Spinal Tap Are Back From Dead

It's not known if Spinal Tap's first real album since 1992's Break Like The Wind will have something on its cover that will offend record company A&R people (like a greased, naked woman, say), but maybe some kind of zombie will be featured when Back From The Dead hits stores on June 16.

The 19-track disc will feature guest appearances from Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen, John Mayer, Steve Vai and Keith Emerson. It will include studio versions of tracks like "Big Bottom" and "Hell Hole" that were performed live in the 1984 This Is Spinal Tap mockumentary and featured on its soundtrack.

Back From The Dead will also include a three-part version of "Jazz Oddyssey," a reggae version of "(Listen To The) Flower People" and newer songs including "Warmer Than Hell," "Celtic Blues" and "Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare."

"While the movie and soundtrack accurately represented our stage sound at the time, the studio versions of these songs on this album represent the cosmic maturation of the material, within a digital context," fictional bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) says. "Also, they're louder."

A deluxe edition of Back From The Dead will be available with a one-hour DVD and pop-up diorama featuring 12-inch action figures of Smalls, singer/guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and singer/guitarist David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean). It would be even more awesome if it included another "drummers only" set of action figures that documents the Tap's many drummers' gruesome deaths (garden shears or spontaneous combustion, anyone?).

Shearer told Billboard.com "about four or five" new songs weren't finished in time to make it on to Back From The Dead, and the Tap might "do something digital with them on the download side or something like that."

You can hear new song "Saucy Jack," from the unfinished musical St. Hubbins wrote about Jack The Ripper, on Spinal Tap's website.

Spinal Tap's 25th anniversary tour, sadly without costumes, will hit here:

May 8 St. Petersburg, FL @ Mahaffey Theatre
May 9 Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre
May 10 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
May 12 Baltimore, MD @ Lyric Opera House
May 13 Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre
May 14 Philadelphia, PA @ Keswick Theatre
May 17 Columbus, OH @ Palace Theatre
May 19 Cleveland, OH @ Ohio Theatre
May 21 Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
May 22 Mashantucket, CT @ MGM Grand Theatre at Foxwoods
May 23 Boston, MA @ The Wilbur Theatre
May 24 Atlantic City, NJ @ Music Box at the Borgata Hotel & Casino
May 26-27 New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
May 29 Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
May 30 Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
May 31 Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theatre

Here are the songs on Back From The Dead:

"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight"
"Back From The Dead"
"(Funky) Sex Farm"
"Rock 'N' Roll Creation"
"Jazz Oddyssey I"
"Gimme Some Money"
"Heavy Duty"
"America"
"Jazz Oddyssey II"
"(Listen To The) Flower People (Reggae Stylee)"
"Hell Hole"
"Big Bottom"
"Celtics Blues"
"Jazz Oddyssey III"
"Warmer Than Hell"
"Stonehenge"
"Short And Sweet"
"Cups And Cakes"