Released: November 10
The first Missing Persons album written by Dale Bozzio in over 35 years captures echoes of the new wave band’s ‘80s heyday.
‘Hollywood Lie’ is the third full-length release since the singer revived the act and follows the 2020 covers collection ‘Dreaming’ – on which she dipped her toes into writing again on three new songs.
Taken by the creative process, the new record is, according to the vocalist, “about my deep concern for all the people suffering with depression, living a double life or just getting caught up in the glitz and glamour and empty promises of Hollywood”.
“It’s dedicated to Len Holness, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character Gatsby and the fashion designer Halston,” she says, calling the work her “greatest accomplishment”.
Launching with the title song – not worlds away sonically from ‘Spring Session M’ (1982) opener Noticeable One – it’s instantly Missing Persons, with Bozzio’s vocal four decades on evocative of her 20-something year old self, capturing the same spirit.
Leaning into the subject matter, the passing of time may have closed in her range a little but in doing so what was once a sense of wide-eyed wonder becomes a knowing nod to the perils of the Hollywood lifestyle.
King 4 A Day and Fading Away lean into the group’s origins and keep up the pace with a rocking live feel that characterises the best of Missing Persons’ material, while lead single Ice Blue Eyes could easily have featured on their earliest releases.
She also looks to the more recent past on Lucky, which draws on This Time, from which she borrows the foundation line: ‘No more misery, no more pain / Luck is for the lucky and the world’s gone insane’. Closer Gatsby also references the single Lipstick.
Meanwhile, the spoken word verses on Because Of You I’m Crying hark back to her 1988 solo single, Riot In English, again spotlighting her undeniable charm.
Recapturing the glory days of years gone by is challenging for any artist but from the writing to the music and Bozzio’s vocal, ‘Hollywood Lie’ is the strongest Missing Persons release in decades.
