"the Creatures"

Remix albums often can be cynical exercises, lacking even tacit approval from the original bands in question while hired hands spin out boring extended versions for little more than the money. Happily, Hybrids takes a much different approach. As Doug H. of Hydrogen Dukebox, the coordinator of the project, puts it in the liner notes, screening who wanted to participate was simplicity itself: "If they couldn't sing 'Mad-Eyed Screamer' down the phone, I hung up." Assured of actual fan participation and a willingness to really get creative work, the Creatures gave Doug H. the go-ahead and this is the truly entertaining result. Tracks all come from the Creatures' late-'90s work on Anima Animus and Eraser Cut, and while some tracks seem to use only Sioux's vocals instead of Budgie's drums, the end results generally make a fine adjunct to the original recordings.

Now that the Banshees are no more, Budgie and wife Siouxsie Sioux have reactivated the Creatures project, this time permanently. The techno revolution has had no real affect on the Creatures' sound since 1989's Boomerang LP, mainly because Sioux and Budgie started mixing tribal drumbeats and electronic treatments way back in 1981. Fans of the Banshees will not be disappointed here, the arrangements are similar to Sioux's old band, and her imagery is still the stuff of bad dreams. This is a solid record, especially for Sioux, with a fresh sound that rivals her early-'80s albums with the Banshees. A step in the right direction for these punk/goth icons.

Beethoven was commissioned to write his first stage work- a ballet score for Die Geschopfe des Prometheus (‘The Creatures of Prometheus’)- for the dancer and choreographer Salvatore Vigano, nephew of composer Luigi Boccherini. In the myth, Prometheus is punished by Zeus for stealing fire for the benefit of mankind; in the allegorical ballet, Prometheus brings Enlightenment ideas of art and science to humanity. The overture remains popular and the finale- the theme of which Beethoven was later to use in his ‘Eroica’ Symphony- offers a heroic conclusion.

Beethoven was commissioned to write his first stage work- a ballet score for Die Geschopfe des Prometheus (‘The Creatures of Prometheus’)- for the dancer and choreographer Salvatore Vigano, nephew of composer Luigi Boccherini. In the myth, Prometheus is punished by Zeus for stealing fire for the benefit of mankind; in the allegorical ballet, Prometheus brings Enlightenment ideas of art and science to humanity. The overture remains popular and the finale- the theme of which Beethoven was later to use in his ‘Eroica’ Symphony- offers a heroic conclusion.