A look into the musical world of Trevor Rabin: composer, performer, and a man of many careers.
Introduction:
A series of essays wherein I explore the numerous musical identities of my favorite musician: from child prodigy to teen idol to guitar hero to singer/songwriter to award-winning in-demand film composer.
Featuring news/updates and commentary/analysis of Trevor's career and associated projects. Comments are disabled but please feel free to contact me at rabinesque.blog@gmail.com.
Today brings the announcement of the next advance single from Rio, which is "Push" featuring Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, and will also have an accompanying video. You can pre-save for streaming platforms and receive an exclusive preview of the song and video via this link:
But the teaser is also available to listen to here, it's giving Jacaranda vibes! As there's been unique artwork for both singles I'm beginning to wonder if Trevor created a piece for each song and if that will be reflected in the album packaging.
Although he's not listed on the cover, in the newest issue of PROG magazine (the cover story is an examination of Pink Floyd's history from 1973 to 1980) there is an article regarding the making of Rio. Interestingly enough Trevor says he would like to tour to support the album, and notes that Shelley nagged him to get it done. I know we're all grateful for that!
I seem to have a history with things happening with Trevor while I'm out of town (and offline!). And so indeed yesterday the label posted the first part of a new interview regarding the making of the album. To keep updated on these uploads go follow InsideOutMusic on YouTube.
It's another FriYAY! with a new video wherein Trevor explains the meaning of "Big Mistakes." It seems we might get a track-by-track for all the songs...hopefully?!
Advance reviews of Rio are starting to come online, and it looks like the first informal review is from Sean Tonar of Progressive Ears, who shared his impressions via the thread dedicated to discussion of the album/single on the PE forum.
It's FriYAY! because "Big Mistakes" is officially out in the world and in our ears.
According to today's press release for the song...
Trevor comments: “‘Big Mistakes’ the first single on the album, is essentially about surviving my late teens/twenties, hence the lyric: ‘We played in the fire, we danced in the rain. Up all night we made Big Mistakes.’ I should have called the song ‘I Can’t Believe I’m Alive.'” Trevor plays all the instruments on the track, aside from the drums which were performed by Lou Molino III, and backing vocals from Dante Marchi & Liz Constantine.
As long-time fans are aware, Trevor has been working with Dante and Liz for over a decade on various projects, and Liz is now a two-time collaborator on Trevor's solo work. And of course it wouldn't be a Trevor solo track without Lou!
Here are some further release details for the album:
Rio will be available as a Ltd CD+Blu-ray Mediabook, Ltd Deluxe Gatefold Red 180g 2LP + Blu-ray (including 8-page LP-booklet and obi strip), both featuring bonus material, 5.1 surround sound & liner notes. Also available as Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 180g 2LP+LP-booklet (with etching on side D), and as Digital Album.
The Ltd CD+Blu-ray Mediabook and Ltd Deluxe Gatefold Red 180g 2LP + Blue-ray also features the following bonus tracks: 1. Spek & Polly 2. Fragile (Demo) 3. Georgia
It's wonderful that we will finally be able to hear a professionally-mastered version of "Fragile" and "Georgia" is, I believe, Trevor's version of "Georgia on My Mind" that he originally shared with fans back in September 2014. The album features drumming assistance once again from Lou and Ryan and Vinnie Colaiuta on "Push," as well as Trevor himself on a few tracks.
The cover of Rio features one of Trevor's forays into digital artwork, which is what I suspected it might be.
“I dabble with digital art so I sent some images of mine to the label and was pleasantly surprised when they liked them.”
And as with all of Trevor's music, Rio promises to showcase a lot of stylistic diversity:
Stylistically, Rio is tough to categorize. Besides guitar-driven rock-meets-pop, "Goodbye" is Country & Western with an edgy drive, while "Tumbleweed" begins in a burst of harmonies. No wonder its working title was The Demographic Nightmare.
“I wanted to get into many different areas,” Rabin states. “Of course there are ‘prog things,’ but overall there are a lot of styles going on.”
