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The songs on Acapulco Roughs have existed in Kushner's mind for years, heard only by a few close friends on home demos or at one of a handful of solo shows. Far from their humble beginnings, these simple piano chords and melodies have morphed and developed over the years, reaching maximum clarity on the Acapulco sessions.

Acapulco Roughs is so pure, so honest, that it risks a headlong dive into cheeseville. Kushner repeatedly urges his side men to 'play how you think Mark Knopfler would play!' and rallies his players with calls for 'More Fozzie Bear!' when the group loses focus. The risks are obvious, but the payoff is ever greater chooglin'. In fact, the two elements that should damn this album to lite-rock purgatory-- unabashed sincerity and piano-playing-- miraculously work to its advantage. Somehow, when untainted musicianship meets earnest presentation something happens, and the results are damn good. Maybe it's just the joy of creation.

If you haven't guessed yet, this is the '70s. The idealized, mythological '70s, where you're not sick of great songs because play-it-to-death AOR stations haven't been invented yet. Think Badfinger, Spirit, Procol Harum, The Band. The true essence of rock, stripped to its essentials by virtue of its vainglorious indulgences, existing forever as the absolute articulation of the form. Colossal Yes is the greatest affirmation of them all, bigger than big, and there's no joke behind the smiling.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Just Like A Mademoiselle
A Titan's Buffet
The Honeycreeper Smiles
O'Crocus Shall Be Raised
A Fig For Misfortune
Between Ass & Ophir
Poor Boy's Zodiac
There's Red Dirt In Wine

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Colossal Yes "Acapulco Roughs"

This title is also available for download at AmazonMP3

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.

Inspired by the Kiwi indie-pop formulas of Tall Dwarfs, The Clean, and The Verlaines, Kushner set out to write his own songs using piano as the main instrument. It was a reawakening of the pop aesthetic done Piano Man style. Recording of the basic tracks started in the summer of 2007 with Kelley Stoltz producing and Kevin Ink engineering. Songs were then fine-tuned over a series of nighttime and weekend sessions with Matt Waters in early 2008. Finally, they were mixed with Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and Waters almost a year from the starting point.

The end result is unique yet similar to the epic pop bands of the past. Charlemagne's Big Thaw combines simple melodies and basic structures with lyrical territories such as expired youth, grand betrayals, overdrawn faculties, and dissolving empires. In this regard, Kushner pays respect to songwriters like Robyn Hitchcock, Dan Bejar of Destroyer, and Alex Chilton while also incorporating the honesty of Graham Nash's Songs for Beginners, the romanticism of Nikki Sudden's Waiting on Egypt, and the sonic merriment of Thunderclap Newman's Hollywood Dream.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

The Fraudulent Singer
A Ballad Is The Air That You Breathe
Charlemagne's Big Thaw
Permafrost Drip
They Feast On Us / We Feed On Them
Marble Moments
Economy Of Turquoise
Nothing But Tar & Feathers
Outskirts Of Radiant
Smoldering Steeps p>If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Go to iTunes to browse downloads for COLOSSAL YES "Charlemagne's Big Thaw"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

This title is also available for download at AmazonMP3.

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music Service, emusic and Amazon MP3, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.

Inspired by the Kiwi indie-pop formulas of Tall Dwarfs, The Clean, and The Verlaines, Kushner set out to write his own songs using piano as the main instrument. It was a reawakening of the pop aesthetic done Piano Man style. Recording of the basic tracks started in the summer of 2007 with Kelley Stoltz producing and Kevin Ink engineering. Songs were then fine-tuned over a series of nighttime and weekend sessions with Matt Waters in early 2008. Finally, they were mixed with Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and Waters almost a year from the starting point.

The end result is unique yet similar to the epic pop bands of the past. Charlemagne's Big Thaw combines simple melodies and basic structures with lyrical territories such as expired youth, grand betrayals, overdrawn faculties, and dissolving empires. In this regard, Kushner pays respect to songwriters like Robyn Hitchcock, Dan Bejar of Destroyer, and Alex Chilton while also incorporating the honesty of Graham Nash's Songs for Beginners, the romanticism of Nikki Sudden's Waiting on Egypt, and the sonic merriment of Thunderclap Newman's Hollywood Dream.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

The Fraudulent Singer
A Ballad Is The Air That You Breathe
Charlemagne's Big Thaw
Permafrost Drip
They Feast On Us / We Feed On Them
Marble Moments
Economy Of Turquoise
Nothing But Tar & Feathers
Outskirts Of Radiant
Smoldering Steeps p>If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Go to iTunes to browse downloads for COLOSSAL YES "Charlemagne's Big Thaw"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

This title is also available for download at AmazonMP3.

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music Service, emusic and Amazon MP3, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.

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