Has there ever been a rock band more unjustly maligned than Spinal Tap? Accused of everything from heralding the demise of heavy metal to being the very raison d’être for alternative rock, they suffered their greatest indignity at the hands of director Rob Reiner (cowardly hiding behind the moniker Marty DiBergi), whose 1984 “rockumentary,” This Is Spinal Tap, muckraked its way through the band’s courageous, tragedy-strewn history in service of a few mocking laughs.
Reiner/DiBergi even stooped so low as to employ a heartless, mercenary band of Hollywood writer/comedians to burlesque the band’s core members–David St. Hubbins (played by mendacious Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (callow Christopher Guest), and Derek Smalls (haughty Harry Shearer). But the great ones just won’t be denied; Spinal Tap reached deep down in 1992 and let loose with Break Like the Wind, another potent blast of the very stuff that made their legend. Featuring an all-star supporting cast (the title track alone boasts Slash, Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani, and Tufnel look-alike Jeff Beck), the Tap gallantly tried to stem the tide of flannel and tattoos with thundering odes to gender enlightenment (“Bitch School”), mystic quests (“Clam Caravan”), and its own glorious rock-fest legacy (“Stinkin’ Up the Great Outdoors”). Pop diva Cher and St. Hubbins share a vocal tryst on the uplifting ballad “Just Begin Again,” while even Steely Dan’s reclusive Walter Becker pens technical notes, praising the album’s pioneering use of the Crosley Phase Linear Ionic Induction Voice Processor System. Sadly, they just don’t make albums like this anymore.
01 – Bitch School
02 – The Majesty of Rock
03 – Diva Fever (feat. Dweezil Zappa)
04 – Just Begin Again (feat. Cher)
05 – Cash on Delivery
06 – The Sun Never Sweats
07 – Rainy Day Sun
08 – Break Like the Wind (feat. Slash, Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani & Jeff Beck)
09 – Stinkin’ Up the Great Outdoors
10 – Springtime
11 – Clam Caravan
12 – Christmas With the Devil
13 – The 13th Song
14 – All the Way Home
David St.Hubbins – guitar, vocals
Nigel Tufnel – lead guitar, vocals
Derek Smalls – bass, vocals
Caucasian Jeffrey Vanston – keyboards
Ric Shrimpton – drums
Guest musicians:
Dweezil Zappa – guitar solo on 3
Steve Lukather – guitar on 4,8; piano on 11
Cher – lead vocals on 4
David ‘The Creature’ Garfield – additional keyboards on 4
Eric ‘Stumpy Joe’ Childs – drums on 7
Nicky Hopkins – keyboards on 7
Slash, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck – guest guitars on 8
Waddy Wachtel – slide guitar on 9
Jimmy Wood – harmonica on 9
Password: Plotn08