It’s not exactly breaking news that Mr Big. having reformed last year has spent most of the autumn working on a new album. The record is called What If and is due to be released on 21 December 2010 (according to Amazon) or 21 January 2010 according to bravewords.com. Here is the album artwork:

What if … pigs could fly, well I dunno, what if … hen had teeth? You get the idea. The album marks the return of Mr Big in its original line-up (that is to say, with my favourite guitar player, Mr Paul Gilbert) since 1996. Bravewords.com says:

What If… was produced by Kevin Shirley (AEROSMITH, RUSH, IRON MAIDEN) and the release will be followed by a World Tour which will kick off in South America in March and will hit Europe in early summer.

I will report further once European dates are known. I’ll be crossing fingers that there will be more than just the one date in London like last year but perhaps it’ll depend on the response to the album’s release. In the meantime, here’s the setlist for the album:

1. ‘Undertow’
2. ‘American Beauty’
3. ‘Stranger In My Life’
4. ‘Nobody Takes The Blame’
5. ‘Still Ain’t Enough For Me’
6. ‘Once Upon A Time’
7. ‘As Far As I Can See’
8. ‘All The Way Up’
9. ‘I Won’t Get In My Way’
10. ‘Around The World’
11. ‘I Get The Feeling’
12. ‘Unforgiven’ (exclusive bonus track for Europe / North America – not on vinyl edition)

And here’s the promotional video for the first single to be released: Undertow

Awesome tune if you ask me, it sold me on the album (as if I needed much convincing )