''Hai Hai'' is the second solo album by ex-

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending p ...

singer/guitarist/keyboardist

Roger Hodgson Charles Roger Pomfret Hodgson (born 21 March 1950) is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the former co-frontman and founding member of progressive rock band Supertramp. Hodgson composed and sang the majority of the band’ ...

, released in September 1987. Co-produced by future

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, the ...

and

Black Crowes Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

producer Jack Joseph Puig, and recorded at Hodgson's 48-track home studio in

Nevada City, California Nevada City (originally, ''Ustumah'', a Nisenan village; later, Nevada, Deer Creek Dry Diggins, and Caldwell's Upper Store) is the county seat of Nevada County, California, United States, northeast of Sacramento, southwest of Reno and northea ...

, the album is a merger of

-styled progressive pop-rock and extensive use of Los Angeles session musicians and late-1980s synthesizer technology.

Overview

''Hai Hai'' featured ten songs, all of which were written by Hodgson, with the exception of "Land Ho", an old Supertramp song (at the time never released on an album but only as a single), which Hodgson co-wrote in 1974 with his long-time partner

Rick Davies Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp. Davies was its only constant member, and composed some of the band's best known songs ...

. Hodgson had previously recorded the song in 1983 for his solo album ''In the Eye of the Storm'', but it was never released.

Background

Hodgson was unable to fully promote or tour behind ''Hai Hai'', having sustained injuries to both of his wrists in a fall a week after its release. After that accident, Hodgson stopped his musical career for the next decade, returning to the public in 1997 with live shows and a live album, ''

Rites of Passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...

''. His next studio album, '' Open the Door'', was released in 2000. In the song "Hai Hai",

backmasking Backmasking is a recording technique in which a message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. It is a deliberate process, whereas a message found through phonetic reversal may be unintentional. Artists have ...

is used 13 seconds in. When played in reverse, a whisper says "what happened to you?" ''Hai Hai'' was re-released in Canada on November 14, 2006.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

panned the album in their retrospective review. They declared Hodgson's decision to abandon progressive rock and experiment with other genres a disaster, since he failed to fully commit to any of these genres, resulting in songs that are musically very basic and uninteresting. They also commented that the lyrics "are at times juvenile and embarrassing... he may have been trying to say something, but the poetry reads like a bored high school student wrote them." They added that the album's over-reliance on electronics and technology made the already uninspired songs sound cold and soulless.

Track listing

All songs written by Roger Hodgson, except where noted. #"Right Place" 4:15 #"My Magazine" 4:30 #"London" 4:11 #"You Make Me Love You" 5:09 #"Hai Hai" 5:28 #"Who's Afraid?" 4:57 #"Desert Love" 5:26 #"Land Ho" (

, Roger Hodgson) 4:06 #"House on the Corner" 5:30 #"Puppet Dance" 5:16

Personnel

- Vocals, Synclavier Drums (5), Keyboards (3, 4, 5, 7-10), Piano (6), Synthesizer (6, 10), Synth bass (1, 4), Guitars (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10), 12-String Guitar (7), Bass (7), Backing Vocals (1, 3-5, 8-10) *

Dan Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...

- Guitars (1, 3, 5, 6-10) *Ken Allardyce - Harmonica (1, 5), Rhythm Guitar (3), Backing Vocals (3, 8) * Nathan East - Bass (3, 6, 9 & 10) *

Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...

- Bass (8) *

Robbie Buchanan Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given name Robbie * Robbie Amell (born 1 ...

- Synths (1), Synth Programming (4, 6, 10), Synth Bass (5), Fender Rhodes Piano (6), Keyboards (3-5, 9) * David Paich - Synth Bass (2), Hammond Organ (2), Synth Brass (2) * Steve Porcaro - Synth Programming (2) *

Larry Williams Larry Williams (born Lawrence Eugene Williams, a.k.a. Lawrence Edward Williams; May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams ...

- Saxophone (3), Synth Programming (7) *Mikail Graham - DX7 Seetar Solo (3) *

Rhett Lawrence James Everett "Rhett" Lawrence is an American record producer and songwriter. He has produced, mentored, and helped launch the career of 5 artists amongst the top 200 artists to be featured on Billboard magazine's top charts from 1955-2012, who ...

- Fairlight Programming (5, 8, 10), Synths (10) *

Eric Persing Eric Persing is an american sound designer, professional synthesist and producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the music software and virtual instrument company Spectrasonics. He has ...

- Synth Programming (5, 6) *

Albhy Galuten Albhy Galuten (born Alan Bruce Galuten; December 27, 1947) is an American technology executive and futurist, Grammy Award-winning record producer, composer, musician, orchestrator and conductor. He has numerous inventions and has produced 18 ...

- Synclavier Drums (5) *Bruce Albertine - Synclavier Drums (5) *

Omar Hakim Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and pop music drummer, producer, arranger and composer. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Sting, Madonna, Dire Straits, Bryan Ferry, Journey, Kate ...

- Drums (1) * Joseph Pomfret - Drums (1, 4, 6-8) '' his is a pseudonym for Hodgson himself; Joseph is his second name and Pomfret his mother's surname' *

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working o ...

- Drums (2-4, 6, 9) *

Carlos Vega Carlos Vega (December 7, 1956 – April 7, 1998) was a Cuban-born Los Angeles-based session drummer best known for his performances with James Taylor. As a part of the L.A. studio scene from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Vega contributed to ...

- Drums (7, 8) * Lenny Castro - Percussion (1-6, 8-10) *Anni McCann - Backing Vocals (1, 3-5, 8-10) *Willie Hines - Backing Vocals (2) *Brad Lang - Backing Vocals (2) *Claire Diament - Backing Vocals (3) *Marc Russo - Saxophone (8)

Charts

Album

References

* Personnel : https://www.discogs.com/fr/Roger-Hodgson-Hai-Hai/release/5161310 {{Authority control 1987 albums Roger Hodgson albums A&M Records albums Albums produced by Roger Hodgson Albums recorded in a home studio