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Following his sell-out UK & European tour in 2010 and 2009’s UK top ten album still so far to go – the best of Chris Rea, one of the UK’s foremost singers and songwriters returns with his first new material in over 10 years.
The elaborate 3CD & 2DVD Santo Spirito will include a brand new studio album featuring Dancing My Blues Away, Never Tie Me Down, The Chance Of Love, Rock & Roll Tonight, Electric Guitar and The Last Open Road.
Additionally, Santo Spirito features 2 bespoke feature films on DVD, written and directed by Chris. The first feature is a raw and brutally honest chronicle on bullfighting and features neo-classical & Spanish themed gypsy music & the second feature follows a man through the city of Florence in his search for the truth, on a journey which he may or may not wish he began.
The music to accompany both special feature films will be contained on 2CDs and Chris explains his rationale for such an ambitious project: “I love creating things and passionately believe we (the artists) should be looking to try new ways of bringing what we do to the public. There should be no rules whatsoever and, for God’s sake, there are alternatives to TV talent shows. Sometimes, those who have had extremely good fortune in music allow only X Factor type TV shows etc. to set the musical and cultural agenda of this county by actually doing nothing new or different themselves.”
Santo Spirito is the natural successor to The Blue Guitars project (which contained 11 CDs & 1DVD) and as it was previously considered pure, incomprehensible madness by the record companies, Chris was forced to produce the entire package himself which has gone on to gross €5 million at retail.
Chris told the BBC News last year “ I cannot be bothered just making a CD any more. It has got to be something more interesting for me than just 10 tracks on CD “ and his vision to offer more than just his trademark slide guitar blues/rock is illustrated in the creative breadth & depth of Santo Spirito.
Chris added: “The luxury of selling over 30 million albums has allowed me to try new and different approaches to music. I would be damning myself to hell if I just took the money and ran. One day a younger artist may look at what I have been trying to do, marrying my love of the visual arts and music and start a whole new movement. Then, I will know it was all worthwhile!”
Chris’s career spans over thirty years and both The Road To Hell in 1989 and Auberge in 1991 debuted at No.1 in the UK, cementing his position as arguably one of the country’s finest musicians and songwriters.
His rich catalogue includes such classic songs as Fool (If You Think It’s Over), On The Beach, Let’s Dance, Josephine, Stainsby Girls and I Can Hear Your Heartbeat, Working On It, The Road To Hell (Part 2), Auberge, God’s Great Banana Skin and Julia.
Santo Spirito will be released by Rhino UK, a division of Warner Music, on Monday September 5th on CD/DVD only and will not be available for digital download until December 2011.
Santo Spirito offers exceptional value for money as this enhanced collection includes Chris’s brand new studio album with 12 tracks, 2 exclusive feature films on DVD and the accompanying soundtracks for both movies on 2 separate CDs.
A UK tour, promoted by Live Nation, will follow in March 2012 – for more details please visit livenation.co.uk
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.