| Mixed Reality | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 15, 2018 | |||
| Recorded | January 2017-2018 | |||
| Studio | Drive-In Studios, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 53:34 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Cleopatra | |||
| Producer | Don Dixon | |||
| Gin Blossoms chronology | ||||
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Mixed Reality is the sixth studio album by American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. It was released on June 15, 2018, on Cleopatra Records.
The band's longtime producer John Hampton died in 2014 and while they toured to promote the 25th anniversary of their most successful album, New Miserable Experience , the band members met Don Dixon at a show in Ohio. [1] They discussed recording together and entered Dixon's recording partner Mitch Easter's studio in October 2016. [1] Vocalist Robin Wilson says that the sessions for the album were "really inspired." The band spent about a year writing songs and doing demos before recording the album. Wilson calls Mixed Reality "sort of a companion" to New Miserable Experience and says, "It feels to me like a record we would have all wanted to make when we were 25." [2]
The band released "Break" as a lead single [3] and followed the release with a tour that was documented on their Chicago date, where they played this album and New Miserable Experience in their entirety. [4]
Gin Blossoms
Technical personnel
Gin Blossoms is an American alternative rock band formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. They rose to prominence following the 1992 release of their first major label album, New Miserable Experience, and the first single released from that album, "Hey Jealousy". "Hey Jealousy" became a Top 25 hit and went gold, and New Miserable Experience eventually went quadruple platinum; four other charting singles were released from the album. The band's follow-up album, Congratulations I'm Sorry (1996), went platinum and the single "As Long as It Matters" was nominated for a Grammy Award. Gin Blossoms broke up in 1997. Since reuniting in 2001, the band has released Major Lodge Victory in 2006, No Chocolate Cake in 2010, and Mixed Reality in 2018.
New Miserable Experience is the second studio album by alternative rock band Gin Blossoms, released on August 4, 1992. The album was released to little fanfare and relatively lackluster reviews. However, nearly a year after its release the lead single "Hey Jealousy" entered the top 40. With "Found Out About You" following a few months later, the album eventually reached multi-platinum status.
Douglas Owen Hopkins was an American musician and songwriter. He co-founded Gin Blossoms, a popular modern rock band of the early 1990s, with Richard Taylor. He was the band's lead guitarist and a principal songwriter.
Marshall Howard Crenshaw is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as "Someday, Someway," a US Top 40 hit in 1982, "Cynical Girl," and "Whenever You're on My Mind." He is also the co-author of one of the biggest radio hits of the ‘90s, the Gin Blossoms, "Til I Hear It From You." His music has roots in classic soul music and Buddy Holly, to whom Crenshaw was often compared in the early days of his career, and whom he portrayed in the 1987 film La Bamba.
Robin Wilson is an American musician most notable for his work as the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms.
Jesse Valenzuela is an American rock musician and singer who is perhaps best known as a member of the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. Valenzuela was originally the vocalist in Gin Blossoms when the band first formed in 1987.
Congratulations I'm Sorry is the third studio album by the American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms, and the follow-up album to the successful 1992 release New Miserable Experience, released in 1996 by A&M Records. The album was named in reference to the success of 1992's New Miserable Experience, followed closely by the suicide of the former band member Doug Hopkins in 1993.
"Hey Jealousy" is a song by American rock band Gin Blossoms. The song was included on the group's debut album, Dusted (1989), and was re-recorded on their breakthrough 1992 album, New Miserable Experience. It was written by lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, who was fired from the band shortly after the recording of the second album. It became their first top-40 single on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1993, reaching number 25, and it also peaked at number 20 in Iceland, number 24 in the United Kingdom, number 28 in Australia, and number 39 in Canada.
Don Dixon is an American record producer, songwriter, and musician. He is considered to be one of the key producers of what is called the jangle pop movement of the early 1980s, including working with R.E.M. and The Smithereens.
