This Is Spinal Tap (Original Soundtrack) [Remastered] - Spinal Tap

...British heavy metal band released this collection of songs from the albums soundtrack as homage to the “Smell the Glove” album that they were promoting through the film. Due to the album being released as a soundtrack it never really received any great success chart wise and was mainly just purchased by those who, like me are great fans of the film.

Now firstly let me start by saying that if you haven’t seen the film that accompanies ...
...at least after you’ve read this anyway.)

Like I’ve said the band themselves are completely factious everything from who they are to their previous career which was made up only for the purpose of the film.


===Just who are “Tap”?===

The main members of the band consist of some quite well known American actors, that’s right I did just type American as once you hear them talking in the film or singing ... more

“In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history”

To accompany the” mockumentry” “This is Spinal Tap” the fictional British heavy metal band released this collection of songs from the albums soundtrack as homage to the “Smell the Glove” album that they were promoting through the film. Due to the album being released as a soundtrack it never really received any great success chart wise and was mainly just purchased by those who, like me are great fans of the film.

Like I’ve said the band themselves are completely factious everything from who they are to their previous career which was made up only for the purpose of the film.

Just who are “Tap”?

The main members of the band consist of some quite well known American actors, that’s right I did just type American as once you hear them talking in the film or singing on this album you would swear they where English.

Next up we have the lead guitar virtuoso Nigel Tufnell who is played by the very talented Mr Christopher Guest who as well as being a fine actor from such films as “The Princess Bride” and “A Few Good Men” (lets see if you can spot who he plays in each of these without cheating,) also co-wrote “This is Spinal Tap” along with Rob Reiner and the other two main members of the band as well as “A Mighty Wind” which is a sort of a folk version of the Spinal Tap movie.

Time to “Smell the Glove” (or the track listing)

The album kicks off with this fantastic little rock number which straight away shows that for a bunch of actors they make incredibly good musicians as well. Although the sound is pretty heavy the overall feel of the song is kept very light with the inclusion of some rather odd and obscure lyrics to boot such as “the kitchen stinks of boiling snails.” We also get treated to the first of Nigel’s majestic solos as he literally grinds out those notes for our listening delight.

Without a doubt this is my favourite Tap tune as just about everything that is needed for a great song. It carries its way along with a great upbeat rocky tempo that just motors along; once again Nigel pulls out all the stops and gives us some great sounds. The song also includes some fantastic little harmonies during the middle of it as well.

Well if its heavy you’re looking for then Tap have the answer for you with this song as they lose the light airy feeling of the previous tracks and turn the tempo of the album down and the distortion up at the same time. This being said though the track is a stunning contrast to the other tracks on the album, and even manages to treat those patriotic minded amongst us as they even manage to squeeze a quick few bars from “God Save the Queen” in at the end.

Now if you have seen the movie that this album accompanies you will instantly remember poor Derek Smalls desperately trying to escape from his pod during the performance of this track whenever you hear this song. David and Nigel provide us with a nice little harmonised melody in the middle of the song as well. Overall a great track which always makes me smile each time I hear it.

Now this is one the songs that doesn’t really get any play during the movie itself which is a real shame because it is a little gem. It starts off with a nice calm and relaxed feel to it, but as it reaches its climax it really lets loose with some great dual harmonised guitar sections. Though the song is not on the movie to any great extent a bit of it can be heard during the bands visit to the studio when David is having trouble playing a guitar riff.

The whole sound of the album completely changes with this song as the heavy guitar and drums suddenly vanish and are replaced with pianos violins and trumpets. The song is one of two very Beatle-esque tunes on the album sounding very much like something the Fab. Four would have written in their later career, it also makes for a fantastic change to the rest of the album.

This track is very unique in the fact that the guitar are completely lost by David and Nigel in this song and instead they take up the bass and along with Derek provide a really thick and full sound to the track. As well as the great bass line the sexual innuendos come at us hard and fast in this song as well. This song has provided probably one of the funniest live performances of the band when at the Live Earth Concert in 2007 they brought up on stage with them “every bass player in the known universe” well about 10 or 12 of them anyway including such people as James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo of Metallica, Nate Mendel of the Foo Fighters, and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys who all bass in hand played along with the band.

The innuendos continue like never before as the band truck straight into this track and literally “poke at our hay” with this track. Lewd lyrics aside this song has a really funky beat to it with some great bass and guitar riffs throughout it.

Now we get to the real epic of the album and anybody who has seen the film will not be able to stop themselves from grinning as they remember exactly what occurs during their performance of this song. All joking aside though this is without a doubt a fantastic piece of music and Nigel’s awesome mandolin playing towards the end of the track is first rate. Just watch out for the huge Stonehenge monument.

The band once again take on a much lighter sound with this track mainly due to the fact that this song was supposed to be from the bands earlier career during the 70’s and so has a sound which is very much more associated with that era.

Now if The Beatles had taken just taken a few more drugs I’m pretty sure that they would have brought us a song just like this as the band treat us to their second take of the lads from Liverpool. Once again Nigel proves his talents as a musician as this time he pulls out a sitar to absolutely blow us away with his solo. Just like the previous track this song has a much more relaxed and lighter feel to it again keeping with the era that the song was supposed to be released in (i.e. the 60’s.)

These last two songs are not included in the movie for which this album is the soundtrack too and personally I don’t think they are up to the same quality of writing or performance style as the rest of the album. However this being said I’m sure that they would make a great alternative to those same old bloody Christmas songs that we have to endure each year and at any rate I’m sure they will have granny running for the hills.

So did this get my toe “Tap”ping

Now although most will call this album just a soundtrack to the movie personally I feel that it stands up incredibly well on its own as a great comic rock album in its own rights. Overall for a band and album created by a bunch of actors just for the purpose of producing a very funny film Tap have managed to stand the test of time as we are still seeing them making appearances now 25 years on since the original release of the movie and soundtrack, now how many bands that are around today will be able to compete with a make believe band like that. So I just have one last thing to say get out there and start “Tap”ping! Oh and don’t get lost backstage when you are due to play a gig in Cleveland (if you don’t get that gag then go buy the film now.)
 

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