Since SPINAL TAP only existed for the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap, the idea that Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer were actually going to release an actual studio album rather than a soundtrack brought on a tremendous amount of anticipation.
The resulting product is 1992’s ”Break Like The Wind”, a record that, like the 1984 soundtrack, boasts powerful hard rock guitars and surprisingly decent vocals, along with some quite silly song themes that made Spinal Tap so adorable.
Declared fans of the original 80s Spinal Tap, a ton of class musicians collaborate with ”Break Like The Wind”; Steve Lukather not only co-produced but play guitar and piano, there’s guitar appearances by Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani, Slash, Dweezil Zappa, Waddy Wachtel, Cher does a vocal duet, and the have the best backing vocals specialists you can get: Timothy B. Schmit and Tommy Funderburk.
Now 2025 “Break Like The Wind” has been reissued / remastered, just in time when a movie sequel, ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’, will be released next September 12.
At the conclusion of ‘This Is Spinal Tap’, director Marty DiBergi’s warts-and-all (or, as David St. Hubbins puts it, “all warts”) the Rockumentary of the fictional metal pioneers’ 1982 American tour, the band’s future couldn’t have looked brighter.
But true to the up-and-down nature of Spinal Tap’s legendary career, the band proceeded to do the only thing that could derail certain success: they disbanded to concentrate on solo projects – most of which either failed miserably or were never fully realized.
Lead guitarist Tufnel’s much-anticipated trilogy, Clam Caravan (which includes the neo-classical Lick My Love Pump) remains “under construction”; St. Hubbins’ Saucy Jack, a musical based on the life of Jack The Ripper, opened and closed in London in record time; and bassist Derek Smalls played the North England pub circuit in various Tap copy bands.
But, after an almost eight-year hiatus (during which Tufnel was mysteriously conscripted into the Swiss Army and St. Hubbins and longtime girlfriend / interim manager Jeanine Pettibone settled down in Pomona, California), Spinal Tap are back, reaching new levels of volume and stretching the boundaries of hard rock – indeed, of art in general – with ”Break Like The Wind”.
Featuring guest appearances by Joe Satriani, Slash, Cher, Nigel-lookalike Jeff Beck, Dweezil Zappa, and Steve Lukather (who co-produced the album with Dave Jerden and Danny Kortchmar), ”Break Like The Wind” proves once again that, temptation notwithstanding, you can’t underestimate the triumvirate of Smalls, Tufnel, and St. Hubbins.
In addition to Smalls’ debut as lead vocalist (Cash On Delivery) and a Tufnel guitar-scatting solo that would make George Benson blush (Spring Time), the album contains Rainy Day Sun, the flipside of 1967’s Listen To The Flower People, and All The Way Home, a pre-Tap demo featuring Nigel and David in their Squatney skiffle days, circa 1961.
“We may be gods,” sings David St. Hubbins on The Sun Never Sweats, “or just big marionettes.” There is perhaps no better summation of Spinal Tap’s lofty position in the pantheon of rock and roll.
Highly Recommended
1. Bitch School (2025 Remaster) (02:50)
2. The Majesty Of Rock (2025 Remaster) (03:54)
3. Diva Fever (2025 Remaster) (03:07)
4. Just Begin Again (2025 Remaster) (04:56)
5. Cash On Delivery (2025 Remaster) (03:04)
6. The Sun Never Sweats (2025 Remaster) (04:23)
7. Rainy Day Sun (2025 Remaster) (03:44)
8. Break Like The Wind (2025 Remaster) (04:36)
9. Stinkin' Up The Great Outdoors (2025 Remaster) (02:50)
10. Springtime (2025 Remaster) (04:06)
11. Clam Caravan (2025 Remaster) (03:38)
12. Christmas With The Devil (2025 Remaster) (04:34)
13. Now Leaving On Track 13 (2025 Remaster) (02:09)
14. All The Way Home (2025 Remaster) (02:07)
Spinal Tap – Break Like The Wind (2025 Remaster)
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