Big Hello - Apple Album

Artist: Big Hello Title: Apple Album Catalog#: Parasol-CD-039 OUT OF PRINT!!		Tracks on this CD:
		O' Canada
		Star 69
		Today Will Be Yesterday Tomorrow
		Sister Mary
		Hooked On the Girl
		Colorado Coastline
		Clouds Cover the Mountain
		I Don't Like You
		Pen Pal
		Riot Gurl
		Kamikaze

more Big Hello releases

Big Hello, the Chicago-based band founded by drummer/songwriter Brad Elvis, celebrates the release of their first full-length CD, Apple Album, on Parasol Records. Brad Elvis, whose past musical accomplishments include The Elvis Brothers (CBS), Screams (MCA), and another popular power-pop Parasol band Three Hour Tour, said that Apple Album is the best album he has ever recorded. "The performance, energy level, songwriting - everything is consistently tops," said Elvis, "There is no filler on this CD."

Other songwriting credits on the album go to the versatile girl lead vocalist Chloe F. Orwell, who wrote the leadoff track "O’ Canada" and "I Don’t Like You" and guitarist Johnny Million who contributed the show-stopping "Hooked on the Girl." Big Hello’s newest member is girl bassist j.a.c.k.i.e., who was not a member when the recording was made.

The 11-song disc cleverly includes bonus tracks of the album sequence repeated with different mixes and edits filling the CD with 22 tracks in 72 minutes. The well-crafted songwriting ranges from the high energy of "Today Will be Yesterday Tomorrow," and "Kamikaze" to the Beatlesque stylings of "Sister Mary" to the rock of "Pen Pal," and "Colorado Coastline," with its sarcastic look at the big one in California. There is also the pure radio pop of "Clouds Cover the Mountain," which may be the first rock song influenced by Helen Keller.

In January, the Ohio-based Break-Up! Records released Big Hello’s four-song, seven-inch, vinyl EP entitled "Girl Versus Boy Verses," which by March had become the fastest selling release on the label. Both the EP and the Apple Album CD were recorded and mixed at the Noise Chamber by Jimmy Johnson who is known for his work with Cheap Trick.

Big Hello's Apple Album (PARASOL CD039) was one of 98's finest featuring absolute cracking numbers like the rousing Star 69, the anthemic Today will be Yesterday Tomorrow, and the power pearl O'Canada. - Bucket Full of Brains

Big Hello are a Chicago-based band led by Brad Elvis, who's had numerous pop rock bands in the past, including the Elvis Brothers. This is the best album I've heard that he's put out. ...The record's really pretty darned catchy and downright fun. Star 69 is more humorous and catchy than R.E.M.'s song of the same name. Today will be Yesterday Tomorrow is a near-perfect alterna-pop song that should be a single. Sister Mary is Revolver influenced pop. I Don't Like You is a jangly power pop song. Actually, none of the 11 songs are bad at all, very catchy and instantly memorable. With tongues firmly in cheek and three songwriters of some talent, Big Hello are a pretty entertaining band that bears watching in the future. -Pop Culture Press

Just out on Parasol Records is the debut album from Illinois' Big Hello. Invented by former Elvis Bro Brad Elvis and featuring the lead vocals of one Chloe F. Orwell. The Apple Album is pop that's worth sinking your teeth into. Orwell sounds like some sort of a cross between a mouthy, Joan Jett rockchick and a Debbie Harry influenced (circa Parallel Lines) pop chanteuse. Nice. - Amplifier

Melding late 70's skinny tie power pop and a 90's rock aesthetic, Chicago's Big Hello have hit paydirt with their debut full length on Parasol, the Apple Album. The Apple Album is a joyride down the power pop highway - these songs were meant to be played with the top down and the CD player loud. - there's the hard rockin' sentiments of O' Canada, Today Will Be Yesterday Tomorrow, Colorado Coastline and Kamikaze; the Beatlesque stylings of Sister Mary and I Don't Like You; and the one reprieve from the guitar blitzkrieg, Clouds Over The Mountain. The band, and lead singer Chloe F. Orwell especially, handle the myriad of styles presented here with great aplomb. Chloe comes across as an inviting mix of the Muff's Kim Shattuck and Liz Phair but with more vocal range and control than her sisters in pop. Although it's still early in the game, the Apple Album is my pick for pop album of the year. They just don't write 'em like that any more - indeed! - Amplifier

Brad Elvis recorded three albums of exuberant pop songs with the Elvis Brothers, and he continues his successful streak with Big Hello's Apple Album. A hard hitting drummer who bears a slight resemblance to Austin Powers, Elvis draws upon British Invasion and girl groups of the 60's for song writing inspiration. ...Chloe F. Orwell is a first rate lead vocalist and pop composer. Her energetic rocker O' Canada kicks off the album, and her winsome I Don't Like You would have fit perfectly on the That Thing You Do sound track. Johnny Million provides guitar firepower throughout the album and wrote the catchy Hooked On The Girl. Bass player j.a.c.k.i.e. joins Million on the band's crisp harmony vocals. Fans who miss the Elvis brothers should take note: the fun lives on with Big Hello. - Illinois Entertainer

Drummer Brad Elvis, formerly of the Elvis Brothers, has been around the block enough to guide his latest brainchild through its paces to sure-fire college-radio pop hits...Vocalist Chloe F. Orwell occasionally brings to mind That Dog's Anna Waronker, though adopting a more sultry purr for the soy-movie hook of Pen Pal and sneering through the chorus of Riot Gurl. - The Big Take-Over

The catchiest pop I've heard in a while comes courtesy of Chicago's Big Hello, a two guy, two girl combo that manages to make indie rock lovable again. In the fine tradition of Cheap Trick, they're sorta cute and sorta geeky, even if each member embodies both aspects simultaneously. But oh, those songs... - Option's Inside Report