Hey Guys, this is Steve Hagler, and as a founding member of StarCastle, I'm just glad you remember our music after all these years and were willing to review the group. Thank You So Much!! You know, we were really never trying to sound like Yes, although we did listen to that group (as well as ELP, King Crimson, etc.), along with many, many others, and it apparently had some influence on us. Gary was the only member of the group that was a big Yes fan. In addition to progressive groups, I loved the Beatles, CSN, the Association, and lots of other vocal groups, and I wrote and arranged most of the vocal harmonies on the first four albums, while either Terry or I generally wrote the lead vocals and lyrics. However, this was a very collaborative group and we all wrote the music, often writing, rewriting and rewriting again in long rehearsals in the basement of our "band house" in Champaign. Being from Champaign, Illinois, where everyone at the time was doing blues, folk and rock, we were really trying to do something that was "different" and hopefully better than the other groups and players in our area. Once we got the members together, it was a total joy to be able to create and perform with these unbelievably gifted musicians. Herb Schildt was an amazing keyboard player and writer. Steve Tassler: fabulous drummer and writer. Terry Luttrell: just a great and very versatile vocalist and writer. Gary Strater: tremendously gifted bass player and writer. And since you speculated about the guitars, Matt Stewart was an absolutely phenomenal guitarist and I had a somewhat different style. To give you the idea, I did the opening and solos on Lady of the Lake and Matt did the more intense feeling solo on Elliptical Seasons, and he could play anything. Anyway, knowing the music as I do, I think we were unique, and I still like our records, but then, I'm a little prejudice. Thanks again.
Thank you Steve it truly is an honor to read your comments here. I forgot the most important point and that’s how every time I listen to the trilogy how happy your songs make me.
3 questions Steve: 1. To The Fire Wind how did you get that cool bubble sound on the guitar? 2: Stargate: I really never connected that with the 1994 Kurt Russell movie but you guys are using it for the instrumental lead in to Sunfield (my favorite song by StarCastle btw) in 1976 so who came up with Stargate and why? 3: Am I the only fan who noticed Gary played Stravinsky’s Fire Bird in Lady Of The Lake?
@@shyshift Answers: 1. Gibson Firebird through a distortion pedal and directly into a leslie modified for guitar input. 2. Herb Schildt, keyboards, came up with that piece, basically because he was brilliant. When we started to arrange it, our challenge was how to add something that enhanced it without getting in his way. 3. Others have noticed the Stravinsky reference, and I failed to mention above that StarCastle did have a lot of classical influence, Copeland, Stravinsky, Handel, Bartok, Bach and Bethoven of course, and many others, which greatly affected the structure of our songs. We listened to a lot of music from the 15th century on, not that we were in any way experts in music history, but we listened to everything we could get our hands on. We thought expansively, limitless vs limited, infinite vs finite, so we looked at music, like life, from the broad perspective.
Hello Steve, how great it is to find you here in the comments and be able to tell you how much I enjoyed star Castle. I have the first two albums and the live album. When I never saw anything else I figured you guys could probably broken up. Now I know that I can go try to find some more music, very exciting I did think you guys sounded a lot like yes, I didn't think you were copying them. Your music had its own unique style and flavor. Several of my friends also had the first album and we all enjoyed it. Thanks for checking in, very exciting to connect directly with an artist you've admired for so long
Hello Steven, Grant and Rand! As the guitarist in Gary Strater's mid-eighties version of Starcastle out in Northern California, I just wanted to chime in. While my time with the later version of the band was only a 2 year stretch, we sure had many amazing times together and Gary was like a brother to me. The line-up when I joined was Gary Strater, George Harp, Scott McKenzie, Bruce Botts and myself. Bruce left right after I joined the band. I guess I know how to clear a room. Lol! I don't know what happened there, it probably could've turned into something wonderful. Anyhow, I just wanna give my 2 cents here in saying that Starcastle's amazing legacy/discography in the 70's is legendary and their recorded music will forever speak for itself! I know that Gary's favorite album was the bands second, 'Fountains of Light". A lil side story, as a young teen and also the first time got the chance to visit some of the many amazing record stores in Berkeley, CA, the 1st Starcastle album was one of the record covers that captivated me. For some reason I always remembered that image. Years later when Gary asked me to come and join the band, that memory flashed back into my mind. It was all surreal and felt like it was meant to be. I am proud to have been a part of the bands legacy in some small way on 2007's "Song of the Times" and if now for the music fans and supporters, us artists would never be discovered! Thanks to all of you! Let the Music be your master! All the best, MM / www.markmcgee.com/starcastle
Thank you Mark. I was born in Eureka which is approximately 300 north of San Francisco. I too have always felt Fountains Of Light was my favorite for decades.
