Singled Out: McLuhan's King Bizzarroo

Veteran Chicago progressive rockers McLuhan released "King Bizzarroo" their first new music in over 50 years and to celebrate we asked Neal Rosner to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

We recently re-released our 1972 Anomaly album on both vinyl and CD and decided to record some follow-up music. Since the band was influenced by the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan, who spoke about the way media has influenced civilization throughout history, our new single "King Bizzarroo" is very much in the spirit of the songs that comprise Anomaly.

Anomaly, to our surprise, has gained a cult following both in the USA and in Europe. We reunited with three of the original six members in 2018 and started playing out again in the Chicago area. Our music is considered "Progressive Rock" in the vein of King Crimson or Frank Zappa.

We are currently working on a new Neal Rosner/Mcluhan album, our first in over 50 years, and "King Bizzarroo" will be a part of the album.

In writing "King Bizzarroo," I wanted to keep the melodic and rhythmic complexity of the original Mcluhan. It is a labor of love and keeps me alive and young. If you live long enough you may experience family tragedy and playing and making music is my antidepressant therapy.

We met up with engineer Ellis Clark through Montrose Saloon, a Chicago venue where we play frequently. He is a brilliant musical polymath...singer, songwriter, musician, engineer, and producer. It is a pleasure working with him as he comes up with terrific, thoughtful ideas. He was able to obtain a sub-master of the original album and he was the driving force behind the re-release.

The title and music for "King Bizzarroo" came from fragments of a song "Bizzzarroo World" that the old McLuhan never fully developed. It had been kicking around in my memory for 50 plus years. Bizarro, if you remember from the DC comics, is the antithesis of good, an opposite of Superman.

I reworked and added different parts to the original song idea to make it complete. The new lyrics reflect current times.

We have played this song recently at Gallery Cabaret in Chicago. Ellis Clark played guitar for us at that gig.

I hope y'all like it!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself learn more here

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