Starsailor are a new band who seem to have come out of nowhere to become quite a success. This new album, ‘Love is Here’ must have helped promote them to stardom. This is there debut album and here is what I think of it.

~ History ~

Well not exactly long but I will try my best, being a new band and all. Ok then, Starsailor came into being (complete) at the beginning of 2000 with the arrival of the final band member Barry Westhead. During 200 they began to pick up the pace of gigs, etc. As far as I am aware they performed at Glastonbury that year but facts aren’t very clear about that. After this they had record companies knocking at their door to get then to sign, after three months or so they finally signed with EMI: Chrysalis records then things really began to hot up, loads of tours and stuff eventually got them several top 20 singles early this year and then this album coming in at number 2 in the album charts. The hit singles are described further down. The album was released on the 8th October

~ The tracks ~

There are 11 tracks plus something that I would barely describe as a worthwhile attempt at the end, more on that later, here are the tracks with the scores at the and followed by there length:

1. Tie Up My Hands – Mellow tones to start with, a mixture of drum beat and guitar are featured, then the lyrics begin to be sung gently, the pace begins to pick up then goes down when you think it is about to blast out more merrier tunes. It then gets a bit faster and the tempo gets up, so much so you can nod your head to the song, the piano at this point is heard throughout very clearly. Very good stuff all the way to the end. 9/10. 5.46

2. Poor Misguided Fool – Fast paced song, a combination of the lyrics and the voice make this song great, the lyrics are superb in this one and it maintained fast throughout with the piano playing way to great effect with the guitar once again. The music at the end of each verse in parts makes this sound superb. Some parts of this song sound reminiscent of Beatles songs. Not often I give a song a ten out of ten rating. 10/10. 3.50

3. Alcoholic – One of the best-known songs of the album as it was single. Slow to begin with but picks up the pace with drums and the piano becoming more noticeable with the guitar, the lyrics are brilliant complement to another great song. 9.5/10. 2.54

4. Lullaby – Guitar starts this well, then comes the great lyric introduction, the lyrics once again are sublime, the piano is a key feature, the drum is there to add and the guitar makes the song but is less noticeable that previous songs on the album, the song maintains and nice momentum, not as fast as the previous songs in my view. The middle part of the song uses some screeching in the lyrics (well almost) to help the song along. This was a single released in the charts. 9/10. 4.10

5. Way to a Fall – Very slow to start with sad lyrics, this picks up with good carry of certain lyrics in the song then goes down into a slow pace again, this carries on throughout the song, piano is used to more great effects, especially with the carry of the voice. The carnival effect near the end of the song is nice, a bit off effect and makes the end more happy than the sad beginning that we had. 9/10. 4.28

6. Fever – This is personally one of my favourites on this album. This is a slow pace but very happily sung lyrics. The drum and piano are the to this song but the guitar gives effects in parts but is to supplement the lyrics. Throughout the song it picks up slightly then goes down a touch. A travelling tune to listen to in your car, especially the end part. Another single. 10/10. 4.01

7. She Just Wept – Slow and low to start with, piano with guitar mainly. The lyrics kick in and are sad, guitar features more at this point. Wailing in parts gives the song a more sad feeling of pain. The drum is featured, most importantly to complement the sadness and the drama that the song portrays. 8.5/10. 4.09

8. Talk Her Down – Very lively song for this album, guitar features then drum and piano feature more highly with the lyrics picking up even more. Piano is very important in this sad and happy song. Drum heavily features towards the mid-point. A sign of an old group Madness creeping in at points. The lyrics are great. 9.5/10. 4.09

9. Love is Here – Very slow to start of with, generally a sad song, a travelling song again. The quiet tone of the song complements the lyrics greatly. Drum and guitar feature with piano, a snippet of electric sounds in parts. So great to here this song as it is a reflective song of romantic nature. 9.5/10. 4.39

10. Good Souls – A cheery song with a fast pace for this album, the lyrics are sung with great ease and brilliantly. Changes in the song, especially at the chorus make this very appealing, it should be, it was a single after all. The guitar and piano feature widely with the drum making the song better. 9.5/10. 4.52

11. Coming Down – A medium paced song of happy and sad feelings, especially within the lyrics of the song, the guitar features heavily with some piano and drum bits in there, a background of gentle humming makes the song nice and relaxing. The guitar at the end with a solo piece finishes the song nicely. 9/10. 3.05/ 14.30 including hidden piece.