Great show guys . I like the first 3 albums very much . The 4th was kind of a dud . I bought "The Song Of Times" when it came out also. It's OK , Al Lewis who sang and played drums for the Prog Band Alaska sings on "The Song Of Times" .I talked with Gary Strater who was promoting "The Song Of Times" at Near Fest ! It was very sad that Gary passed !
@GrantsRockWarehaus I think I cashed it in at a shop . I'll have to check it out again on You Tube . I might appreciate it more if I just listen to it like it was just a Rock Album . From what I've heard Epic wanted them to sound more like Boston on that one .
Nice to see Starcastle get a little bit of love. There's little bit of Yes in their music but I think essentially they have their own sound. I actually enjoy their records more than Yes' Seventies oeuvre. I prefer the melodies & harmonies. The first three are fab but I'm glad you both have a little bit of time for Real To Reel. It's very different, obviously, but the songs stand up really well albeit in the style of mid-Seventies era REO (as noted in the episode) or Head East. Excellent AOR listen, I reckon. Song Of Times is a strong late era album. Songs like Babylon and the title track are as good as anything they ever put out. I'd probably rank the albums like this: 1. Citadel - 5/5 2. Fountains Of Light - 5/5 3. Real To Reel - 5/5 4. Debut - 4/5 6. Song Of Times - 4/5
Yeah, man. Two of my (older) coworkers turned me on to StarCastle, on vinyl, in late 1988. This was at the infamous Long Island, NY record store Titus Oaks! I dug it since it had that earthy, proggy, Yes vibe. A few years later, when Sony/Epic/CBS released it on CD, l scarfed it up! I love the sights, sounds and melodic music from the sextet from the Midwest. The two follow up elpees are definitely Prog - like the debut - but have a few VERY catchy choruses, pointing the way to their fourth major label release. I absolutely concur 100% with The Randy Rand Music Man! Their record label definitely got to them for record number four and said, “Time for some hits, boys.” Like Grant stated, it’s much more in the AOR/melodic rock, than sumptuous Prog. It’s still good, but doesn’t quite measure 📐 up to their earlier platters. Their fifth and final album brought the Prog - and a lot of former band members - back in spades! ♠️ It was proggy, froggy goodness. I think l have a CD, 💿 somewhere, in my rather voluminous collection. Keep up the fine work that you lads achieve here! Cheers from The Big Apple. 🍏 Rock Out and Prog On… … In each and every lexicon! Your clone and mine, ~ The Distinctly Divine Doppelgänger of Davey Cretin, from CRETIN CLASSICS.
I have the debut on lp, the sleeve has lyrics. May be an original pressing, on the orange Epic label. First three albums all excellent prog. Real to Reel is AOR, with cringey Love Beach cover. Last track is proggy.
I really enjoyed this band, I have their first two albums and the live album. I've never seen anything else, I'm glad to know that there's some other things out there now I just have to go find it. They certainly sounded a lot like yes however to me their music had a very different flavor. I'd also like to say that they got some AirPlay where I lived in Montgomery alabama, there was a station that kind of went album Rock between about 9:00 and 1:00 a.m.
