Friday, June 8, 2018

CD Preview: Peter Holsapple’s Game Day

Peter Holsapple’s Game Day
Peter Holsapple is a rock ‘n’ roll lifer with an impressive list of credits on his resume. An essential member of the legendary power-pop cult band the dB’s, Holsapple has been the band’s anchor, appearing on every album from 1981’s Stands For Decibels through 1984’s classic Like This to 2012’s acclaimed reunion album Falling Off the Sky. Holsapple spent several years touring with R.E.M. contributing guitar and keyboards to the band’s live sound, and he recorded four albums with the Continental Drifters.

What Holsapple hasn’t done very well is pursue a solo career (unlike his dB’s bandmate Chris Stamey, who has half a dozen solo LPs under his belt). After spending two decades playing with bands, Holsapple launched his solo career with 1997’s Out of My Way. That’s pretty much been it ‘til now, save for 2009’s Here and Now, recorded with Stamey, the second such collaboration between the two artists. That’s why it’s good news to hear that the talented singer and songwriter will has recorded his first solo album in 21 years; titled Game Day, it’s scheduled for July 27th, 2018 release by Omnivore Recordings.

Peter Holsapple photo courtesy Omnivore Recordings
Peter Holsapple, photo courtesy Omnivore Recordings
Holsapple’s Game Day features thirteen new songs, a bonus track, and two “super bonus tracks” in the form of the singer’s acclaimed single “Don’t Mention the War” b/w “Cinderella Style,” which was released in 2017. “After putting the single out on my own last year, I made the decision to put out an album,” says Holsapple in a press release for the new album. “Some tunes are brand new, some have been in rotation for a bit, but all are worthy. My ‘middle-aged Pet Sounds fantasy’ is real, with the issues of middle age put to memorable melodies. The old guy at work in ‘Tuff Day,’ watching my parents’ place get cleared out in ‘Inventory,’ a decades-late thank-you note to a college girlfriend in ‘Commonplace’ – they’re all a part of the present-day me.”

Holsapple wants fans to know that Game Day is a “solo album” in every sense of the word – “I played and sang 99 44/100ths of the notes on this record,” he says. “I wanted to be responsible for all of it, so I dove deep inside myself and the songs and came up with Game Day.” The album features the sort of melodic hooks and intelligent songwriting that has long been a trademark of Holsapple’s talent. We’ll let Peter have the last word on his new album – “today, with all of the hard competition in the music business, it’s almost impossible to come up with anything totally original. So I haven’t, but I had a lot of fun making Game Day, and I hope it comes through when you hear it.”

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Peter Holsapple’s Game Day

Also on That Devil Music:
The dB's - Like This CD review


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