Twilight of The Starz
3 Out of 5 Stars
The last album of the original Starz run was also their last big rocker. "Coliseum Rock" was almost an act of wishful thinking; they wanted an album so big it would boost them to headliners. Instead, it became their swansong for Capitol.
And just as unfortunately, it is also the weakest of their four albums. It's hard to say exactly why, as there are several mitigating factors. First, Pete Sweval and Brendam Harkin were out, likely because of the rift started over musical differences on the poppier "Attention Shoppers" album. To that end, there are no powerpop numbers here, but that leads to problem two, and that is the rockers are almost ungodly generic. "Outfit" is almost Spinal Tappesque, and "Take Me" has a cock-rocker "orgasm" that is funny for the wrong reasons.
On the plus side, there was the fantastic first single "So Young So Bad," which became the last Starz entry on the top 100. Almost equal is "Last Night I Wrote A Letter," on which lead singer Michael Lee Smith unleashes the charismatic style that had so many predicting super-stardom for Starz. The instrumental title track is all firepower, a showcase for Richie Ranno, and leading into a full-bore "It's A Riot." "Coliseum Rock" may not have been the massive last minute breakthrough Starz wanted, but as a curtain call, it does just fine.
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