Pretty good mid 70's band (aka Pegasus/Mad John Fever) - reformed in the 2000's for one last album. Obvious Yes influences but more pop (after all REO's late 60's singer was an early member). Quite a few lineup changes over the years. Their best albums are Citadel & Fountains Of Light - both from 1977, plus their 1976 s/t. My album ranking: 1. Citadel & Fountains Of Light 2. S/T 3. Song Of Times - their last (2007). Not bad, even when they sound even more Yes-like than ever (hey I like Yes!). Brings together most of the band's prior members. There's some really melodic stuff on here, I only got this fairly recently so might grow on me even more (and possibly move up in the rankings)... 4. Real To Reel (more AOR than prog). Sometimes for me this gets into Kansas territory-minus the violin-and I'm not a huge Kansas fan. Still, some good music, in all fairness I'd maybe rank this higher if it weren't so different from their first three. Solid as an AOR-type album The archival Chronos I contains some early nuggets. Their 2006 (1979 recording) Alive In America, a reissue of Concert Classics Volume 5, is also quite good (a lot of stuff from Citadel). If ranking it with the studio releases it'd actually land near the top - possibly making for a three-way tie
Through out the history of rock music, bands have been influenced by other bands and styles. In the case of Starcastle, they started from Yes' style but made it their own. One album cover, "Citadel" was Roger Dean like... but so were dozen of other bands covers at that time. The vocals were far more pleasant than Anderson's and Yes could never harmonize like Starcastle. As for instrumentally, guitar, bass, keyboard, drums were played more straight ahead then most of the progressive acts of the day, which made this music much more accessible to the "non-progressive" ear. It was always a pleasant and positive sound. I enjoy the clear sound of the lead guitar, much like the clear, clean look of the air-brushed album cover. And where is that Squire-like growling bass? No copying there. I do not hear any signature Wakeman keyboard styling and the drums are very straight ahead rock (these guys started out as a bar band). As you can see, I am a fan of Starcastle, ever since I bought their first vinyl record back in 1975. ....now, if you want to talk about a band from the same era shamefully copying a band, check out "Triumvirat"......
Hey now, don't go picking on Triumvirate. Let's face it there's only so many combinations you can come up with. My only problem with them is they seem to kind of fade away too quickly. Completely a different style of music however medeski, Martin and wood were also a lot of fun
@@AldousHuxleysCat I'm not trying to rag on Triumvirat (Spartacus is one of my favorite 70s albums). That said, Triumvirat sounds like an ELP clone, whereas Starcastle was not copying Yes. So, sorry if I offended you 🤓
@@bongolong lol, I was kidding. As I said it's really hard for that sort of three-piece not to sound like ELP. Even deep purple had a song that if you didn't know it was deep purple sounded a lot like ELP. I forget the album but it was called a 100. It was possibly on that Tommy Bolin album However StarCastle definitely sounds like Yes. I don't think they're copying Yes, their music has a completely different tone and flavor. Their harmonies went in a completely different direction. I really enjoyed their music and was sorry when it seemed like they just went away. There was more than one band in this time frame that put out one or two albums and then that was it.
@@GrantsRockWarehaus Somewhat weird but although only putting out 5 albums they have no less than 6 compilations (bands having more 'best of's' than actual albums is usually not a good sign)... The first album is great & by far their best (IMO). Sir Army Suit (their 3rd) is pretty good. Magentalane is not bad. Hope (to me their proggiest) had a couple/three good tracks while Endangered Species just doesn't fit the band's sound (but even here there are a couple of quality tracks like "Paranoia", "Sell Out, Sell Out", "Dog Star" & "Howl At The Moon"). I believe their record company (after being dropped/signed in Canada) after a while basically assumed control, for the worse of course, over the music they were putting out - by the last album they came back to their unique brand of pop/rock/prog/art rock. I still remember all of the "this is really the Beatles" rumors at the time, not least because that debut album included no band info (which wouldn't be included until their 4th album in 1980-that's the one with an edgier AOR-type sound instead of their bread-and-butter pop style). The set called Raarities includes different mixes/versions/demos of some of their songs. My album ranking: 1. Klaatu (aka 3:47 EST) 2. Sir Army Suit 3. Magentalane & Hope 4. Endangered Species
Abacab did have prog on it, but they busted the segments into seperate titles. Dodo/lurker is a thing. Later, the Home By the Sea and II is proggy as well.
