Customer Reviews

Song of Times

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the 1970's Starcastle created progressive rock which had a rich, warm, ornate, multilayered sound. They avoided dissonance and kept the sound very positive. To me, their music communicated joy and a love of life. Their style featured a warm and melodious synth sound coupled with killer bass playing and dual (or even triple) guitars. Their album "Fountains of Light" was my favorite, in my opinion perfectly balancing all the instruments with layers of vocal harmonies into a unified whole. Well, I'm happy to say this new album (released thirty years after "Fountains of Light") lives up to the legacy! It contains the elements that made their sound unique, and expands and updates that sound! I am very happy with this new release and feel they have succeeded in creating a reunion album which shines brightly rather than merely being a pale reflection of former glory, as is so often the case with reunion albums.

I also had the good fortune of seeing Starcastle in concert recently at a progressive rock festival in Pennsylvania (RoSFest), and posted short videos I took of them on YouTube. The band was great, playing most of this new album as well as tons of the classic material from their first three albums. I assure you this new album, "Song of Times", is well worth getting.

I can't believe the reviews here cutting this album down. This along with Fountains of Light could be the best album that this band has ever made!

The vocals are fine,and the harmonies shine too. The songs are well written and show a maturing over their early writing(too bad Gary Strater passed on before the album's release). But over all this ranks as a classic of our time in "classic era" sounding prog releases ,as far as I am concerned.

The production shows all the band's strengths....hot keyboard playing and bass sounds are nice and to the fore....tasty guitar licks too. But for fans of classic era Yes,this band delivers what Yes hasn't in years....a purely Progressive dish for your enjoyment.

It also stands as a great testament to Gary Strader.....I don't know how Starcastle would ever follow-up this success(sadly) since the writing force behind this is now gone. A fine album that should be heard by all classic prog fans.

Congratulations to Al Lewis too for a fine performance. Where's the next ALASKA album?? Hmmmm...?

All of the comparisons that have been made between Starcastle, Yes and various prog-rock bands of their era are valid, but can be deceiving. The playing on this, their first new recording in 30 years, is still above the boards. They still have the tendency to be lyrically ambigous and cosmic, but the melodies work beautifully with the words. The original band is here, although not on every track. All For The Thunder is the track that features the original band with the rest of the disc acting as a collective group playing around the late bassist Gary Strater. All in all, a solid return.

Like many other reviewers, I was disappointed on first listen. I have been a long-time Starcastle fan, and so bought the CD in spite of the reviews. I have always been able to get around the Yes comparison (Yes being one of my favorite bands) but would have to agree that this seemed like a rather badly done, direct Yes knockoff attempt.

I'll listen to it a few more times before passing ultimate judgment, but only because of my past devotion to the band. Sadly, this album does not sound anything like the Starcastle of old, and only one song- All For The Thunder, caught my interest.

I wish it wasn't so, and I feel bad giving a band I like a negative review, but there you go. If they put out another one I'm sure I'll buy it too and hope for the best.

Firstly, the slant of some of the reviews of this CD reminds me of people who say they don't like something because it's been said or done before...doesn't break any new ground. As if love or a starry sky can't be appreciated because they've been around for too long. Give me a break. This CD has a soul, unlike much of the music popular today. The songs may not ALL be the best tunes that the band has ever written, but whose CDs ever achieve that! Song of Times (the live version at RoSfest was inspiring) and Babylon are truly great tunes. It's refreshing to hear music that has some lyrical meaning, great musicianship and vocals sung with intensity, clarity and by a guy with a great voice...and as for those who complain that he sounds a bit like Jon Anderson...Last time I checked Jon Anderson was considered a great singer! SO Al LEWIS IS IN VERY GOOD COMPANY. If you are a Starcastle fan or if you like great music this CD is a must.

Back in high School I always liked Starcaste but had no illusions as to who they sounded like. The one and only time I saw them I think they were even opening for Yes (in many cases I have forgotten who exactly opened or played with who). I had the 1st 3 albums, liked them all and bought all 3 on CD when they became available. Back then they were just different enough that I could always tell it was them, and not Yes, when I heard them. And I always thought Terry Luttrell sounded just different enough to tell it wasn't Jon Anderson.

