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Hollywood (2008): Circle's Classic-Rock Costume, Explained
2008 · Ektro Records · Studio album
Circle's Classic-Rock Costume
Album cover — rights belong to the original labelHollywood, released in 2008 on Ektro Records, is Circle's classic rock album detour — one of the clearest examples of how the band treats genre in general: as something to put on and take off, not something to commit to. Where Tulikoira (2005) leaned into heavy metal, Hollywood deliberately reaches for a "classic rock" sound instead — described in coverage of the band as an odd, self-aware collaboration that wears a familiar rock format like a costume rather than a genuine stylistic home.
That willingness to try on an entire genre for one record, then set it aside, is part of why Circle is difficult to pin down across its catalog — the same band that made the raw, invented-language krautrock of Meronia in 1994 was, by 2008, comfortable spending a whole album inside a completely different tradition, on its own terms.
It sits alongside the band's other genre-costume experiments — the hair-metal parody of their Falcon alter ego is the most extreme version of the same idea — as evidence that for Circle, genre itself is raw material, not an identity.
The Bruce Duff Connection
Hollywood exists because of a specific, well-documented fan relationship. Circle bassist and Ektro Records founder Jussi Lehtisalo had been a fan of the obscure 1980s Los Angeles alternative-metal band Jesters of Destiny since the late 1980s; in the early 2000s he wrote to the band's frontman, Bruce Duff, and arranged to reissue their cult album Fun at the Funeral on Ektro. That connection pulled Duff into Circle's orbit as a guest performer — by Lehtisalo's own account, Circle is "a dream group" to be working with. Duff's first recorded appearance with the band came via the 2006 EP Earthworm on No Quarter Records, a four-track release running about 20 minutes; two years later he was handed the whole classic rock album, with Hollywood named directly after his home turf of Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Personnel and Track Listing
Credits vary slightly by source. Wikipedia lists Bruce Duff (vocals, guitar) alongside Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo, Mika Rättö, Tomi Leppänen and Janne Westerlund; Ektro Records' own product listing and the band's Bandcamp page additionally credit Janne Tuomi and Tuomas Laurila among the players. The album runs roughly an hour across eight songs: "Connection," "Mercy and Tuesday," "Earthworm," "Sacrifice" and "Spam Folder," followed by a three-part closing suite billed as "Requiem in D Minor" — "Hard to Realize," the 15-minute-plus "Madman," and "Suddenly." Two of the shorter tracks, "Connection" and "Earthworm," are carryovers from the 2006 Earthworm EP — they'd already resurfaced once on a 7" bundled with Circle's 2008 reissue of Tulikoira before landing here.
Reception, Sequencing, and Later Pressings
Ektro's own catalog copy frames Hollywood as "a different trip yet again" for longtime listeners, pointedly noting that a band famous for lyrics in its own invented language "chose to reduce everything to its lowest common denominator, otherwise known as English" for this record. Bandcamp Daily's guide to the band's catalog goes further, calling Hollywood "the oddest 'classic rock' album ever made." In Circle's remarkably prolific sequence of studio albums, Hollywood is counted as the band's 32nd, slotted directly after Triumph and before Soundcheck. Beyond the original 2008 Ektro CD, Discogs also catalogs a separate 2014 vinyl pressing of the album, indicating it got at least one later physical reissue.
Hollywood: Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Bruce Duff, and why does he front a Circle album?
Bruce Duff was the singer and guitarist of the 1980s Los Angeles alt-metal band Jesters of Destiny. Circle's Jussi Lehtisalo had been a longtime fan and reissued the Jesters' Fun at the Funeral on his Ektro label, a relationship that led to Duff joining Circle as guest frontman, first on the 2006 Earthworm EP and then on the full Hollywood classic rock album two years later.
Was Hollywood Duff's first time working with the band?
No. Duff first recorded with Circle on the 2006 EP Earthworm (No Quarter Records), a four-song, roughly 20-minute release. Two of its tracks, Earthworm and Connection, were carried forward onto Hollywood, having also briefly resurfaced on a 7-inch packaged with the band's 2008 Tulikoira reissue.
What does the album's title mean?
It's named after Bruce Duff's hometown, Hollywood, the Los Angeles neighborhood, underlining that the whole record was built as a vehicle for its American guest frontman.
How long is Hollywood and what's on it?
It runs roughly an hour across eight songs, opening with Connection, Mercy and Tuesday, Earthworm, Sacrifice and Spam Folder, then closing with a three-movement Requiem in D Minor suite: Hard to Realize, the 15-plus-minute Madman, and Suddenly.
Did Circle and Bruce Duff work together again after Hollywood?
Yes — Lehtisalo has said he also brought Duff into his other project Pharaoh Overlord for the album Out of Darkness, meaning this classic rock album was part of an ongoing creative partnership rather than a one-off.