Absolutely there's prog but maybe for the first time the 'more accessible pop' takes over. Still I like it quite a bit - although to be fair the original Gabriel-lineup Genesis is my all time fave prog band ever
Hey Guys, this is Steve Hagler, and as a founding member of StarCastle, I'm just glad you remember our music after all these years and were willing to review the group. Thank You So Much!! You know, we were really never trying to sound like Yes, although we did listen to that group (as well as ELP, King Crimson, etc.), along with many, many others, and it apparently had some influence on us. Gary was the only member of the group that was a big Yes fan. In addition to progressive groups, I loved the Beatles, CSN, the Association, and lots of other vocal groups, and I wrote and arranged most of the vocal harmonies on the first four albums, while either Terry or I generally wrote the lead vocals and lyrics. However, this was a very collaborative group and we all wrote the music, often writing, rewriting and rewriting again in long rehearsals in the basement of our "band house" in Champaign. Being from Champaign, Illinois, where everyone at the time was doing blues, folk and rock, we were really trying to do something that was "different" and hopefully better than the other groups and players in our area. Once we got the members together, it was a total joy to be able to create and perform with these unbelievably gifted musicians. Herb Schildt was an amazing keyboard player and writer. Steve Tassler: fabulous drummer and writer. Terry Luttrell: just a great and very versatile vocalist and writer. Gary Strater: tremendously gifted bass player and writer. And since you speculated about the guitars, Matt Stewart was an absolutely phenomenal guitarist and I had a somewhat different style. To give you the idea, I did the opening and solos on Lady of the Lake and Matt did the more intense feeling solo on Elliptical Seasons, and he could play anything. Anyway, knowing the music as I do, I think we were unique, and I still like our records, but then, I'm a little prejudice. Thanks again.
Thank you Steve it truly is an honor to read your comments here. I forgot the most important point and that’s how every time I listen to the trilogy how happy your songs make me.
3 questions Steve:
1. To The Fire Wind how did you get that cool bubble sound on the guitar?
2: Stargate: I really never connected that with the 1994 Kurt Russell movie but you guys are using it for the instrumental lead in to Sunfield (my favorite song by StarCastle btw) in 1976 so who came up with Stargate and why?
3: Am I the only fan who noticed Gary played Stravinsky’s Fire Bird in Lady Of The Lake?
Steve I love starcastle one of my favorites.
@@shyshift Answers: 1. Gibson Firebird through a distortion pedal and directly into a leslie modified for guitar input. 2. Herb Schildt, keyboards, came up with that piece, basically because he was brilliant. When we started to arrange it, our challenge was how to add something that enhanced it without getting in his way. 3. Others have noticed the Stravinsky reference, and I failed to mention above that StarCastle did have a lot of classical influence, Copeland, Stravinsky, Handel, Bartok, Bach and Bethoven of course, and many others, which greatly affected the structure of our songs. We listened to a lot of music from the 15th century on, not that we were in any way experts in music history, but we listened to everything we could get our hands on. We thought expansively, limitless vs limited, infinite vs finite, so we looked at music, like life, from the broad perspective.
Hello Steve, how great it is to find you here in the comments and be able to tell you how much I enjoyed star Castle. I have the first two albums and the live album. When I never saw anything else I figured you guys could probably broken up. Now I know that I can go try to find some more music, very exciting
I did think you guys sounded a lot like yes, I didn't think you were copying them. Your music had its own unique style and flavor.
