The Huntingtons
The Huntingtons debut album "Sweet Sixteen" was released in 1996 by Flying Tart Records. A few months later, their first attempt at recording Ramones covers, entitled "Rocket to Ramonia" saw limited release via the Burnt Toast Vinyl label. At this point the band added a second guitarist, Tom Rehbein (later in Small Towns Burn a Little Slower). After working with producer Mass Giorgini for the band's next album, "Fun and Games", Tom was replaced by Brad Ber. After the album's release in mid-1997, the band started touring and gained a cult following. Their big break came in 1998, when they signed to Tooth & Nail Records and released "High School Rock".
The Awakening (James Morrison album)
"The Awakening" is the first album by Morrison to be released with Island Records after he recently parted ways with Polydor, his label of six years. Three years in the making, the album is influenced by the death of his father, as well as Morrison’s own steps into parenthood. It also sees him form a new creative relationship with producer Bernard Butler, who has further advanced Morrison's foray into a classic but contemporary soul sound.
"I don’t want to put across that, yeah, the album is about my dad, losing my dad; some of it is but the other half is this sense of being woken up to what I wanted to achieve," he said in the interview by "Music Week". Meanwhile, speaking of the title itself, he told Blues & Soul: "I basically just wanted it to feel like a first album, in the sense of me having woken up as an artist and person – you know, I wanted to forget that Broken Strings kind of pop side of me a little bit. And so, with me having actually written a SONG called 'The Awakening', that title also just kind of neatly fitted the album TOO."