regular Banshees LP. The percussion is fascinating, as are the layers of impressive synths and of course Siouxsies voice... which is really shown off here, and manipulated in some very futuristic/cool ways."

-- Thomas Baldwin, amazon.com customer review

1997: A Bestiary of... The Creatures

"Siouxsie Sioux & Budgie's first side-project album 'Feast' (1983) with eight bonus tracks: all of the tracks released on the five song 'Wild Things' EP, the B-side 'Hot Springs In The Snow' from the 'Miss The Girl' 7in, and both sides ofthe 7/ 12in for 'Right Now'/ 'Weathercade'. 18 tracks total.The fold-out booklet features the cover art from each of thesleeves from these four releases - including the scandalous nude shower scenes the duo did together for 'Wild Things'! 1997 Polydor release.

-- amazon.com album description

¾ 1999: Anima Animus

"While 2nd Floor and Turn it On are very good candidates for spinning at the local gothic nightclub, the more haunting songs like I Was Me and Prettiest Things are the stronger tracks on the album. But the real standout on this CD has got to be the angry, uptempo Exterminating Angel:
/Plumes of Dirt, Caress a urine colored sun, Swarms of angels, Come to kill your sons, And there's nothing but black holes, Where the stars should have been/.
Anima Animus is the living proof that Siouxsie and husband Budgie don't really need the rest of the Banshees to put together a strong and cohesive record."

-- Said Sukkarieh, musicfolio.com

1999: Hybrids

A Collection of remixes and re-works of Creatures tracks by electronic artists. Tracks taken from Anima Animus, and the Eraser Cut EP ('98).

½ 2000: US Retrace

US Retrace features the deleted 'Eraser Cut' EP, two versions of 'Turn It On' and 2 previously unreleased tracks.

¼ 2003: Hai!

Tracklisting: 1. Say Yes! 2. Around The World 3. Seven Tears 4. Godzilla! 5. Imagoro 6. Tourniquet 7. Further Nearer 8. City Island 9. Tantara!
"‘Hai!’ grew out of a Budgie and former Kodo-drummer Leonard Eto’s Tokyo jam session that lasted 90 minutes without a break. [The Ltd Edition of the disc contains a DVD of the session.] These tapes were used months later for editing and forming basis for the new album. While Budgie was mixing, fixing and SFXing, Sioux wrote lyrics for these pieces that are, as usual, way more than mere ‘mouthfuls of air’. Some vocals are minimal, some pensive, some rocky but always with an inquisitive air about ‘em. These tunes are not bound by the usual song structures and, despite, being edited to a certain length, its peculiar unity comes through sequencing and one feels that there is no other way but the one it is. The lead track, ‘Say Yes!’, takes three-minutes of drumming before Siouxsie comes in with no more than a dozen words. (...) ‘Imogoro’ brings industrial and Gothic elements to this aural feast; more dramatic and cyber-cabaretish is ‘Tourniquet’ that evolves into a free-jazz improv without losing direction over its 9-minute duration."

-- Scott Sterling-Wilder, DEO2 Beatz, 10/03

½ 2007: Siouxsie (solo) - Mantaray
Tracklisting: 1. Into A Swan 2. About To Happen 3. Here Comes That Day 4. Loveless 5. If It Doesn't Kill You 6. One Mile Below 7. Drone Zone 8. Sea Of Tranquility 9. They Follow You 10. Heaven And Alchemy

"The former Susan Ballion has had a lot to deal with lately: her 50th birthday, the collapse of her bands the Banshees and Creatures, and divorce from Budgie, drummer with both groups. However, her first solo album after 30 years in the business is a mostly uplifting affair summed up by Into a Swan's confident, stomping beats and lines such as: 'I feel a force I've never felt before.' Indeed, Sioux has never sounded quite like this, a strutting cross between her old self, Shirley Bassey, Marlene Dietrich and Sioux fan PJ Harvey. There are jagged rock riffs, timps and dancefloor beats. Lyrically, Mantaray divides between anti-suburban rants about 'manicured lawns' that echo her days in punk's Bromley contingent and more emotional outpourings. Something for everybody, then."

-- Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8/07

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Recommended Links:

Siouxsie / The Creatures official homepage