Several of my friends also had the first album and we all enjoyed it. Thanks for checking in, very exciting to connect directly with an artist you've admired for so long
Hello Steven, Grant and Rand! As the guitarist in Gary Strater's mid-eighties version of Starcastle out in Northern California, I just wanted to chime in. While my time with the later version of the band was only a 2 year stretch, we sure had many amazing times together and Gary was like a brother to me. The line-up when I joined was Gary Strater, George Harp, Scott McKenzie, Bruce Botts and myself. Bruce left right after I joined the band. I guess I know how to clear a room. Lol! I don't know what happened there, it probably could've turned into something wonderful. Anyhow, I just wanna give my 2 cents here in saying that Starcastle's amazing legacy/discography in the 70's is legendary and their recorded music will forever speak for itself! I know that Gary's favorite album was the bands second, 'Fountains of Light". A lil side story, as a young teen and also the first time got the chance to visit some of the many amazing record stores in Berkeley, CA, the 1st Starcastle album was one of the record covers that captivated me. For some reason I always remembered that image. Years later when Gary asked me to come and join the band, that memory flashed back into my mind. It was all surreal and felt like it was meant to be. I am proud to have been a part of the bands legacy in some small way on 2007's "Song of the Times" and if now for the music fans and supporters, us artists would never be discovered! Thanks to all of you! Let the Music be your master! All the best, MM / www.markmcgee.com/starcastle
Thank you Mark. I was born in Eureka which is approximately 300 north of San Francisco. I too have always felt Fountains Of Light was my favorite for decades.
Hey Mark! Thanks so much for the comment... I'm blown away 👍🏻
The first three Starcastle albums are awesome. Probably my favorite American ‘70’s prog band.
For me that's Happy The Man - with Carmen coming in second (actually a mix of US/Brits)
Look I'm not lying, Rand Kelly is PROG Rock royalty..🫅🎼🎹🎛🎸🔊🥁...😎🫵🫵🫵🫵👍👏
Thanks Ernesto ❤
Rand is the man!
Roy Thomas Baker also did One on One by Cheap Trick which was on Epic
Too bad RTB didn't do what he did with "Reach Out" & "I Must Be Dreamin'" on One on One. Those two tracks have killer production!
@GrantsRockWarehaus I think they have similar production. They should've made a video for Reach Out, would've been a bigger Hit
Great show guys . I like the first 3 albums very much . The 4th was kind of a dud . I bought "The Song Of Times" when it came out also. It's OK , Al Lewis who sang and played drums for the Prog Band Alaska sings on "The Song Of Times" .I talked with Gary Strater who was promoting "The Song Of Times" at Near Fest ! It was very sad that Gary passed !
what if you look at the 4th album on it's own? Is it still a dud?
@GrantsRockWarehaus I think I cashed it in at a shop . I'll have to check it out again on You Tube . I might appreciate it more if I just listen to it like it was just a Rock Album . From what I've heard Epic wanted them to sound more like Boston on that one .
@GrantsRockWarehaus Yeah your right , I just did give it a listen without comparing it to the first 3 and it definitely is not bad !
KLAATU ROCKS
I'm alot like Rand.Seen Yes 25 times.Have everything by Yes and the first 3 Starcastle albums
Nice!
Love me some Startcastle and appreciate the discussion!
Thanks so much!
Nice to see Starcastle get a little bit of love. There's little bit of Yes in their music but I think essentially they have their own sound. I actually enjoy their records more than Yes' Seventies oeuvre. I prefer the melodies & harmonies.
The first three are fab but I'm glad you both have a little bit of time for Real To Reel. It's very different, obviously, but the songs stand up really well albeit in the style of mid-Seventies era REO (as noted in the episode) or Head East. Excellent AOR listen, I reckon.
