Circa Zero's Circus Hero - out now!

[sockii]

Andy's new album is officially out today so I thought I'd start a discussion thread for it.

Have it? Love it? Hate it? What do you think? I'm about ready to dive into my first listen now...

[TheEqualizer]

Only $10 at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Circus-Hero-Circa ... ircus+hero

Checking it out right now on Spotify.

[Howstupidmrbates]

I love the whole disc, but I keep playing Night Time Travelers and Light The Fuse & Run over and over.

Great collection of tunes! I was at the El Rey so it's nice to have the titles of the tracks finally, as Rob didn't introduce the songs....

[Copelandous D'Amour]

Anyone know what happened to drummer Emmanuelle Caplette? Did she quit? No mention of her on the official website and sadly no touring plans as of yet.

[jerseyfan]

Copelandous, they said on the band's Twitter that the distance to LA from Montreal was too much for her.

As for the CD, I'm very frustrated today. I tried to purchase and download the album about six times since this morning. I keep getting some message the item not being available because it is "being modified."

I sent a note to Apple customer service. Their answer was to try again in 72 hours. That was ridiculous.

I do love Levitation. It has great lyrics and, of course, Andy's guitar. It seems radio friendly. I've also heard Say Goodnight. I liked that one too.

I can't believe these guys are not appearing all over the place this week. I expected a couple of TV talk show appearances to at least play the single.

Their PR machine needs to do a better job. They need to be more active. These albums don't sell themselves.

[TheEqualizer]

I'm going to try and let this grow on me because the immediate impact just isn't there for me.

[sockii]

I'm going to try and let this grow on me because the immediate impact just isn't there for me.

There are I'd say 3-4 tracks I loved instantly (especially Night Time Travelers and Gamma Ray), one or two I don't like at all (Underground) and a bunch where I really like bits of them and am waiting to see how it all gels on repeated listens. At first (because I wasn't totally sold on Levitation on its own) I was worried it was going to all sound very Police derivative. But while those elements are clearly there it's only one part of the overall sound of this project.

What has really caught my ear is Andy's guitar work, for sure. And I hear a lot of elements of the Reunion Tour in that; that is, how his sound has evolved and some of the soloing/different sounds he was employing then, and it's clear to me now that these were HIS contributions to the reworking of some of those songs, at that time.

Hmm. I need a few more listens before I write up a more thorough review.

[jerseyfan]

I listened to the album three times and I love it. Andy's versatility and creativity are amazing. So many sounds. And, of course, some parts will sound like the Police. It's Andy Summers.

There are several excellent songs. Here are my favorites, so far:

-Levitation is great. I was hooked from the first note. I love the lyrics.

-Gamma Ray is a driving guitar and vocal journey.

-Underground and Hot Camel are U2ish, which is a big compliment. At times Giles does sound a little like Bono.

-Whenever You Hear the Rain is a song I can play several times in a row. Parts of Andy's guitar- especially at the start- is like version 2.1 of EBYT. And why not, it's his riff. He can rework it into something new if he wants to.

I loved my car ride home playing the album for a second time. Listening to new music played with real instruments- what a concept! Every time I listen I catch something new in the music. I expect this to be a great live band. I hope they at least go to major cities.

[moonstone]

Thanks Sockii.

I've been out of the loop for a while with family commitments but I've just bought this and am going to have a listen now.

Had a terrible battle with i-tunes versus my password. I seem to have to change it every time I buy something. Maybe I don't buy often enough

[njperry]

I have listened to all of it once and some of it more than once.

I really like some of the guitar work on the album.

I am not grabbed by the album on the whole yet. A like a few of the songs, but don't yet love any of them.

[quote="Copelandous D'Amour"]Anyone know what happened to drummer Emmanuelle Caplette? Did she quit? No mention of her on the official website and sadly no touring plans as of yet.[/quote]

As I understand it, the album was recorded before Ms. Caplette was brought in to play some live shows. Perhaps they later revised the songs, but it is my sense that the album was completed sometime ago.

[jerseyfan]

As previously stated by Andy, Caplette did not play on the album.

Rob Giles played the drums on most tracks. According to the CD's liner notes, Dan Epand played drums on The Story Ends There, Whenever You Hear the Rain and Hot Camel.

I love that the liner notes says, "ALL SONGS BY GILES/SUMMERS OR SUMMERS/GILES, DEPENDING ON YOUR PREFERENCE."

[63falcon]

[quote="moonstone"]Thanks Sockii.

I've been out of the loop for a while with family commitments but I've just bought this and am going to have a listen now.

Had a terrible battle with i-tunes versus my password. I seem to have to change it every time I buy something. Maybe I don't buy often enough [/quote]
Hey there moonstone, really nice to you post! Hope y'all all are hanging in there, AND enjoying Andy's new work. I am on look out for a CD somewhere around here, an actual disc, old fashioned me........am enjoying all the flavors of critique on here.

[njperry]

I listened to the album several times over the weekend and it has certainly grown on me.

That said, I don't love the album. There are some enjoyable songs with Levitation and Gamma Ray being my favorites so far.

Quite a few songs where I am not loving the song, but love the guitar work.

[quote="63falcon"] Hey there moonstone, really nice to you post! Hope y'all all are hanging in there, AND enjoying Andy's new work. I am on look out for a CD somewhere around here, an actual disc, old fashioned me........am enjoying all the flavors of critique on here.[/quote]

I suspect you will need to buy the actual disc on-line (which is where I got it, via Amazon). I doubt it will be found easily among the few remaining stores that actually sale CDs.

[jerseyfan]

In case you guys missed it, here's a link for the Levitation video which was released today in a USA Today exclusive. That's pretty good. That's the third largest newspaper in the the U.S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDLimOrPugc

I'm loving this song, and Gamma Ray even more.

[Mario]

Sorry, just didn't dig it. They seem to be trying so hard to sound like The Police! And that goes way beyond Andy's guitar. Four on the floor, a high voice, reggae echoes, drum patterns emulating Stewart's... no identity IMHO.