The Harsh Light of Day is the third album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by pop-rock band Fastball

Fastball (band)

Fastball is an American rock band that formed in Austin, Texas in the 1990s. The band originally called themselves "Magneto U.S.A." but changed their name after signing with Hollywood Records....

, released in September 2000 by Hollywood Records

Hollywood Records

Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...

. The album had a distinctly more layered and glossier sound than past albums, and featured an impressive roster of guest stars, including The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 contemporary Billy Preston

Billy Preston

William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...

, Stray Cats

Stray Cats

Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...

 frontman Brian Setzer

Brian Setzer

Brian Setzer is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He first found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly revival group The Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the late 1990s with a jazz-oriented big band.-Career:Setzer was born in Massapequa, New York...

 and former Wallflowers guitarist Michael Ward

Michael Ward (musician)

Michael Ward is an American guitarist who has played with the bands School of Fish and The Wallflowers. He also played on John Hiatt's album Perfectly Good Guitar.-With School of Fish:* School of Fish * Live in L.A....

. However, despite positive reviews and extensive touring and promotional activity, the album failed to match the success of its predecessor, and would be the band's last studio effort for Hollywood Records.

Miles Zuniga left the band briefly following the completion of promotional duties for The Harsh Light of Day, and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, but re-joined the band soon afterwards.

There is an episode of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer called "The Harsh Light of Day." Coincidentally, Fastball's song "Fire Escape" from their previous album was featured on the show.

Fastball appeared on an episode of Charmed

Charmed

Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...

and played "You're an Ocean" at Piper's night club.

As of January 2004 sales for this album were at 85,000.

The song "Morning Star" is played in the title sequence of the video game Triple Play 2001.

Track listing

1. "This Is Not My Life" (Miles Zuniga) - 3:00
2. "You're an Ocean" (Tony Scalzo
   Tony Scalzo
   Tony Scalzo is an American rock musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the band Fastball....
   
   ) - 3:17
3. "Goodbye" (Zuniga) - 3:13
4. "Love Is Expensive and Free" (Scalzo) - 3:02
5. "Vampires" (Zuniga) - 3:10
6. "Wind Me Up" (Scalzo, Zuniga) - 3:59
7. "Morning Star" (Scalzo) - 3:59
8. "Time" (Zuniga) - 3:16
9. "Dark Street" (Zuniga) - 3:28
10. "Funny How It Fades Away" (Scalzo) - 4:08
11. "Don't Give Up On Me" (Zuniga) - 3:33
12. "Whatever Gets You On" (Zuniga, Groves) - 6:38

Personnel

• Tony Scalzo
  Tony Scalzo
  Tony Scalzo is an American rock musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the band Fastball....
  
    - vocals, bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  
• Miles Zuniga - vocals, guitar
• Joey Shuffield - drums, percussion

Original track listing

This is the original track listing rejected by the record label.

1. This is Not My Life
2. Wind Me Up
3. Love is Expensive and Free
4. Funny How it Fades Away
5. Time
6. Vampires
7. Interlude
8. Morning Star
9. You're an Ocean
10. Dark Street
11. Goodbye
12. Don't Give Up on Me
13. Whatever Gets You On

External links

• The Harsh Light of Day at Metacritic
  Metacritic
  Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
  
  .