Song Of Times is a strong late era album. Songs like Babylon and the title track are as good as anything they ever put out. I'd probably rank the albums like this:
1. Citadel - 5/5
2. Fountains Of Light - 5/5
3. Real To Reel - 5/5
4. Debut - 4/5
6. Song Of Times - 4/5
Another total blast in the Warehaus.
I went to grad school in Champaign,
I kept seeing their fourth album in the $1 bin. I couldn't get past the cover picture so I wouldn't buy it.
Not secure enough with your masculinity?
@@GrantsRockWarehaus it gave off a Love Beach vibe.
@@bmboldtto this day I get Deuce chills thinking about love beach. I will say musically it's all right but lyrically oh my God
Yeah, man. Two of my (older) coworkers turned me on to StarCastle, on vinyl, in late 1988. This was at the infamous Long Island, NY record store Titus Oaks! I dug it since it had that earthy, proggy, Yes vibe. A few years later, when Sony/Epic/CBS released it on CD, l scarfed it up! I love the sights, sounds and melodic music from the sextet from the Midwest.
The two follow up elpees are definitely Prog - like the debut - but have a few VERY catchy choruses, pointing the way to their fourth major label release.
I absolutely concur 100% with The Randy Rand Music Man! Their record label definitely got to them for record number four and said, “Time for some hits, boys.”
Like Grant stated, it’s much more in the AOR/melodic rock, than sumptuous Prog. It’s still good, but doesn’t quite measure 📐 up to their earlier platters.
Their fifth and final album brought the Prog - and a lot of former band members - back in spades! ♠️ It was proggy, froggy goodness. I think l have a CD, 💿 somewhere, in my rather voluminous collection.
Keep up the fine work that you lads achieve here!
Cheers from The Big Apple. 🍏
Rock Out and Prog On…
… In each and every lexicon!
Your clone and mine,
~ The Distinctly Divine Doppelgänger of Davey Cretin, from CRETIN CLASSICS.
I have the debut on lp, the sleeve has lyrics. May be an original pressing, on the orange Epic label. First three albums all excellent prog. Real to Reel is AOR, with cringey Love Beach cover. Last track is proggy.
I really enjoyed this band, I have their first two albums and the live album. I've never seen anything else, I'm glad to know that there's some other things out there now I just have to go find it.
They certainly sounded a lot like yes however to me their music had a very different flavor. I'd also like to say that they got some AirPlay where I lived in Montgomery alabama, there was a station that kind of went album Rock between about 9:00 and 1:00 a.m.
Awesome! Thanks for the comment
Outstanding, gentlemen!
Pretty good mid 70's band (aka Pegasus/Mad John Fever) - reformed in the 2000's for one last album. Obvious Yes influences but more pop (after all REO's late 60's singer was an early member). Quite a few lineup changes over the years. Their best albums are Citadel & Fountains Of Light - both from 1977, plus their 1976 s/t. My album ranking:
1. Citadel & Fountains Of Light
2. S/T
3. Song Of Times - their last (2007). Not bad, even when they sound even more Yes-like than ever (hey I like Yes!). Brings together most of the band's prior members. There's some really melodic stuff on here, I only got this fairly recently so might grow on me even more (and possibly move up in the rankings)...