But, this new album......nice to see them back from oblivion but.....what did they do - go out and hire the winner of a Jon Anderson sound alike contest?!?!?! This is SO similar I'm waiting to read that Yes is suing them for copyright infringement. And, as for the reviewer that says he sounds just like Luttrell....maybe you simply hear things differently than I do.

Besides that, the music is pretty pedestrian as well, not even up to the standards of those first 3 albums!!! I have listened to it 5 times now and the only song that even catches my ear is "Babylon" and even it is "B-budget" Yes!! As is I'll probably put that track on my MP3 player and never play the CD again.

If you merely liked Starcastle...ignore this and fondly remember the 70s stuff. If you LOVED Starcastle...then go ahead, get a copy and decide for yourself. But be prepared to be disappointed.

I won't even go into the people who gave this thing 5 stars other than to say I'm laughing so hard I can barely type!!! Are you people in the band or what?!? If THIS is 5 stars then what the heck do you give Rush's new CD...Porcupine Tree's new CD...Neal Morse's new CD... and several other recent prog rock CDs that are SO superior they are on an entirely different level. As the title says....are you people desperate or what?

Great music, if you liked the original Starcastle. Not quite as good as their debut album, but very listenable. A number of the tracks sound like the old Yes. If you like Yes, Rush, or the original Starcastle, you won't be disappointed.

I thought it was a good album, sounding enough like Starcastle's better work to be enjoyable. No, they were never as good as Yes (a major influence) at the progressive rock thing, but they brought their own variations to the music and it was good, and enjoyable. The band members, for the most part, were horribly underrated at their craft. Gary Strater, Herb Schildt, and Terry Luttrell were as good as anyone at their positions. And guitarists Stephen Hagler, Matthew Stewart, and drummer Stephen Tassler would not have been an embarrassment in any group. The songwriting may have lacked the "English" feel of progressive rock of the time, but what do you expect from an U.S. based band?

This album is somewhere between Citadel and the first two albums as far as the songs are concerned, and further losing out from not having all of the original members as a group. Yes, they contributed to the album, but they did not make the album as a group or perform it when it came out. It thus naturally has a bit different feel. That is not a reason to knock it. It is a shame that Mr. Strater passed away; a second album from this iteration of Starcastle may have been lightyears ahead of Song of Times as everyone became comfortable with their place in a new band with an old, respected name. We will never know. But I think Song of Times was a step in the "right" direction-back toward the roots of Starcastle. It might not be something I will play every day, but I sure wouldn't leave the room when it came on.

I was hoping for Fountains redivivi but it was more like Citadel done right. I didn't think much of Citadel; the writing was inadequate, the sound perverted to fit the change of direction. Song of Times disappointed me on first hearing but I came back to it and found it grew on me. The hard edge is well supported with riffs and keyboard orchestration that work for the sound. The multilayered vocals, quite intense on some tracks, fit the songs, not just thrown in for the sake of it.
Lewis does do a good job of continuing the band's vocal trademark but on some tracks he sounds strained as if out of his usual range, in contrast to Lutrell's effortlessly soaring tenor.
The first track may be the weakest. Give the whole album a fair chance and you may find it worthy.
And enough with the Yes comparisons already.

I just recently found out about this album and purchased it. I was eager to hear new music from one of my favorite bands. I can't say it was what I was expecting, but neither can I say that I was completely disappointed with it either. I expected more songs like the first three albums. Instead, I heard songs more like Yes itself and a little like World Trade's variations on Yes than Starcastle's. There's only one song ("All for the Thunder") that even comes close to their "old" style, and, coincidently, it's the only song by the original lineup. Having said that, I will say that I liked it even though, overall, the album was a little lethargic compared to their previous music. Don't take me the wrong way, because when it comes down to brass tacks this album is well worth buying. It's just that it's not the Starcastle "sound" that I prefer. If you're expecting the Starcastle of the first three albums you'll be extremely disappointed. But if you're open to a different variation of Yes-type music you just might like this album.