Not a vast amount of deep analysis here - " Babylon, Great song! Lady of The Lake? Awesome song!" - but I love the chap's enthusiasm, It really has made me want to revisit Starcastle's catalogue! Job done, Sea Of Tranquility!Originally Posted by Dan Roth
I'm glad that the different but excellent Real To Reel didn't get a complete hatchet job, even if he did rate it fifth from five.
He definitely feels that it's the more Yessy the better with them. I always thought the third album was the best, because they combined the Yes influence with the AOR sound and came up with something more their own.
That's my favourite too although I like them all.
Yes are definitely an influence but I've never felt that Starcastle slavishly pastiched their sound. There was always a little something, possibly AOR, that made them different enough, at least for me.
I always did like this song
Not bad. It really sounds like Drama era Yes
There is a LIVE Starcastle CD that came out, I have it.
It's one of those Classic Concert series (low budget type, not the King Biscuit ones) and is pretty good audio quality.
It's called Concert Classics Vol. 5 and there is another 2001 Live CD as well called Alive in America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF4vXS2h7qw
I may be older but, I saw live: Led Zeppelin, Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Fish, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Marillion, IQ, UK, Saga, Rush, Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Genesis with Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Triumph, Magma, Goblin, Porcupine Tree, The Musical Box, Uriah Heep, Dio, David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Queen with Freddie Mercury, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood, Steely Dan, Dream theater, Joe Satriani, you get the idea..
These are one and the same. It seems that most of the Concert Classic albums have more than one release.
Like the rest of the CC series, it's a very good recording that's cheaply packaged, pressed on CD-R and probably unlicensed. But it seems to be the best recording out there of Starcastle in their prime.
Last edited by bRETT; 07-06-2020 at 02:55 PM.
On Steve Hagler's youtube channel he did several videos a couple years ago on Starcastle memories:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy8...=dd&shelf_id=0
Funny thing is it pre-dates Drama by a few years so i guess Starcastle was ahead of their time.
Stephen Tassler talks about the debut album here:
https://www.seaoftranquility.org/sec...icle&artid=118
Gee the first one is good!
^^^^
Indeed, it is very good. However, as I hear it, "Fountains Of Light" was their masterpiece and the apex of their career.
No, the first Starcastle album is great!
"Diamond Song (Deep is the Light)" is way better than anything on Drama. For one thing, the singer can sing.
Ouch! TrevorHorn1980.jpg
If someone should start laughing at a "prog" clone-band, it's because they simply don't understand the music's extreme and incredible complexity!
It's not because the very idea of a carefully intended and deliberately non-creative duplicate being "progressive" somehow appears contrary to what anyone else in any other genre of artmaking find semantically logical, not to mention the discipline of art-history itself.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
So, which of the Starcastle albums get the most play time in your collection?
^ Fountains of Light, the single one of theirs I've kept. It's such a masterpiece; I mean, it -must- be since it comes so wholeheartedly deliberately close to Yes, who were the absolute best. So naturally the second best would be the one to come closest to the very best. Music isn't anything, like, in itself - it's only something in capacity of what other it "sounds like" or at least what it "reminds ME of".
Druid also came very, very close to Yes, but not quite as close as Starcastle. That's why Starcastle are a bit better than Druid. And England didn't come as close as Druid, therefore Druid are somewhat better than England.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
I still listen to all 3, but probably s/t the most. Citadel has some really nice moments. FoL holds together through the whole album.
Song Of Times is an excellent late edition to the catalogue. If you like Starcastle and haven't heard it, it's well worth hunting down.
The comparisons to Drama are interesting. Drama is one of my favorite Yes albums, so that's a compliment in my book.
I have the first Starcastle on vinyl. My brother found it at yard sale and bought it for me as a gift. The sleeve has seen better days, but the LP itself is in decent shape.
It's not a groundbreaking (or even progressive) album by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy it from time to time. Not as good as Fountains of Light though, IMO.
I had never listened to anything from the fourth Starcastle album, Real to Reel, which is said to be much poppier than the others. But the other day Spotify put this song in a playlist it generated, and I haven't been able to stop listening to it! I think it's a bit different from the rest of the album (I've only listened to a couple of the other songs, which aren't very appealing), and it's catchy as hell somehow. Seems like this song should/must have been played on AM radio back in the day. (Try to ignore the album cover!):
All the above, my take as well!
Ed
Glad to see this thread is still chugging along! :3
Some personal history -- I got this album when I was in Las Vegas getting married from a great regional chain called Zia records. My husband wasnt a huge fan of prog rock (he would constantly rib me about Geddy Lee
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
Gary Strater's bass playing sounds very Squire-esue, Terry Lutrell's vocal stylings convey a whiff of Jon Anderson, and once in a while, the keyboards, especially the Moog sounds, suggest Rick Wakeman. The harmony vocals can sound Yes-like at times, but more often than not they resemble CSN&Y more than Yes to my ears. The songwriting isn't very Yes-like, either.
As for their records, these are my opinions:
Fountains of Light is a very good record despite the rather embarrassing lyrics, and the debut is a solid effort. After that, things get sketchy. Citadel, overall, is fine though I find it less satisfying than its predecessor. Real-to Reel, on the other hand, is totally not my thing though I'm pleased to hear others enjoy it.
I have to say that Song of Times was a major disappointment for me when it was released though I deeply respect the band for giving Gary Strater one last chance to shine before losing his battle with cancer as well as for letting Terry Lutrell sing one of the songs.
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