Gas Giants were a pop rock band from Tempe, Arizona, formed as a successor project to the Gin Blossoms. The group was known as The Pharaohs when they formed in 1997, but changed their name after their label, A&M Records, merged with Universal Records and the band changed hands, re-signing with Interscope Records. Eventually, the group released their album, From Beyond the Back Burner, in 1999 on indie Atomic Pop Records. Comic book artist Geof Darrow provided the artwork for the album. The band featured Gin Blossoms members Robin Wilson, Phillip Rhodes and Daniel Henzerling, as well as Mickey Ferrel, who was previously in the band Grievous Angels. Henzerling was the drummer for the Gin Blossoms before the current drummer, Phillip Rhodes. The band toured with Train in 2000 behind the band's only single, "Quitter".
Dusted is the debut album by the alternative rock band the Gin Blossoms. It was released through San Jacinto Records, a small independent label as a 12-song tape and record in 1989.
Up and Crumbling is an EP released by the American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms on October 8, 1991. It was released after the Gin Blossoms signed with A&M Records and, while attempting to create a full-length album, ran into a creative drought during the recording sessions. According to the band's official website, the band recorded Up and Crumbling "on their own in hopes of rekindling the spark from Dusted that had been missing from the recent recordings." The songs from this EP were remastered and included on the 2002 deluxe edition of the band's breakthrough album, New Miserable Experience.
Major Lodge Victory is the fourth studio album by the power pop band Gin Blossoms. It was the first album released by the band since their 1997–2002 breakup. It was released on August 8, 2006, on Hybrid Recordings, making it the Gin Blossoms' first new album in over 10 years.
"Found Out About You" is the fourth single from American rock band Gin Blossoms' second studio album, New Miserable Experience (1992). Written by lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, who was fired from the band after the album, it first appeared on their 1989 debut recording, Dusted.
From Beyond the Back Burner is the debut album by Arizona-based pop rock band Gas Giants, released on Atomic Pop Records on October 19, 1999.
"Til I Hear It from You" is a song by the Gin Blossoms that was released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the film Empire Records in July 1995. It topped the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart for six weeks, rose to number eight in Iceland, and reached number 39 in the United Kingdom. In January 1996, it was re-released as a double-A side with "Follow You Down" in the United States, peaking at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard described "Til I Hear It from You" as "the closest thing to a perfect pop song to hit radio in recent memory" lauding its "breezy and wonderfully infectious melody, the boy-needs-girl lyrics, and the earnest execution."
"Follow You Down" is a song by American rock band Gin Blossoms, and the first single released from their album Congratulations I'm Sorry. It was released as a double A-side single with "Til I Hear It from You" in the United States. The song received a fair amount of radio play and has been featured in several films, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It reached number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 in a 46-week stay on the chart. It also became the band's second number-one single in Canada, after "Til I Hear It from You", and reached number 30 in the United Kingdom.
No Chocolate Cake is the fifth studio album by power pop band Gin Blossoms. It was released on September 28, 2010, worldwide, and the first single, "Miss Disarray", was released to radio stations on August 2, 2010. The album reached #1 on Amazon.com MP3 album charts on the release date. No Chocolate Cake entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number 73 after selling 7,000 copies in its first week of release. It was the album's peak position, after falling off the chart the following week.
Outside Looking In: The Best of the Gin Blossoms is a greatest hits album by American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. It was released in 1999 on A&M Records. It includes eleven songs from their previous two A&M studio albums, New Miserable Experience and Congratulations… I'm Sorry. The remaining three songs are from different sources. "Just South of Nowhere" was originally included on the 1991 EP Up and Crumbling. The hit single "Til I Hear It from You" was originally found on the soundtrack of the 1995 movie Empire Records. "Whitewash" is a previously unreleased 1996 live recording of the song originally included on Congratulations… I'm Sorry.
Rarities is a compilation album by pop rock band Gin Blossoms. It was released in 2010 on A&M Records. It is most of the bonus disc from the New Miserable Experience Deluxe Edition, 2-disc set released in 2002, which had three extra cuts from the Dusted album. The separate release here includes nineteen tracks not found on prior albums. These encompass seven tracks from two EPs, Up and Crumbling and Shut Up and Smoke, six tracks from a 1993 live performance, two studio outtakes, two alternate versions of previously released songs, a soundtrack contribution and Big Star cover.
