All Is Forgiven

The Zoo Crew has been spinning this one for the Zoo Freaks, and "All Is Forgiven" by Red Siren still hits like it did when it first came around. From the album of the same name, the track carries that big, anthemic feel with Kristin Massey’s voice riding over crunchy guitars and a steady pulse that never lets up. It is the kind of song that fills the room whether you are out on the road or just parked somewhere with the radio on.

One of the wilder stories around the band is how they almost lost their name right as things were starting to roll. They came out as Siren, put the album together, and then got hit with a lawsuit from another outfit that already claimed the moniker. None of the other parties would take a settlement, so the label had to pull everything and reprint under the new name Red Siren. Fans still talk about grabbing the early pressings that said Siren before the change, and the whole episode became part of the lore. The song itself kept climbing anyway, landing solid numbers on the rock charts and giving the band a real run on radio and video channels.

Recording "All Is Forgiven" was its own adventure. The album stands as one of the earliest fully digital rock records, cut on New England Digital’s Direct-to-Disk system with no analog tape in the chain at all. That meant everything from tracking to mix stayed in the digital domain, which was still novel territory for a hard-driving rock project in those days. Producer Mike Howlett worked alongside the band, and the results show in the clarity of the guitars and the way Massey’s vocals sit right up front without any mud. Listeners who dig melodic rock with a female lead often point to this cut as the one that stands apart from the rest of the set.

Kristin Massey grew up on the north shore of Chicago with a piano in the house and big ideas about getting out into the world. She started writing songs that pulled from the Beatles and Joni Mitchell, then fronted bands while she chased the dream. A major-label deal with PolyGram eventually landed, and later Atlantic came calling too. She has talked in interviews about the rush of hearing crowds sing the words back, and about the setbacks that came with the business side of things. After the Red Siren run she kept going, moving into voice-over work for big companies, stand-up, and even writing a book about reinventing yourself as a Jill of all trades. The music was always the trunk of the tree for her.

The rest of the lineup brought serious road miles. Robert Haas handled lead guitar, keyboards, and the Synclavier parts, and he already had a name outside music from bestselling nutrition books that changed how athletes ate. Bass came from Jon Brant, who had spent years in Cheap Trick before joining this project. Drummer Gregg Potter locked it all down. Together they turned out a polished AOR-style album that mixed arena-ready choruses with a bit of edge. The title track was the one that broke through, followed by "One Good Lover," and the band got out on the road and onto MTV for a stretch before the usual industry storms closed in.

Stories from people who caught them live still surface now and then. One listener remembers seeing the band in a small club up in Idaho, chatting with Massey while they set up, and walking out with the cassette the same night. Others talk about the hypnotic guitar figure that pulls you in right away, or how the vocals land with real force once the chorus hits. The lyrics lean into letting go of old grudges and moving on, which fits the freeform spirit the Zoo Crew likes to keep alive on the air. It is not flashy city talk; it is more the kind of plainspoken rock wisdom you hear from folks who have ridden a few miles and still believe the next song can set things right.

The band stayed mostly under the radar after that initial push, which is how a lot of solid late-eighties rock acts ended up. Collectors still hunt the original vinyl and the early CDs, and the digital-recording footnote keeps the album interesting for gear heads. Haas and Massey later put together a set of Led Zeppelin covers under the Red Siren name, showing the partnership never fully faded. You can find more about the original album and the people behind it on their site at Red Siren.

Here at THE ZOO the song fits right in with the deep cuts and the album-rock heart of the station. The Zoo Freaks keep requesting the ones that still feel alive, and "All Is Forgiven" has that combination of melody, grit, and a story behind it that rewards a second listen. Massey has said music can shift a mood or even a heartbeat, and this track makes the case. Spin it, let the chorus land, and see if the old resentments do not feel a little lighter by the time the last note fades.

The whole project came together in the Chicago area scene, where a lot of players crossed paths in the late eighties. Massey’s early songwriting with her sisters and others eventually split into different directions, but the Red Siren material kept its own identity. The name-change headache delayed things just long enough to cost some momentum, yet the music held up. That is the part the DJs always come back to: the record is still worth playing, the voice still cuts through, and the groove still works whether you are on two wheels or just kicking back. Keep it on the turntable and let the Freaks decide how many more times it needs to come around.