STARFLOWER: Celebrating The Spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys

Various Artists (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 1, 2000)
• Original Release Date: July 31, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Medicine Park Recordings
• ASIN: B00004WLOK
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #809,184 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sunflower - Reynold Philipsek

2. Today - 3tripper

3. Hip Hop & Pop - Big Fresh

4. Dates - R. Stevie Moore with Dave Gregory

5. Can't Feel Sad - Tom Getter Slack

6. California - synchro1

7. Kloreen - Mitch Friedman

8. Beach Glass Intro - SNG

9. Beach Glass Bouquet - SNG

10. Riptide Lullaby - Billy Marsh

11. Dewey Decimal System - R. Stevie Moore

12. Space Pilot Astrud Star - Charlie Zayleskie

13. Dandelion - John Ferenzik

14. Please Send Boat - R. Stevie Moore

15. Maximum Love Vibes - Chris McKenna & GG1

16. The Tie-Dyed High Tide Radio Reprise - synchro1 & the Starflowers

17. Earth, My Body - Moogy Klingman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars INDEPENDENT CD SALUTES ENDLESS SUMMERS, November 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: STARFLOWER: Celebrating The Spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys (Audio CD)

Excerpts of an article from The Daily Oklahoman (August 18, 2000):

They sure don't make albums like they used to. That's especially true of "Starflower", a shimmering summertime soundtrack celebrating the spirit of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.

It features 17 tracks by 14 different artists, including former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory and ex-Todd Rundgren / Utopia keyboardist man Mark "Moogy" Klingman.

Contributors to the "Starflower" project submitted their songs to Medicine Park on recordable CDs or Digital Audio Tape. Medicine Park then forwarded those to San Mateo, CA, where the album was mastered by Jim Whittemore.

Whittemore's alter ego is synchro1, the "group" that supplied "California" and "The Tie-Dyed High Tide Radio Reprise," two of the album's trippier forays into techno territory.

"Although most of the songs do succeed in containing that Beach Boys vibe, there may be a few that fall short in that area," says Medicine Park's Toby Thomas.

"However, I hope that the songs evoke a youthful summertime joy or present a certain spiritual element that somehow works altogether."

Thomas' hopes are realize on R. Stevie Moore's three tracks, "Dewey Decimal System" "Please Send Boat" and "Dates", the last featuring former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory. All three recall Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds" / "Smile" period of stately, complex melodies and elaborate, electronically enhanced instrumentation that sometimes sailed into quirky, psychedlic seas.

Other standout sun-and-surf moments are heard in the layered harmonies of "Sunflower" by Minneapolis-based Reynold Philipsek; on the cosmic hang-ten anthem "Today" from Hawaii's 3Tripper; and on South Carolinian Billy Marsh's "Riptide Lullabye," which doesn't sound anything like the Beach Boys but still has a melody, multi-tracked vocals and blazing guitar passages that soar into the big blue sky.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Where are the melodies? Where is the harmony?, October 11, 2000

By 

Charles Hagee "lonesurf" (ELKINS PARK, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: STARFLOWER: Celebrating The Spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys (Audio CD)

I must admit that the recent spate of Beach Boy rereleases has certainly whet my appetite for more of the great music of Brian Wilson and his band. I bought this disc with hopes high that it would offer some of the gorgeous Beach Boy - inspired pop of Jeff Foskett, or the wonderful homage of The High Llamas' GIDEON GAYE.

Unfortunately, there was little of that old Beach Boy magic to be found on STARFLOWER. Many of the tunes are stilted, neo-Baroque pieces ala latterday XTC, displaying none of the Beach Boys' penchant for crafting melody. And the Boys' wonderful vocal prowess is nowhere to be found on this collection. Some tunes on STARFLOWER (such as Moore and Gregory's "Dates") do show some promise, but these rare moments are undone by a deadly combination of poor vocals and haphazard production. Worse yet, the entire set lacks energy, a key ingredient in the best works of the Beach Boys.

STARFLOWER was a real disappointment. Fans of the Beach Boys would be better served by purchasing Jeff Foskett's sunny pop CDs. I also highly recommend Jeff Larson's SUNFLOWER-like WATERCOLOR SKY and the High Llamas' SMILE-influenced GIDEON GAYE and HAWAII discs.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and exciting music, April 18, 2002

By 

zabic (http://go.to/LittleLighthouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: STARFLOWER: Celebrating The Spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys (Audio CD)

Now we're talking about the disc that looks like it was made specially for this radio show. It's dedicated to the genius of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and contains a whole BUNCH of names that are absolutely new for me. The only name that is well known here is Dave Gregory, former member of XTC. He is here together with R Stevie Moore doing a overhaul of Making Plans For Nigel entitled Dates. The whole record is increadibly up-to date and just sounds amazing. Brian Wilson would be probably very proud when he hears the record.

Acutally, the beauty of the record is that it doesn't imitate Brian Wilson's style. It only exploits Wilson's childlike curiosity for new things and therefore, we get a ultra modern product full of nicely written songs and small experiments, beatifully arranged and quite appropriatelly entitled Starflower.

Although novelty experiments take a large part of the record and sound very pleasent, I still prefer more structured songs like Hip Hop and Pop by Big Fresh or even some more daring pop songs like Mitch Friedman's Kloreen. Straght-forward hit are provided by John Ferenzik in his adorably catchy Dandelion and also by Reynold Philipsek and opening theme Sunflower directly dedicated to the same name Beach Boys album. Definitely the beachboyiest song is Today and comes from a band called 3Tripper. Album simply kicks ass and it's the most serious cadidate for my favorite album this season. I will definitelly try to contact each participant of this album and explore their works further.

Disc is available through Medicine Park Records and it's their second release. The first one was a similar edition dedicated to Todd Rundgren. I wonder how that one passed un-noticed by me ;)...