Big Stir Records proudly brings you the first album from '60s hitmakers and Sunshine Pop legends THE CYRKLE in over 50 years: REVIVAL. The album features 13 new tracks in the band's classic style from the 21st Century lineup of the band, anchored by original members DON DANNEMANN and MIKE LOSEKAMP. It includes their recent indie radio hits “We Thought We Could Fly” and “Dance With Me Tonight” as well as new versions of their '60s hits “Red Rubber Ball” and “Turn-Down Day” as bonus tracks. REVIVAL is set for release on CD and all digital platforms on March 22 and is up for pre-order and presave now:
https://orcd.co/cyrkle-revival
THE CYRKLE's return to the airwaves was one of last year's most welcome surprises. The legend of the band's meteoric mid-'60s rise is a heady one even by the halcyon standards of the era: they shared stages (and manager Brian Epstein) with The Beatles – whose John Lennon coined the spelling of their name – and scored two major hits in the Paul Simon/Bruce Woodley-written “Red Rubber Ball” and the culture-defining “Turn-Down Day”. They vanished nearly as quickly, leaving behind those undeniably definitive classics of the Sunshine Pop sound and just two proper albums. Aside from a handful of appearances and the prospect of a reunion cut short by the untimely 2007 passing of co-founder TOM DAWES, they were not to be heard from again until 2017, when DANNEMANN (vocals and guitar) and LOSEKAMP (vocals and keyboards) joined forces with some of Ohio's top performing musicians – including OHIO EXPRESS bassist Dean Kastran as well as Pat McLoughlin (vocals, guitar), Don White (lead guitar, vocals) and Scott Langley (drums, vocals) -- to recreate the original Cyrkle sound onstage, and bring their creative vision into the new century in the studio.
What sets the new version of THE CYRKLE apart from the other veteran '60s acts on the retro rock circuit is their focus on new material, all delivered with the classic band's signature harmonies and melodic charm. Indie radio has already rallied around last year's hit single “We Thought We Could Fly” – Dannemann's touching tribute to his late musical partner Dawes, whose harmonies were added to the track via vocals from the vault – and the crowd-pleasing “Dance With Me Tonight”, a fresh staple of the band's exuberant live sets. And REVIVAL offers much more, intended as the true third proper Cyrkle album that might have appeared in 1968.
Sonically, it's just that: the inimitable harmonies soar as the band moves effortlessly from the sweet roots rock of “Goin' Steady With You” (a Dannemann tune dating back to 1959, finally given the Cyrkle treatment) to the sophisticated chamber pop of the Losekamp originals “We Can Find It” and “Singing For Today”, which connect the band's distinctive approach to the later sounds of the Laurel Canyon scene and '70s AM Gold. Losekamp also reprises his much-loved fan favorite “The Visit” from The Cyrkle's underappreciated second album NEON.
Indeed, much on REVIVAL gleefully calls back to the music of The Cyrkle's heyday. There's the forthcoming single “We Were There” on which Dannemann breathlessly recounts the unbelievable journey of the band's original career over a musical setting that's of a piece with their work from the time (and evocative of contemporaries from The Beach Boys to The Hollies). There's the glorious psychedelia of “He Can Fly”, a recreation of an Andrew Sandoval tune originally produced by, and again featuring the vintage vocals of, Tom Dawes. The record also sees the return of renowned producer Charlie Calello, who oversaw the band's '60s sessions and now takes the helm on “Dance With Me Tonight.” And there's even a lovely if belated version of Simon & Garfunkel's “59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)”, a song the band could have recorded in 1967 when Simon offered it to them (and which they regretted declining when Harpers Bizarre picked it up and ran with it to the charts).
But there's more, much of it acknowledging the passing of time. Dannemann's “Center Of The World” may sound like a swirling '60's throwback, but listen closely and you'll hear him tell the sweet tale of meeting his wife online at the dawn of the internet era. Likewise, the rootsy “It's Alright It's Okay”, with its round-robin solo turns for all of the band's formidable singers, addresses the prospect of growing old with irresistibly youthful glee. There's also room for tales of romance, both heartbreaking (“Nobody But A Fool”) and humorous (“I Believe She Believes”). And while the bonus tracks present recreations of their indelible hits from the charts of half a century past, these are the 21st Century renditions that have been bringing audiences together across generational lines as part of The Cyrkle's touring show.
As befits a band born of the optimism of the '60s, THE CYRKLE has delivered a new album that's both warmly nostalgic and forward-looking. REVIVAL is imbued with a sense of well-earned joy, playfulness, musicality, and that rarest of commodities in the modern world: hope. Fans of melodic and uplifting rock in all its forms across the decades can rejoice that THE CYRKLE has come back around again. It's gonna be alright, the morning sun is shining, and we at Big Stir Records dig it. We feel sure you will, too.