Hi by Texas
Hi is the tenth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Texas, released worldwide 28th May 2021 through BMG. Background and recording During promotion for the album, lead singer Sharleen Spiteri stated: "Our excitement at finding this treasure trove of songs collided with our excitement back then and, unplanned, new songs started coming, you could say we were inspired by ourselves!" Other songs on the album include "Dark Fire", written with Richard Hawley, and "Look What You've Done", a duet between Spiteri and Clare Grogan of Altered Images. The record also features the ballad "Unbelievable". Speaking about the recording of the track, Spiteri said: "We don't usually do ballads, but this one really stuck. The words are very intimate and personal while the music sounds really epic." Writing and inspiration Several sonic elements are evident on Hi, including the "vintage R&B" track "Just Want to Be Liked", the country-inspired "Moonstar", "brawny guitar pop" on "Sound of My Voice" and "Italo-western decadence with a spicy hip-hop twist" on "Hi". "Mr. Haze" is a Motown-inspired track that samples and draws inspiration from Donna Summer's 1977 song "Love's Unkind". Collaborations The release and recording of Hi sees the band collaborate again with artists that have previously collaborated with the band, including singer-actress Clare Grogan on "Look What You've Done" and the Wu-Tang Clan and Ghostface Killah on "Hi". Grogan's previously worked with McElhone when they shared time recording together during Grogan's time in the band Altered Images who were active from 1979 to 1983. Previously, Texas had collaborated with the Wu-Tang Clan, Method Man and RZA in 1997 on the "All Day Every Day" remix of their gold-selling White on Blonde single "Say What You Want", as well as performing the track at the 1998 BRIT Awards.
The fourth album in the American Recordings series that comprised Johnny Cash’s comeback was the last released during his lifetime. It’s no coincidence that <i>The Man Comes Around</i> is the most poignantly elegiac of those releases, with the rumble-toned troubadour transforming such unlikely source material as Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” from an angst-filled alt-rock stomp into a hushed acoustic requiem for all he holds dear. These stripped-down statements from deep within Cash’s indomitable soul are impossible to shake off—not that anyone would want to.
