Tag: Mercury Records

I Love You But I’m Lost: New Tears for Fears

On By bradbirzerIn progressive rock2 Comments
ruletheworld
The new greatest hits compilation from Tears for Fears.  Available November 10, 2017, from Mercury Records.

As I’ve had the opportunity to argue many times over on Progarchy, Tears for Fears is my favorite pop band, and I consider Roland Orzabal the greatest living writer of pop music. Huge claims, I know.  But, then again, I’m from Kansas, and I’m a Birzer.  If I didn’t speak with apparent hyperbole, my brain and soul might just very well explode.

My feelings toward TFF have been with me since I first heard SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR, 32 years ago.  If my convictions about TFF and Orzabal have wavered, I’ve not been aware of such.

Seeing them live has only further convinced me in my claims.

The new single–while, to me, surprising in the direction taken–does nothing to alter my previous claims.  Now available on iTunes, the new single is the first music the band has released since the 2014 Record Day exclusive EP of three covers, READY BOYS AND GIRLS?  Before that, the band had released two new songs as bonus tracks on its 2005 live album, SECRET WORLD.

The new single is a rather direct pop-dance single, with rave-like keyboards, high-pitched vocals, and an anthemic refrain.

For those of us hoping for a brand new album, we’re a bit disappointed, as the new single comes with a new greatest hits package, RULE THE WORLD.  A second new single, “Stay,” also appears on RULE THE WORLD (itself, available on November 10, 2017, from Mercury Records).

Let’s hope and pray that the rumored album, THE TIPPING POINT, is still forthcoming.

RUSH: A Farewell to Hemispheres, Part I

On By bradbirzerIn Uncategorized26 Comments

by Kevin McCormick

Rush appears to be a band without a retirement plan.  This past year saw the release of the highly acclaimed studio album Clockwork Angels, the subsequent world tour promoting the album and the fourth remastered re-release of the 35-year old classic album 2112.   With the re-release of that epic work and the renewed attention it has garnered, it is worth noting that the recording and the subsequent live shows were really, as the liner notes say, “The end of the beginning, a milestone to mark the close of chapter one in the annals of Rush.”

From Rushvault.
From Rushvault.

Neil Peart hardly could have known how accurate that statement would be.  Today the band is approaching its 40th year since its first full-length album.  Most artists of their age lucky enough to be still performing spend most of their time coasting on the tails of decades-old hits and playing as shadows of their former glory.  Rush seems to continually push itself into new territory creating an ever-changing sound yet with ever constant sensibility.  Something about Rush feels contemporary but remains rooted in the sound of three guys from Toronto four decades past.

Rock artists worked more quickly back then. By 1976, a banner year for Rush, the band had produced four studio albums.  Having resurrected themselves from the brink of extinction (or at least from being dropped by their label) with the inexplicable popularity of their futuristic totalitarian opera “2112,” the band toured extensively throughout the US and Canada.  Their “brief” stretch promoting the new album ran from February to August and included opening for Blue Oyster Cult and Aerosmith.  Somehow the band found time to put together a double-live album of those recent shows and, with but a week in-between, again headed out on the road from August and into the new year promoting that record, All the World’s a Stage. By the time they wrapped up in England in June of 1977, Rush had been touring for nearly two years without a lengthy break and receiving accolades not only for their recorded work but for the power, skill and intensity they brought to the stage.

Continue reading “RUSH: A Farewell to Hemispheres, Part I” →