Tom Cochrane celebrates 25 years of landmark ‘Mad Mad World’ album

In 1991 Tom Cochrane released Mad Mad World, his first solo album after leaving Red Rider, the rock group he had led since 1978.

The album, powered by the ubiquitous single Life is a Highway, sold more than 1 million copies and earned the singer Juno awards for Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.

Last year Mad Mad World album celebrated its 25th birthday, and Cochrane is marking that anniversary with the release of a two-CD “deluxe re-master” of the album and the accompanying MMW25 Tour, in which Cochrane and Red Rider are playing the record live in its entirety across Canada for the first time. On March 15 the tour comes to the Art Hauser Centre.

“It seemed like the logical time to tour it,” Cochrane said over the phone during a stop in Kelowna, B.C.

“There is, I suppose, a trend for bands to tour albums and the 25th anniversary would be as good an excuse as any, right? So we’re out doing it and it’s hard to believe it’s 25 years.”

While the album includes live staples like No Regrets and Sinking Like a Sunset, Cochrane said there are six or seven songs on the record that “haven’t seen the light of day for a while” that are being well received in concert. He said deeper cuts like Get Back Up and the ballad The Secret is to Know When to Stop have become audience and band favourites.

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