And straight after the new Circle album Sseennsseess, or rather, at the same day, we get a re-issue of the band's Hollywood album, originally released on CD in 2008, now put out on double LP with bonus tracks.
The 2008 album was the culmination of a collaboration with Bruce Duff, formerly of Jesters Of Destiny, a collaboration which came about after Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle's bassist and Ektro Records' CEO) had tracked down Duff (thanks to the miracle of the Internet) in 2001 about a re-issue on CD of Jesters Of Destiny's 1986 album Fun At The Funeral (an album which had been one of Jussi's favourite from his growing-up days, and which was given an expanded edition with bonus material which the band had written for a second album which never was to see the light of day). Before long, Jussi was introducing Duff to all things Circle and his side-project Pharao Overload, and DVDs full of material were crossing the Atlantic ocean back and forth. In 2006 this led to the release of a single (according to the bio sheet, that is, because I could not fing evidence of such a single's existence) and then the 4-track CDEP Earthworm through American label No Quarter, with Duff not only taking care of lead vocals, but also of part of the guitars and keyboards, and additional instrumentation coming from Jussi (bass & guitar) and his Circle comrades Janne Westerlund (guitars, bass), Mika Rättö (keyboards and backing vocals), and Tomui Leppänen (drums). It was a collaboration which had worked out really well, as Duff (whom after Jesters went on to collaborate with quite some Alt/ Punk bands) for his part was served with a structure of music he'd never used before. The Fins on the other hand, had never worked with divided repetitions, or had their songs sung in English. In a way, it was something new for both parties, and let that kind of thing be something both participants crave(d) for. So, it was only natural that the collaboration be continued a little further, and that's exactly what happened and resulted in the Hollywood album.
The album (on CD) was already given a German release in 2010 through Viva Hate Records, but now finds its way onto vinyl, double vinyl actually, with Earthworm tracks “Taking Back” and “Coda” making for a nice spread on the album, and a total playing time of 71 minutes. For your listening session, surf to (www.) circlefinland.com; under the band's logo on the left side of the page, you get the opportunity to click onto 4 “nailheads”. When you click the third one, you're directed to the band's quite extensive discography (some 30 studio albums and 15 live albums – the last one not posted); scroll down the page and click either the “Earthworm” or “Hollywood” covers in order to listen to samples of 4 songs in total. However, at the moment you can still listen to two full-length songs off the album at (www.) ektrorecords.com! You'll find the music on this album to be geared slightly more to Metal in certain places, as opposed to Circle's usual Progressive Rock with Psychedelic leanings, but then again would you expect anything else from such a collaboration?
Now, go and discover the wondrous thing that is Hollywood! Pity I can't grab back to 2008, for this album would've made my year-lists for sure!