''Heads Are Gonna Roll'' is the second album by the

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

band The Hippos, released in 1999 by

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

. It was the band's first album for a major record label and was their most successful, with the single "Wasting My Life" receiving some airplay on rock radio stations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Musically the album found the band transitioning from the

-based structure of their debut album to a more pop-rock sound, using fewer ska rhythms and instead incorporating

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s. It includes a new version of the song "Far Behind" from their debut album '' Forget the World''. The album's art is a reference to The Animals' self-titled album. ''Heads Are Gonna Roll'' was The Hippos' last proper album as a committed band. Although they would continue to perform and record over the next few years, they did not release any other albums until the posthumous '' The Hippos'' in 2003, after quietly disbanding.

Track listing

Performers

* Ariel Rechtshaid -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*James Bairian -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Louis Castle -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, backing vocals *Rich Zahniser -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

, Farfisa organ,

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s *Danny Rukasin - trombone *Kyle Briggs -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Album information

*Record label:

*Produced by and engineered by

Mark Trombino Mark Trombino (born May 23, 1966) is an American multi-platinum record producer, musician, and audio engineer. He has produced, engineered, and mixed tracks for many artists including Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182, The Starting Line, Finch, Motion ...

except "Always Something There to Remind Me" produced by Chris Fudurich, Ariel Rechtshaid, and Rich Zahniser and engineered by Chris Fudurich *Additional engineers: Jordan D'Aleffio, Dale Lawton, Robert Read, Billy Bowers, Brian Foxworthy, and Nick Raskaulincez *Recorded at Mad Hatter in Silver Lake, California, Sound City in Van Nuys, California, The Music Box in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

, The Complex in west

, and Chateau Chaumont in Hollywood, California *Mixed by Phil Nicolo at Studio 4 in

Conshohocken, Pennsylvania Conshohocken ( ; Lenape: ''Kanshihàkink'') is a borough on the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in suburban Philadelphia. Historically a large mill town and industrial and manufacturing center, after the decline of industry i ...

*Mix engineer: Dirk Grobelny *Mastered by Stephen Marcussen at A&M Mastering Studios in Hollywood, California *Digitally edited by Andrew Garver *All songs written by Ariel Rechtshaid except "All Alone" by Louis Castle and Ariel Rechtshaid, "Far Behind" by Rich Zahniser, Louis Castle, and Ariel Rechtshaid, and "Always Something There to Remind Me" by Hal David and

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

*Photos by Rocky Schenck *Art direction and design by Francesca Restrepo

References

{{The Hippos The Hippos albums 1999 albums Albums produced by Mark Trombino Albums recorded at Sound City Studios