The Fenix has rizen!

This Sunday evening, Tenacious D – the comedy/rock duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass – is up for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.  The Tenacious team’s Rize of the Fenix  is facing stand-up competition from such acts as Jim Gaffigan, Kathy Griffin, Lewis Black, Margaret Cho and Jimmy Fallon, the latter of whom also mixed comedy and rock to great effect on his nominated album.  But Tenacious D is looking back as well as forward.  On March 5, Epic Records and Legacy Recordings will unveil a limited-edition, numbered, 180-gram vinyl gatefold 2-LP set of Tenacious D’s self-titled 2001 album.  Tenacious D: 12th Anniversary Edition will unveil a brand-new song recorded especially for this release, “Pat Reilly,” plus an MP3 album download.

Black and Gass are celebrating the 12th anniversary of the platinum-certified album with a new tour kicking off on February 28 at Atlantic City’s House of Blues.  Though Tenacious D’s first album didn’t arrive until 2001, the duo had been performing since the early 1990s and had already appeared in television specials on HBO by the time of the album’s release.  The rise, er, rize of Tenacious D also coincided with the takeoff of Black’s film career; the actor has considered his role in 2000’s music-centric High Fidelity to be his breakthrough.

Tenacious D, the album, was helmed by The Dust Brothers (Beastie Boys, Hanson, Beck) recorded.  Sessions began, of all places, in Neil Diamond’s own studios.  Black had befriended the music legend while playing a member of a Diamond cover band in the 2001 comedy Saving Silverman.  At Diamond’s ArchAngel Studios and The Boat studios, Black and Gass recorded such fare as “Kielbasa” (an ode to anal sex) and “F**k Her Gently” (an ode to, ah, well, you get the idea).  There were also shout-outs to metal hero Ronnie James Dio (“Dio”) and even Bach (“Rock Your Socks”), as well as a rock opera dedicated to cannabis (“City Hall”) and a climactic question of the listeners that would likely make John Waters and Divine smile.  Dave Grohl joined the D on drums, as did Page McConnell (Phish) on keyboards, Warren Fitzgerald (The Vandals) on guitar, and Steven Shane McDonald (Redd Kross) on bass.

After the jump: more on Tenacious D, including the track listing and pre-order link!

Tenacious D peaked at No. 33 on the Billboard 200.  Black and Gass followed it up with 2006’s The Pick of Destiny (a tie-in to the film of the same name) and 2012’s Rize of the Fenix.  The upcoming tour in support of Fenix will return the band to its acoustic roots.  The 12th Anniversary Edition of Tenacious D, a vinyl-only release, arrives in stores on March 5, and you can pre-order below!

Tenacious D, Tenacious D: 12th Anniversary Edition (Epic EK 86234, 2001 – reissued Epic/Legacy, 2013)

1. Kielbasa
2. One Note Song
3. Tribute
4. Wonderboy
5. Hard Fucking
6. Fuck Her Gently
7. Explosivo
8. Dio
9. Inward Singing
10. Kyle Quit the Band
11. The Road
12. Cock Pushups
13. Lee
14. Friendship Test
15. Friendship
16. Karate Schnitzel
17. Karate
18. Rock Your Socks
19. Drive-Thru
20. Double Team
21. City Hall/I Believe/Malibu Nights
22. Pat Reilly (2013 bonus track)