Strand of Oaks - Miracle Focus - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Digitally re-mastered and expanded edition of the 1978 debut album from the Disco one hit wonder. Patrick Hernandez will be remembered for one of the most iconic Euro disco anthems of the '70s. 1978's hypnotic 'Born to Be Alive' reached the Top Ten all over Europe (including #10 in the UK) and eventually made #16 on the American pop chart after it had topped the charts in France, Austria, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. The song is the centerpiece of it's parent album of the same name which makes it's international CD debut on Cherry Pop. The title song is featured here in three mixes. Hernandez is a Frenchman of Spanish, Austrian and Italian heritage. On a historical note, Madonna performed with Hernandez as a dancer early in her career before achieving superstardom. Born to Be Alive also features the follow up hits 'Back to Boogie' which made the Dutch charts, and 'Disco Queen' which became a Belgian hit and US Disco charter. Liner notes by Discussion Magazine's Stephen SPAZ Schnee. Cherry Pop.

Tim Showalter's latest as Strand of Oaks, Hard Love, emanates an unabashed, raw, and manic energy that embodies both the songs and the songwriter behind them. InchFor me, there are always two forces at work the side that's constantly on the hunt for the perfect song, and the side that's naked in the desert screaming at the moon. It's about finding a place where neither side is compromised, only elevated.Inch Drawing from his love of Creation Records, Trojan dub compilations, and Jane's Addiction, and informe by a particularly wild time at Australia's Boogie Festival, he sought to create a record that would merge all of these influences while evoking something new and visceral. These influences coupled with an uninhibited and collaborative studio experience moved an initial concept for a singularly feel-good record to something more complex and real. As much as Showalter wants this record to seem like a party, it's more than that. It feels like living. InchYou went away... you went searching... came back tired of lookingInch is how Showalter begins the title track, a sentiment that epitomizes Showalter's own mentality in beginning Hard Love. As the record progresses, so do the themes of dissatisfaction and frustration with love, family, success, and aging, both in personal experience and songwriting.

2019 . In December 2017, Tim Showalter was uncertain about his next record and the shape it would eventually take. With no new songs written, he was unprepared for the message he would receive from his friend Carl Broemel, the conversation that would follow, and the album that would become Eraserland. Leading off with standout track InchWeird WaysInch, Eraserland traces Showalter's evolution from apprehension to creative awakening, carving out a new and compelling future for Strand of Oaks. Revived by the support of Broemel and his bandmates, Showalter felt the pressure to deliver songs worthy of musicians he had admired long before and after a 2015 Oaks/MMJ tour. So in February 2018, he spent two weeks alone in Wildwood, New Jersey writing and demoing all of the songs that would eventually comprise Eraserland. And in April, he went into the studio to record with Kevin Ratterman at La La Land Studios in Louisville, Kentucky, and with Broemel, Hallahan, Koster, and Blankenship as his band. Jason Isbell also contributed his Hendrix-esque guitar work to Eraserland, while singer/ songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle provided gorgeous vocals. Every song was recorded live, with all musicians playing together in one room and working to bring Showalter's ideas to fruition.