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

Supertramp Supertramp were a British rock band formed in London in 1970. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), the group were distinguished for blending p ...

singer/guitarist/keyboardist

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

, released in October 1987. Co-produced by future

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band formed in Anaheim, California in 1986. For most of its career, the band has consisted of vocalist and founding member Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal and drummer Adrian Young. Keyboar ...

and

Black Crowes Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psy ...

producer

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, record executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Dou ...

, and recorded at Hodgson's 48-track home studio in

Nevada City, California Nevada City is the county seat of Nevada County, California, United States, northeast of Sacramento, California, Sacramento, southwest of Reno, Nevada, Reno and northeast of San Francisco. The population was 3,152 as of the 2020 United States ...

, 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'' features 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 used ...

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 database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

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, studio guitarist, 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, ...

- Guitars (1, 3, 5, 6-10) *Ken Allardyce - Harmonica (1, 5), Rhythm Guitar (3), Backing Vocals (3, 8) *

Nathan East Nathan Harrell East (born December 8, 1955) is an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass guitarist and vocalist. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of music. East holds a Bachelor of Arts ...

- Bass (3, 6, 9 & 10) *

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

- Bass (8) *Robbie Buchanan - Synths (1), Synth Programming (4, 6, 10), Synth Bass (5), Fender Rhodes Piano (6), Keyboards (3-5, 9) *

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist, and secondary vocalist of the rock band Toto (band), Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrot ...

- Synth Bass (2), Hammond Organ (2), Synth Brass (2) *

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, and film music composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff ...

- Synth Programming (2) *

Larry Williams Lawrence Eugene Williams (May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist from New Orleans. He is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to ...

- 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 first became known for producing the 1990 single " Vision of Love" by Mariah Carey, which received a Grammy Award and peaked on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His prod ...

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

Eric Persing Eric Persing is an American sound designer, professional synthesist, keyboardist, recording artist and music producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the music software and virtual instr ...

- 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. Career Musical career Galuten attended Berkle ...

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

Omar Hakim Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American drummer, producer, arranger and composer. His session work covers jazz, jazz fusion, and pop music. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Chic, Sting, Madonna, Dire S ...

- 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. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundr ...

- 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 Lenny Castro (born September 19, 1956) is an American percussionist from the Los Angeles area. He is one of the most prolific percussionists of all time, appearing on hundreds of albums, including those by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Maroon ...

- 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