Spinal Tap - Break Like the Wind
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Free Music Notes for Break Like the Wind
Free Music Review: And that's the Majesty of Rock!
Hit: 5 Stars
Spinal Tap returns! The most prolific nonexistant band ever is back with "Break Like The Wind," a wonderfully warped metal album that celebrates rock'n'roll, bad lyrics and exploding drummers. This a bad album -- gloriously, magnificently bad, in the way only a spoof can be.
It opens with the roaring male dominance rocker "Bitch School," which would be offensive if it weren't tongue-in-cheek, then lurches on to the wonderfully bloated "Majesty of Rock," a gloriously ghastly duet with Cher, the insanely pretentious "The Sun Never Sweats" ("Bolder than the pirates who used to rule the sea/Braver than the natives, who never heard of tea...")
The peak of this album may be the song "Break Like the Wind," which aspires to be deep and inspirational despite lyrics like "We are the thumb on a stranger's hand." And two of the most priceless songs are at the end: the mope ballad "All the Way Home," and the truly twisted Christmas song, "Christmas With the Devil."
The world was first introduced to Spinal Tap in "This is Spinal Tap," the classic rockumentary about England's loudest band. With the help of Cher (yes, that Cher) and Dweezil Zappa, they take it upon themselves to roundly mock metal, hard rock, rock ballads, and quite a few other things as well -- they're funny because they put so much effort into doing a nudge-wink bad job.
The music itself is pretty standard hard rock riffs -- it's merely okay, and therein lies the irony. What's really startling is that while the music is not amazing in the technical sense, it's actually much better than many real-life bands were. Scary, no? It does have its moments of brilliance, due to Zappa and Jeff Beck mostly, as well as some gloriously ghastly sitar.
It's not the music but the lyrics that are genius. Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer are true geniuses of the bad song -- what's even better, these are the sort of bad songs that people write, but don't know that they are bad. "And that's the Majesty of Rock!/The Mystery of Roll!/The darning of the sock,/the scoring of the goal!" Does it get worse than that? Yes, if you include lines like "Rise! for you are cream" and "We may be gods or big marionettes/But the sun never sweats."
"Break Like the Wind" is a wonderful album by the loudest band in Britain, and the best band that never technically existed. Tap into this!
Free Music Review: Tap surpass that which they mock
Hit: 5 Stars
Astonishingly, perhaps, Break Like The Wind was one of the best heavy rock albums of its year (92), despite being a "spoof". I think the reason is fairly obvious; they actually seem to enjoy being a heavy metal band, and put as much work into this as any real band would. These are well written songs; and where the parody "bad" element comes in, e.g the tuneless Clam Caravan sitar solo, they're deliberately, masterfully bad. It's a fine demonstration that comedy parody only works when the parodists have a regard for that which they parody, and do it seriously.As I said, this is good music. It's not a comedy album you'll listen to once for a laugh, it's a fine rock album you'll listen to again and again, with excellent songs you'll find stuck in your head. Highlights for me: The Majesty Of Rock is a glorious rock anthem, and the title track is simply awesome, while Bitch School is a wonderfully mindless headbanger you won't be ashamed to listen to (because you can pretend you're just being ironic).
Don't get me wrong; you'll laugh too, but with, not at, Spinal Tap. The humourous lyrics are beautifully, intelligently crafted; 3 intelligent guys playing idiots trying to be deep "..we are the thumbs on a stranger's hands" croons St Hubbins on BLTW, while on Majesty wondering "When we die do we haunt the sky, do we lurk in the murk of the seas? What then, are we born again, just to sit asking questions like these?". And The Sun Never Sweats (another fabulously strong track) muses, "We may be Gods, or just big marionettes"... and so on... and so on...
Simply brilliant, and an essential part of every rock fan's collection.
One more thing; the production is superb too. A must buy.
Free Music Review: Artfully trite
Hit: 5 Stars
Many have commented on how surprisingly "not bad" the music is. In fact, I'd go so far as to say some of it is GOOD. Mixed with hilariously hackneyed bits are some truly awesome musical passages and innovative use of effects. It's amazing what they do within the parodic constraints. There are all sorts of subtle references to your favorite '80s hair-metal acts. These musicians clearly have a love for the style they're satirizing, which is why they do it so well. Like Tap's first album "Smell the Glove", there are also parodies of other genres such as the pretentious orchestrated "rock ballad" (Just Begin Again). Sometimes it's the stock chord progressions and predictable patterns THEMSELVES which seem to have been crafted together in some sort of nudge-nudge wink-wink irony-soaked genius. It's hard to explain, you'll have to hear the album yourself to see what I'm getting at.The same goes for the lyrics. The bands that Spinal Tap parodies like Iron Maiden and Queensryche could only dream of employing the lyrical wit Tap displays. I can't say I know what to make of this. The overall effect is a brilliant pastiche on rock cliches - an accomplishment that stands quite apart from the mockumentary the band is primarily associated with.
Free Music Review: Spinal Tap comeback - And more. A lot more!
Hit: 5 Stars
Alright, check it out homes: In 1992 Spinal Tap (David St. Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls) reunited with a new Spinal Tap lineup featuring deceased former drummer Mick Shrimpton's then living brother Rick Shrimpton on the kit, and Caucasian Jeffrey Vanston replacing Viv Savage (who was allegedly killed in an explosion at Mick Shrimpton's grave!) on keyboards.
Alright, history lesson over. The real point here is, this album f**king rocks! It has many big time guest players including: Slash, Jeff Beck, Cher, Joe Satriani, Steve Lukather, Dweezil Zappa, Waddy Wachtel (Die-hard Fleetwood Mac fans will be well familiar with this bloke), and a few other geezers I cant be bothered listing. Best track is probably "Christmas With The Devil". Now quit reading the reviews and buy the f**king thing!
Free Music Review: Tap Just Began Again!
Hit: 5 Stars
After a decade-long hiatus from touring, the brilliant Spinal Tap is together again, with a long-awaited new album, a successful tour to promote it (see Return of Spinal Tap), and sounding better than ever!Once again, they've shown their prowess in imitating every cliche in the Heavy Metal genre, and done so with more flair. They are also louder than ever before, with the addition of several guest musicians.
Not to be missed by the Tap or comedy fan!