Million Star Hotel

Jeffrey Dean Foster | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 3, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Angel Skull Records
• ASIN: B000CCFKRY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #503,542 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Parke Puterbaugh, Rolling Stone Contributing Writer

"Million Star Hotel", easily one of the best albums ever to come out of the fertile North Carolina music scene."

Product Description

Jeffrey Dean Foster has been recording, and rarely releasing, amazing songs since the mid-1980s, making him a legendary figure in the Winston-Salem music scene. A 1998 album with The Pinetops, Above Ground and Vertical, showed the individuality of Foster's vision, but it's the long-awaited release of Million Star Hotel, his first solo album, that finally gathers all facets of his musical vision in a uniformly spectacular fashion. This is Foster's Born To Run. It's an album born of desperation, an emotional summation of past musical byways that supports messages of a need for search and escape, and a yearning for peace in an increasingly complex world. It is also Foster's equivalent of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, a sprawl of diverse songs, connected by one man's singular vision and given texture by the cast of accompanying musicians. It's not a short album - it clocks in at 65 minutes - but it stops time, poignant in its cohesive grace and flow. It is also a work best digested whole - not that there is any shortage of magnificent solitary songs: "Summer of Son of Sam," "Break her Heart," "Lily of the Highway" are just three of many enchanting songs that cannot be ignored. Good as the songs are - and they are very, very good - it is the multifaceted presentation that brings magic. Foster has finally found the way to frame his emotive, somewhat fragile voice, writing delicate songs capable of withstanding a pounding or sustaining atmospherics and sharp dynamics. More than any album this year, Million Star Hotel offers a far-reaching expression of the greatness of rock 'n' roll. This is as close to perfection as rock 'n' roll should be allowed to come. It's the real deal.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Give This One a Home, December 4, 2005

By 

R.C. Field "True this" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Million Star Hotel (Audio CD)

The title of Foster's latest work is a reference to homelessness, but the album itself should definitely find a place to live in your collection.

The first thing you will notice right out of the wrapper is the sheer amount of music on the disc--14 tracks clocking in at just over 65 minutes. Albums that length are a great value only if they also have depth and this one does. There are really no bad songs or "throwaways" on the entire disc and a number of them will catch your attention the first time through. Whether it's one of the middle-of-the-road rockers like Little Priest or Lost in My Own Town, or whether its one of the haunting, softer songs like Long Gone Sailor or Milk and Honey, I promise you will wind up singing something from the album all day long. All of the songs are beautifully arranged and benefit from production and mastering techniques that give the album a three-dimensional, layered sound not found often enough these days.

Before I got the album, I heard Foster's music compared to Neil Young and Jeff Lynne, among others. Those influences are certainly there, and I also hear a good bit of Tom Petty with pieces of Wilco and Ryan Adams. Still, the important thing about the album is that when you get done figuring out who it sounds like that you've heard before, you'll also find that Foster has found his own sound and has used it to make beautiful statements about things in life that puzzle us all.

I could go on, but this is the bottom line. I attended the album release, was impressed enough to buy one for myself and a couple for Christmas presents, listened to it on the way home and again with the headphones on, and woke up this morning with All I Do is Dream running through my head and a smile on my face. If you are looking for some great indie rock or just great music, check into the Million Star Hotel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishing!, February 10, 2006

By 

Dan J. Ackerman (Atlanta GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Million Star Hotel (Audio CD)

This is one well crafted record. I have played it at least a dozen times in the last week and it just keeps getting better. There is absolutely no filler here. Each song is top notch. Once you discover Jeffrey Dean Foster you will want to buy a copy of a record he made with the Pinetops a few years back. It's titled "Above Ground and Vertical"