Spinal Tap – Back from the Dead

The farther we get from Deep Purple and Rainbow’s heyday, the less relevant Spinal Tap will become. That doesn’t mean they won’t still be funny. Back from The Dead features some new songs, and they’re entertaining enough, but they do sound like paler imitations of the funnier material from the original Spinal Tap film. Paler, but not without colour; “Heavy Duty” and “Short and Sweet” have their moments. The new songs aren’t really the point, though (or it’d be an album of new material, right?). Back from the Dead features re-recorded versions of the Tap’s biggest “hits.” Some tracks are true to the originals, while others are reworked (Sex Farm has been recoded as funk, Flower People as reggae, and both of which are entertaining in their reinventions). A few other bits (the hilariously tedious Jazz Odyssey tracks) are welcome inclusions as well. Perhaps the re-recordings weren’t entirely necessary, but the whole thing fits them so well. Re-recordings songs for no apparent reason is likely what Spinal Tap would do in 2009, were they a real band in the first place.