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Product Details:
Audio CD Release Date:
January 08, 2002
Studio:
Capitol
Number Of Discs:
1
Average Customer Rating:
based on 126 reviews
Description:
Although Love Is Here, Starsailor's anxious, soulful, folk-and-urban-blues-nuanced debut won't be a culture shock to any British pop-scene follower who experienced, say, Tom McRae's 2000 debut, it certainly jolts the core beliefs and common cultural values of the U.K. indie scene. Nothing about Starsailor is remotely "alternative"; cool dads will appreciate them every bit as much as the hip kids. Not only is tender-aged singer James Walsh proud to admit to being influenced by Van Morrison and Tim Buckley (blimey, it's like punk never happened), he is also gifted with a larynx as gnarled, emotionally articulate, and demonstratively tremulous as the underrated Roger Chapman. Love Is Here is an assured classic, whose exposition of impending mid-life crises and buttoned-up desperation (typical lyric: "I need to be alone while I suffer") is conveyed through shuffling jazz percussion, metronomic acoustic guitars, and keyboards that veer between decorative cocktail piano and ice rink organ (courtesy of former crematorium organist Barry Westhead). Are Starsailor the future of British pop? Let's bloody hope so. --Kevin Maidment
Track Listing:
1.
Tie Up My Hands
2.
Poor Misguided Fool
3.
Alcoholic
4.
Lullaby
5.
Way To Fall
6.
Fever
7.
She Just Wept
8.
Talk Her Down
9.
Love Is Here
10.
Good Souls
11.
Coming Down
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Review:
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1 of 3 found the following review helpful:
One good song an album does not make!Nov 23, 2006 Interesting sound...interesting vocals...
But I liked it better the first time around...
when it was called "The Verve"!
Starsailor was the other dream brotherSep 17, 2006 Well, on the contrary, maybe this band was inspired by Jeff Buckley's father, Tim Buckley, rather than Jeff himself. Then again, I have neither heard or read any interviews of the bands influences nor do I hear the influence itself come from their music. I say this because Tim Buckley was "star sailor". Star Sailor was an album by Tim Buckley, one of his earliest. This album is mediocre at best. It has a certain aura that accompanies Jeff Buckley's Grace album. I would have to agree with an earlier comment, Jeff was amazing. I wont base the bands rating on a level with Jeff or Tim but am giving it their own.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Very good.Sep 09, 2005 I can't say more than the other people who have already written here praising this CD. What got me interested in this band in the first place is the song Way to Fall. This was the song used in the ending credits of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and when I first heard it, I really liked the sound and pacing of it. Definitely recommend this.
0 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Sounds intriguing but needs work...Aug 24, 2005 I don't see the comparison to Jeff Buckley AT ALL! That was a singer who had more talent in his little pinky than this band has on the entire album. All the songs are much too similar, the guy's voice gets boring to listen to after a while and, if you remember London Suede, has a very similar sound to them (though I will say that London Suede was MUCH better). No one has come close to the pipes of J. Buckley (or even Tim B., for that matter) in years and this doesn't count any where near that, either.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Wanted: Decent ProducerMay 20, 2005 I am a definite Starsailor fan now that I have seen them live twice and own both of their albums. They are a bit of that excellent Britrock I crave with the insanely beautiful vocals that put James Walsh in his own league (I don't buy comparisons to Robert Plant; Jeff Buckley is a little closer; and though I like Richard Ashcroft a great deal more, they do not sound similar to me).
The problem here is not the songs - it's the album. I saw them open for the Charlatans UK and I was so affected by their performance, I immediately bought tickets to see them headline, which I did not think they could possibly do at the same venue in the same season! It was one of the best shows I've ever seen. They were blowing through a single album, and one that I did not even know at the time, and somehow it felt epic. The vocals soared into that falsetto realm and the music was so vibrant and powerful that I left quite stunned. What happened between their live act and their studio act or vice versa, I cannot say for the life of me.
It took me a few listens just to recognize which songs matched with the ones I was so taken by live. On Love Is Here, it's all so soft and slow and toned down. Live, songs rushed into your head with a hungry fervor that let me know Starsailor was one to keep in consciousness for the ages. Fever was an incredible thrashing rock ballad (I swear they even called it by a different name - "The Dukes Of Hazzard Got A Fever!"), whereas on the album it is just a rock ballad. This is exactly what seems to have happened to the majority of songs, with the exception of Goodsouls which still appears to be very radio-friendly, (perhaps they did not expect to release other singles? I don't get it...). I feel that Tie Up My Hands is the most interesting song on the album, as it is slowed down and sounds different enough from what I knew to be the song in concert, and manages to be the only one that works for me in this new, pure melancholy state. It still has the aching desperation and wondrous vocals, without the infectious rhythm that first pulled me in. But something about this works quite well for this isolated track.
I was left dumbfounded at first listen, and sadly am still, after these years since its come out, quite the same. All I can do is attribute it to shoddy production that makes their sound lost in a sort of low melancholy drone with the occasional appeal of Walsh's singing or a nice riff. They have the capacity to go way beyond this. It saddens me that there is no other version of these songs out to fulfill their extreme potential. As far as the new album goes, I feel it lacks the poorly produced feeling this one has. All of the songs are tight and the music stands out for each track, however, the songs are perhaps a bit less inspired or distinguished. I'll still be waiting for that perfect live release; their fantastic live performance is already starting to feel a bit mythical...
based on 126 reviews
