It turns out that the real problem with Spinal Tap‘s “Stonehenge” wasn’t just that tiny onstage prop — the song was also missing some assistance from a living rock monument. A just-released new version of the track, featuring Elton John on vocals, is the first single from the fictional metal gods’ new album,The End Continues. The collection, due Sept. 12, will accompany the long-delayed sequel to 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which hits theaters the same day.
The album, available to preorder now, also includes guest vocals from Paul McCartney on “Cups and Cakes,” the twee, ultra-British ballad that was — in the band’s fictional backstory — the B-side to their single “Gimme Some Money.” Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood also pop up, singing “Big Bottom,” a cover version that, in the new movie’s story, ends up spurring the band’s reunion after it goes viral. Among the nine new songs on the album is “Rockin’ In The Urn,” a suitably ludicrous ode to literal rock n’ roll immortality.
The movie, which reunites Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer as Spinal Tap, is directed once again by Rob Reiner, who also reprises his on-screen role as fictional documentarian Marty DiBergi. The film traces the band’s fractious rehearsals for what’s supposed to be their final concert, and fills in some of the gaps in their story — we learn that Guest’s Nigel Tufnel is now the proprietor of the cheese shop. They’re also seeing a new drummer — always a dangerous gig — and we see famous percussionists including Questlove turn down the job. McCartney and John both have larger-than-cameo roles in the movie, playing music with the band and improvising dialogue along with the cast.
Spinal Tap II is the first Tap movie since 1984, but the band has kept busy over the years — despite not actually existing — with live shows and recordings. They released a full studio album, Break Like the Wind, in 1992, and a compilation of re-recordings, Back From the Dead, in 2009.
The End Continues Track List
1. “Nigel’s Poem”
2. “Let’s Just Rock Again”
3. “Flower People” with Elton John
4. “Brighton Rock”
5. “The Devil’s Just Not Getting Old”
6. “Cups and Cakes” with Paul McCartney
7. “I Kissed a Girl”
8. “Angels”
9. “Big Bottom” with Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood
10. “Judge and Jury”
11. “Rockin’ in the Urn”
12. “Blood to Let”
13. “Stonehenge” with Elton John