4. Real To Reel (more AOR than prog). Sometimes for me this gets into Kansas territory-minus the violin-and I'm not a huge Kansas fan. Still, some good music, in all fairness I'd maybe rank this higher if it weren't so different from their first three. Solid as an AOR-type album
The archival Chronos I contains some early nuggets. Their 2006 (1979 recording) Alive In America, a reissue of Concert Classics Volume 5, is also quite good (a lot of stuff from Citadel). If ranking it with the studio releases it'd actually land near the top - possibly making for a three-way tie
Wolf... you da man
Through out the history of rock music, bands have been influenced by other bands and styles. In the case of Starcastle, they started from Yes' style but made it their own. One album cover, "Citadel" was Roger Dean like... but so were dozen of other bands covers at that time. The vocals were far more pleasant than Anderson's and Yes could never harmonize like Starcastle. As for instrumentally, guitar, bass, keyboard, drums were played more straight ahead then most of the progressive acts of the day, which made this music much more accessible to the "non-progressive" ear. It was always a pleasant and positive sound. I enjoy the clear sound of the lead guitar, much like the clear, clean look of the air-brushed album cover. And where is that Squire-like growling bass? No copying there. I do not hear any signature Wakeman keyboard styling and the drums are very straight ahead rock (these guys started out as a bar band). As you can see, I am a fan of Starcastle, ever since I bought their first vinyl record back in 1975.
....now, if you want to talk about a band from the same era shamefully copying a band, check out "Triumvirat"......
Hey now, don't go picking on Triumvirate. Let's face it there's only so many combinations you can come up with. My only problem with them is they seem to kind of fade away too quickly.
Completely a different style of music however medeski, Martin and wood were also a lot of fun
@@AldousHuxleysCat I'm not trying to rag on Triumvirat (Spartacus is one of my favorite 70s albums). That said, Triumvirat sounds like an ELP clone, whereas Starcastle was not copying Yes. So, sorry if I offended you 🤓
@@bongolong lol, I was kidding. As I said it's really hard for that sort of three-piece not to sound like ELP. Even deep purple had a song that if you didn't know it was deep purple sounded a lot like ELP. I forget the album but it was called a 100. It was possibly on that Tommy Bolin album
However StarCastle definitely sounds like Yes. I don't think they're copying Yes, their music has a completely different tone and flavor. Their harmonies went in a completely different direction.
I really enjoyed their music and was sorry when it seemed like they just went away.
There was more than one band in this time frame that put out one or two albums and then that was it.
Is it true you're gonna do klaatu
It’s true
@@GrantsRockWarehaus Somewhat weird but although only putting out 5 albums they have no less than 6 compilations (bands having more 'best of's' than actual albums is usually not a good sign)...
The first album is great & by far their best (IMO). Sir Army Suit (their 3rd) is pretty good. Magentalane is not bad. Hope (to me their proggiest) had a couple/three good tracks while Endangered Species just doesn't fit the band's sound (but even here there are a couple of quality tracks like "Paranoia", "Sell Out, Sell Out", "Dog Star" & "Howl At The Moon"). I believe their record company (after being dropped/signed in Canada) after a while basically assumed control, for the worse of course, over the music they were putting out - by the last album they came back to their unique brand of pop/rock/prog/art rock.
I still remember all of the "this is really the Beatles" rumors at the time, not least because that debut album included no band info (which wouldn't be included until their 4th album in 1980-that's the one with an edgier AOR-type sound instead of their bread-and-butter pop style). The set called Raarities includes different mixes/versions/demos of some of their songs. My album ranking:
1. Klaatu (aka 3:47 EST)
2. Sir Army Suit
3. Magentalane & Hope
4. Endangered Species
Abacab did have prog on it, but they busted the segments into seperate titles. Dodo/lurker is a thing. Later, the Home By the Sea and II is proggy as well.
Yes, it was still there, but was getting watered down with every album. I’m not saying that was good or bad, it’s just what it was
Absolutely there's prog but maybe for the first time the 'more accessible pop' takes over. Still I like it quite a bit - although to be fair the original Gabriel-lineup Genesis is my all time fave prog band ever
@@wolf1977 Totally. I got hooked on Genesis from the 1st Live record from '73. I'm glad they stuck it out and made the 81 and 82 versions.
@@GrantsRockWarehaus Try the 'Domino' suite too. It doesn't vary as much as the older music but it creats a great mood in long form.
I think I have 3 starcastle 8tracks??🎹🎛🎼🤩😎👍
🎹🎛🎼🤩😎👍