High Spirits (4) - Hard To Stop

A lot of fans consider 2011's "Another Night" to be the band's best effort so far. Is that also Chris' impression? "Yes, I think so. Although with vinyl and CD, "Motivator" sells just as much nowadays. If we are talking about streaming, then 'Another Night In The City' is definitely song #1, with song #2 (care to guess?) only getting about half of that number." So does "The Professor" feel any pressure for "Hard To Stop" to become as successful or even more successful than "Another Night"? "That pressure existed in 2013 and 2014," he thinks, "but not so much anymore. If people want to hear another "Another Night", they can just listen to it again." "I wrote it, I played it, same as always when it comes to High Spirits," explains Chris the way "Hard To Stop" was approached. "There are advantages as well as drawbacks to doing it this way. But to do it any other way would not be High Spirits." With uplifting numbers such as "Hearts Will Burn", "Since You've Been Gone", "Now I Know" and a re-working of the classic "Midnight Sun", "Hard To Stop" will probably be hard to stop and might even surpass "Another Night" in terms of commercial success and popularity in fan circles. The most unusual sounding number on the record appears to be "Voice In The Wind", almost sounding like pop punk meeting "Crusader" period Saxon. Will the band's core audience be open-minded enough to cherish this change in style? "I hope so," says Chris Black, "but maybe not unanimously. I thought "Motivator" was missing a bit of variety, so a song like this was very welcome."