Feast (The Creatures album)

Feast
Studio album by The Creatures
Released 15 May 1983
Recorded Hawaii
Genre Alternative
Label Polydor
Producer Mike Hedges, The Creatures
The Creatures chronology

Wild Things EP
(1981)		 Feast
(1983)		 Boomerang
(1989)
Singles from Feast
  1. "Miss the Girl"
    Released: April 15, 1983
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic link

Feast is the debut album by British duo The Creatures (comprised by Siouxsie Sioux and musician Budgie, then-members of the band Siouxsie and the Banshees). It reached number 17 in the U.K. charts and the "Miss the Girl" single peaked at number 21.

Feast was originally released in May 1983, two years after the Wild Things EP. It was entirely remastered in 1997 and reissued as part of the A Bestiary Of compilation.

Album history

Siouxsie and Budgie decided where to record the album by randomly placing a pin on a map of the world; the result was the U.S. state of Hawaii. Several songs are about their experiences in that region, including "Festival of Colours" and "A Strutting Rooster".

The song title "Inoaʻole" is Hawaiian for "no name". "Ice House" was inspired by an obscure television play. "Dancing on Glass" is based on an Indian musical; during the studio session, the sounds of broken glass were created by Siouxsie and Budgie dancing on broken mirrors with tough shoes on.

The single "Miss the Girl" is a combination of a love affair and a crash car: it was inspired by the book Crash, by J. G. Ballard.

Critical reception

Record Mirror praised the album by the note of 4/5, and Paul Prayag wrote: "Siouxsie and Budgie are wondering deeper and deeper into a jungle that looks like having no easily definable boundaries".[1]

Melody Maker described Feast as "an album of filtered brilliance, fertile, sensual and erotic; an album that, in its desperate naivety, attempts to articulate that moment when the monsoon ends, when the smell and the heat conspire in a perfumed mist and life sprouts instantly, green and luxurious."[2]

NME also hailed it: "The Creatures have assembled a multifarious sonic boom that is as various and kaleidoscopic as can be imagined. The humours of Sioux's frosty larynx are nakedly outlined against skins of sometimes fabulous quality. The drum sound on 'Ice House' must be one of the greatest on record."[3]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Budgie and Siouxsie Sioux. 

No. Title Length
1. "Morning Dawning"   4:02
2. "Inoaʻole"   3:49
3. "Ice House"   2:46
4. "Dancing on Glass"   2:16
5. "Gecko"   3:50
6. "Sky Train"   3:15
7. "Festival of Colours"   3:33
8. "Miss the Girl"   2:35
9. "A Strutting Rooster"   5:04
10. "Flesh"   4:26

References

  1. ↑ Prayag, Paul. Feast review. Record Mirror. 28 May 1983.
  2. ↑ Sutherland, Steve. Melody Maker. 14 May 1983
  3. ↑ Cook, Richard. "All Creatures Great And Small". NME. 14 May 1983.