12. Hidden piece – At 13.36 on the last track after a mass silence comes this humming piece that seems a bit pointless to me, with some laughing and the album ends. 5/10 for having an effort but a big fat zero for worthiness.

The album is 57.51 including the lengthy silence (absolutely pointless).

~ Packaging and CD Design ~

This won’t take long as there is not much really:

Sleeve/booklet

-Front cover
Basically a picture of a rail track going into the distance with what looks like a road beside it but difficult to tell, also telephone or other overhead wire with what looks like road signs, all in the USA somewhere I would presume as the road signs look American, these go into the distance where there is the sun set although you can’t see the sun, in blacks, reads and oranges. The band name and album name are written in black on the front, all in lower case.

-Inlay
This is not that impressive although has it’s advantages in terms of writing this opinion. There are NO track listings inside and therefore there are no words for the songs. The inlay booklet is printed on a lightly glossed paper/card. The first double spread is a black and white spread of just the horizon of the font cover and have the following words printed inside:
‘Left my sweet soul beneath the bedclothes I’m not coming down, walls have ears but no one hears when nobody’s around.’
This in some ones handwriting. The next double page spread is pictures of the band, one takes up one half and there are four on the other half, obviously they enjoy themselves when they aren’t performing. The last double page has another picture on the left half of the spread and on the other half there is all the information about the band and production people involved with this album. On the back of the booklet it is just black with the album number at the bottom.

-Back cover
Basically another picture of the same scene just a bit more to the left of the front cover picture but in the same style, you only get a bit of the track in the corner with this one. The eleven tracks are listed on the back as well as the copyright stuff and a lovely bar code in the middle at the bottom of the back cover non-the less.

-Compact disc design
Well they really did go too town with this one. It’s just white, plain white with the album and band name on and the production company Chrysalis with some copyright literature again. It is their first album; they probably wanted to leave the fancy stuff till their later albums as not to let their fans down.

-Box
Well if you really have to know it is the usual design clear plastic front box but going along a different track they have a black back and CD area for some reason, some bands do this some times but I think it looks to eighties for some reason.

~ The band and production team for the album ~

Here is all the boring stuff and you may skip if you want too; I have too said I would.

Starsailor are:

James Walsh
James Stelfox
Ben Byrne
Barry Westhead

All the songs on the album are written by Starsailor, the album was produced and also mixed by Steve Osborne of 140dB except for ‘Fever’ that was produced by Mark Aubrey and the band themselves.

Published by EMI Music Publishing.

Management was by: Andrew Walsh and Martin Kelly, a&r: Jeff Barret

Cover photography was by Image state, band photography by Tom Sheehan and Mary Scanion; Adjective Noun designed the sleeve.

~ Websites of interest ~

www.starsailor.net
I superb effort from the bands web design team who ever they may be, several sections including news, biography and discography, message board, video, diary and live plus a gallery section. The use of web design kit is great, if you click over the image, taken from the album cover it pans round, this looks great if you like your music websites, lots of information here but a bit more detail and it should be more satisfying to look at.

www.chrysalis.com
I nice pleasing site with all sorts of useful bits and pieces such as a search facility and music info plus vacancies if you are an up and coming band, mixer or play an instrument, something will come eventually for these jobs and more. It tells much more than just the music side, there’s the media group as a whole who own TV rights and such the like.

www.cd-wow.com
The standard issue site I advise with all my opinions on albums, all albums are cheaper on this site, to find out about the site in more detail refer to members opinions in Ciao. Even the newest of albums are available cheaper than in most high street retailers.

~ Final verdict on Starsailor ‘Love is Here’ ~

A superb album, a moment of silence is all that spoils the album (well ten minutes isn’t what you would call a moment). Still well worth the price I paid, £13.99 from HMV although this may be loads more than what the above website sells it at this is a classic in my CD collection so I am prepared to have that hole in the pocket (bank balance actually).

The album brings back many memories of when I was younger as it sounds similar to other bands before them but the material is completely original and takes bits in places and uses them to great effect elsewhere to enhance the quality.

GO AND BUY IT or you will miss out on a brilliant album that is already a classic.

P.S if you were wondering about the title, it’s a line from the song ‘Poor Misguided Fool’ that is track 2 on the album.