This is still Spinal Tap
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From our friends in the Pop Music department comes Steve Appleford’s report on the new album from Spinal Tap, ‘subject’ of the 1984 Rob Reiner-directed mockumentary ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’ During the interview for the story, actors
Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Gueststayed in character as Derek Smalls, David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel, respectively.
The new album, ‘Back From the Dead,’ was recorded in January at the Village Studios in Los Angeles. It was released last week on the band’s Label Industry Records, with 19 tracks, a DVD interview disc and an elaborate foldout diorama of the musicians as action figures.
Among the newer songs is ‘Warmer Than Hell,’ a climate change anthem written for the band’s performance at the Live Earth concert in 2007, where St. Hubbins introduced the lyrics: ‘Satan sat in Surrey / sweating like a pig. / He said, ‘Is this just a fluke / Or maybe something big?’ ‘
Fans will recognize many songs (‘Big Bottom,’ ‘Stonehenge,’ ‘(Funky) Sex Farm’) from the film, recorded in a studio for the first time, sometimes with such guest players as John Mayer and Steve Vai.
‘We said, ‘Why don’t we make these tracks sound as best they can be?’ ‘ says Tufnel, ‘with us controlling it, with loudness, sonic integrity.’
‘It’s just an ability to have these songs enjoyed the way they were meant to be enjoyed,’ says Smalls, ‘with royalties flowing to us.’