This year marks the 25th anniversary of the cult classic film ''This is Spinal Tap" and now England's Loudest Heavy Metal Band, SPINAL TAP, is celebrating with the release of their first new album in almost two decades, Back From The Dead (The Label Industry Records/Artist2Market/INgrooves). Street date is Tuesday, June 16, 2009. SPINAL TAP's last album was 1992's Break Like The Wind.
On Back From the Dead, Tap members David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls unearth their long-self-suppressed studio versions of the classic songs from the movie "This is Spinal Tap," as well as six new additional songs, and an exclusive hour long accompanying DVD featuring a track-by-track video commentary by the band. Back From The Dead also features guest appearances by Phil Collen, Keith Emerson, John Mayer and Steve Vai.
"This album title says it all. We're back from the dead. But we weren't dead. But we definitely are back," proclaimed Hubbins.
Back From The Dead is a deluxe CD/DVD package aggressively priced and containing 19 original Spinal Tap songs, a one-hour DVD and unique pop-up diorama package that unveils three 12-inch action figures (courtesy of Sideshow Collectibles) of the band along with a proportionally sized Stonehenge. Back From The Dead is destined to be a collector's item, especially among collectors.
The new album includes the newly interpreted Tap classics 'Hell Hole,' 'Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight,' 'Heavy Duty,' 'Rock 'n' Roll Creation,' 'America,' 'Cups and Cakes,' 'Big Bottom,' 'Sex Farm,' 'Stonehenge,' 'Gimme Some Money' and '(Listen to the) Flower People.'
The time, the studio versions of these songs on this album represent the cosmic maturation of the material, within a digital context. Also, they're louder," stated Smalls.
The new songs recorded specifically for Back From The Dead include 'Warmer Than Hell,' 'Short and Sweet,' 'Celtic Blues,' Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare,' 'Back From The Dead' and "the first known studio recording of the soon-to-be-long-forgotten 'Jazz Oddyssey.'"
Back From The Dead was produced by CJ Vanston, who arranged and played keyboards on the band's Break Like The Wind album and was musical director for their 1992, 2000 and 2007 tours. As a film composer, he has produced music for Christopher Guest's movies "Waiting For Guffman," "Best In Show," "A Mighty Wind," and "For Your Consideration."
The Back From The Dead deluxe CD/DVD package is being distributed completely outside of the traditional major label infrastructure. Retail distribution and marketing of physical CDs will be handled by Artist2Market (A2M) while digital marketing and distribution will be serviced by INgrooves.
TrackList:
1. Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight
2. Back From The Dead
3. (Funky) Sex Farm
4. Rock 'n' Roll Creation
5. Jazz Oddyssey I
6. Gimme Some Money
7. Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare
8. Heavy Duty
9. America
10. Jazz Oddyssey II
11. (Listen to the) Flower People (Reggae Stylee)
12. Hell Hole
13. Big Bottom
14. Celtics Blues
15. Jazz Oddyssey III
16. Warmer Than Hell
17. Stonehenge
18. Short and Sweet
19. Cups and Cakes
In addition to the above 19 songs, fans of SPINAL TAP can find a free download for the previously unreleased 'Saucy Jack' from Hubbins' unfinished musical about Jack the Ripper on the band's website www.spinaltap.com. There are also rumors that there will be exclusive versions of 'Sex Farm' and '(Listen to the) Flower People' available on certain digital outlets – stay tuned.
And if that is not enough, the band will be releasing a very special 11 inch, limited edition vinyl version of Back From The Dead.