My Amazon Reviews: Starz "Starz"

You say You Want Action?
4 Out Of 5 Stars

The 1976 debut album from Starz is one of those great bands that somehow came inside of inches before missing the great brass ring, even though this and the follow-up album, "Violation," were as good as or better than the bulk of hard rock in the period. And having recently noted the passing of seventies Hard Rock Guru/Manager extraordinaire Bill Aucoin, it's also worth mentioning that he and his partner/lover Sean Delaney were the ones who discovered and nurtured Starz (then The Fallen Angels).

They pulled in production legend Jack Douglas and the band set about recording the kind of album they wanted to play along with Aerosmith's "Get Your Wings." They had a pair of hard-riffing guitarists (Richie Ranno and Brendan Harken) a Charismatic lead singer in Michael Lee Smith, a mad-cap mustachioed drummer in Joe X Dube and a solid bassist in Pete Sweval. They already had honed their live act to a point where they were the object of a bidding war, so when it was time to lay the tracks down, the only difference between the album and the demos here as bonus tracks is more weight to the sound and some judicious editing.

Arena ready rockers like "Boys In Action," "Detroit Girls" and "Live Wire" still sound as catchy now as in 1976, and their first attempt at a hit with "She's Just a Fallen Angel" was their attempt at a "Dream On" ballad. "Pull The Plug" was a faux-controversy-bait song that fantasized what Micheal Lee Smith would do if he was Karen Ann Quinlan's boyfriend. (Which got the predicted response from rock haters and defenders of decency everywhere; more press for the group.)

And like so many bands from that stable, they sported a killer logo. Rumor even has it that Kiss pressured Aucion to not sign Starz to Casablanca because they were worried about the competition (and causing a rift between Kiss, Casablanca and Aucoin, but made Ranno and Gene Simmons into admirers of each other - Ranno is on Simmons' solo album). "Starz" is a minor gem of 70's hard rock that, if you have admiration for any of the parties mentioned in this review, should make you happy.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Starz "Coliseum Rock"

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.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Starz "Attention Shoppers!"

Truth In Advertising  
3 Out of 5 Stars

In a clear case of zigging when you should have zagged, Starz made a blatant bid for commercial acceptance, trying to capitalize on the success of "Cherry Baby" from "Violation." Instead of amping up the harder rocking aspects of that album, the swerved towards the power-poppiness of the charting single. On "Attention Shoppers," the first half of the album emphasized the hooks, softened the rock and turned up the melodies. For a band that originally sounded like they wanted to be Kiss or Aerosmith, suddenly they were coming off as The Raspberries.

Unfortunately, "Attention Shoppers" was met with a collective commercial raspberry, effectively derailing Starz' momentum. Even more unfortunate is the fact that about 50% of the album is really good. The opener, "Hold On To The Night," is first rate pop-rock, and "I'll Be There" comes pretty close behind. In true side one and two fashion, the second half went to the older Starz rock, with "Johnny All Alone" being a terrific blues-rocker. "X-Ray Spex" is a blatant attempt to mimic the energy of punk and was a total hoot.

"Attention Shoppers" lived up to its title in that it was such a obvious attempt at being likable that fans that dug on the rebelliousness of "Violation" or the offensiveness of "Pull The Plug" (or the legendary unreleased live fave "P**s Party"), that the candy coating turned off old fans. It also caused irreparable rifts to form in the group. On the other hand, the songs themselves have aged well, and I have always been partial to the cheekiness of titling your album like an advertisement.

 

My Amazon Book Reviews: Bryan J Kinnaird and Sean Delaney "Sean Delany's Hellbox"

The strange, sad case of Sean Delaney
3 out of 5 Stars

Sean Delaney was a linchpin in the creation of KISS, and has been slowly, quietly been deleted from the band's history. When Casablanca evaporated and Glickman-Marks allegedly stole his money, Delaney ended up broke and homeless. "Hellbox" was his attempt on beginning to set the legacy straight. Unfortunately, Delaney died in 2003 at the age of 58. His recorded conversations were then transcribed by Bryan Kinnaird.

The result is a mess of a book with some tantalizing details. Delaney pulls no punches, saving some of his harshest allegations for Neil Bogart and Howard Marks. He has a love-hate relationship with his former proteges, in particular, Gene Simmons. But the books is so thin (I read it in roughly two hours) and riddled with factual errors and typos, it becomes difficult to accept Delaney's accusations. For instance, he repeatedly referees to "Dressed to Kill" as KISS's second album, and even gets his own albums by The Skatt Brothers mixed up.

