Album Review by EDF
The long awaited follow-up to their debut album LOVE IS HERE finds Starsailor threading though the same murky waters populated by some of the other UK guitar bands, which is playing it safe and predictable. There was a lot of publicity for this album due to the recruitment of legendary producer Phil Spector and then firing him after two tracks.
What is remarkable about this album is the feeling that you have heard it all before. Plodding angst tracks such as SOME OF US have a tendency to not make a person want to jump up for joy. One of the major problems seems to be the album’s production values as most of it is co-produced by the band themselves. The Phil Spector tracks, SILENCE IS EASY and WHITE DOVE give Starsailor a big sound that most bands would kill for. It’s not too much of a coincidence that as with the John Leckie produced SHARKFOOD and its repetitive lyrics creeping out of the speakers, these three tracks gives the album some extra depth.
TELLING THEM and BRING MY LOVE are given a lush orchestrated accompaniment that adds to these tracks. Unfortunately they take it one track too far on FOUR TO THE FLOOR which ends up sounding like a latter day version of ELO. The only annoying thing is that Starsailor have not really found their voice on this album due to the Jeff and Tim Buckley influenced lyrics. You just know that there is a great album waiting to break out if they only went off and had a bit of fun.