Part of this can be blamed on Kinnaird, who could have edited and corrected the most glaring errors (Janice Joplin for Janis, etc), but that doesn't help ease the strain on Delaney's more incredible stories. On the other hand, Delaney's life story and tales of 60's New York City are wonderful, as are the road trip stories with the newly (and not yet famous) minted KISS. It's nice to hear some of the KISStory from a perspective outside the band, and "Hellbox" adds a much needed chapter to that legacy.

  

My Amazon Reviews: Starz "Violation"

No! That's a Violation  
4 out of 5 Starz

There's this kid from the future, and his name, see, is Johnny. Johnny and his girl, Cherry, survived the war, and now live under the guidance of The Committee. The Committee likes nice, well behaved boys who "join the Union, learn to bowl." But something happened to Johnny. He was being a bad shoplifter at the Welfare Store where he snagged a "scratchy little record called Walk This Way." Johnny was turned into a rock and roll rebel who just wants to "rock six times, all right," but when the repression gets to be too much, he cracks and goes on both a sex spree and a killing spree. "The Committee says 'shape up'," and sends in Dr Klein to "steady" Johnny up. Who will win?

Sound a little like "2112" to you? Well, Starz DID have a drummer with a great handlebar moustache, but that and the dystopian future was where the similarities end. Starz didn't want to be prog-rock Ayn Rand devotees, they wanted to be Aerosmith. And each of these albums, in their own way, is a classic in its genre and time. For Starz, who wanted nothing less than to be hard rocking bad boys, "Violation" was their most ambitious and cohesive album, succeeding in their own way in making a hard rock classic. The darn thing even managed a hit single, with the pop-rock brilliance of "Cherry Baby."

All around, though, "Violation" is loaded with killer hooks, stun-guitar riffs, catchy choruses and lead singer Michael Lee Smith's charismatic vocals. "Subway Terror" managed to be both menacing and wickedly funny at the same time (as the killer croons to his next would-be victim, "by God, this blade is razor sharp, do you know how to play a harp?" The goofy sex romp of "Cool One" is all double entendre joke (and pretty juvenile, as one would guess), but contains the great line about making out at the movies "That's when me and the cavalry came." And frankly, if you aren't shouting along to the title track after the second listening, back up and try again.

Unfortunately, the success of "Violation" had a double edge. Capitol smelled mega-success and tried to boost the band more towards power-pop than rock, and it started causing rifts in the band. After all, this was a band who had a legendary underground boot-leg of a concert only fave called "P!sz Party." Trying to get that faction of the band to "clean-up" sapped their strength. "Violation" became Starz' creative high water mark, from the music to the burning logo in the desert painting that composed the cover. It's a lost classic of the seventies.

       

My Amazon Reviews: Starz "Starz"

You Say You Want Action?
4 Out of 5 Stars

The 1976 debut album from Starz is one of those great bands that somehow came inside of inches before missing the great brass ring, even though this and the follow-up album, "Violation," were as good as or better than the bulk of hard rock in the period. And having recently noted the passing of seventies Hard Rock Guru/Manager extraordinaire Bill Aucoin, it's also worth mentioning that he and his partner/lover Sean Delaney were the ones who discovered and nurtured Starz (then The Fallen Angels).

They pulled in production legend Jack Douglas and the band set about recording the kind of album they wanted to play along with Aerosmith's "Get Your Wings." They had a pair of hard-riffing guitarists (Richie Ranno and Brendan Harken) a Charismatic lead singer in Michael Lee Smith, a mad-cap mustachioed drummer in Joe X Dube and a solid bassist in Pete Sweval. They already had honed their live act to a point where they were the object of a bidding war, so when it was time to lay the tracks down, the only difference between the album and the demos here as bonus tracks is more weight to the sound and some judicious editing.

Arena ready rockers like "Boys In Action," "Detroit Girls" and "Live Wire" still sound as catchy then as in 1976, and their first attempt at a hit with "She's Just a Fallen Angel" was their attempt at a "Dream On" ballad. "Pull The Plug" was a faux-controversy-bait song that fantasized what Micheal Lee Smith would do if he was Karen Ann Quinlan's boyfriend. (Which got the predicted response from rock haters and defenders of decency everywhere; more press for the group.)

And like so many bands from that stable, they sported a killer logo. Rumor even has it that Kiss pressured Aucion to not sign Starz to Casablanca because they were worried about the competition (and causing a rift between Kiss, Casablanca and Aucoin, but made Ranno and Gene Simmons into admirers of each other - Ranno is on Simmons' solo album). "Starz" is a minor gem of 70's hard rock that, if you have admiration for any of the parties mentioned in this review, should make you happy.