The Stars Are Out

Sarah Borges

Product Details

• Vinyl (March 24, 2009)
• Original Release Date: March 24, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sugarhill
• ASIN: B001R7IH2I
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #549,481 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Do It for Free

2. Yesterday's Love

3. Me and Your Ghost

4. Being with You

5. No One Will Ever Love You

6. I'll Show You How

7. Ride with Me

8. It Comes to Me Naturally

9. Better at the End of the Day

10. Symphony

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"Boston-area rocker Sarah Borges and her cohorts, the Broken Singles, bring us "The Stars Are Out," their second album for Sugar Hill Records and follow-up to 2007's critically acclaimed debut "Diamonds in the Dark." Produced by Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, Lemonheads, Juliana Hatfield), "The Stars Are Out" is a "fiery" (NY Times) ten-song collection of five originals and five choice re-imaginations of Borges' and Kolderie's favorites." --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bewitching rock, girl-group and indie pop, June 18, 2009

By	hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Stars Are Out (Audio CD)

Sarah Borges has always been one of Sugar Hill's most surprising roster artists. Her 2007 label debut, Diamonds in the Dark, harbored some atmospheric steel moans, but the chewy pop center of Borges girl-group, and rockabilly was so citified as to be virtually unrelated to the typical Sugar Hill string band. Her covers of X ("Come Back to Me") and Tom Waits ("Blind Love") mated effortlessly with the exuberant Lesley Gore-styled vocals of Greg Cartwright's "Stop and Think it Over," a convincing take on Hank Ballard & The Midnighter's bawdy "Open Up Your Back Door" and the country "False Eyelashes." Perhaps it's the latter, originally recorded by Dolly Parton in 1968, that gives Borges the imprimatur of a Sugar Hill artist, but it was also the album track that least fit her vocal gifts.

This follow-up album roars from the gate with even less intention to sound country; the opening "Do It For Free" pounds out Joan Jett-styled guitar, bass and drums as Borges lasciviously anticipates a post-show hook-up, and make-up sex fuels the wailing harmonica garage stomper "I'll Show You How." There's Rockpile- and Stones-styled roots rock and even a couple of modern pop arrangements, but the album truly soars when Borges holds forth with updated twists on a girl-group that brings to mind Josie Cotton's Convertible Music. The bouncy, Beatle-blue harmony of Any Trouble's "Yesterday's Love" brightens the original's Elvis Costello-styled lament into chiming desire, and the double-tracked vocal and baritone guitar of the original "Me and Your Ghost" will have you turning up the volume on your iPod like it's a push-button radio in a '65 Falcon.

As on Diamonds in the Dark, the song list is split evenly between originals and covers. An earthy take on the Magnetic Fields' "No One Will Ever Love You" translates the original's anger and disappointment from pulsating keyboards to deeply twanging guitar. The Lemonheads' "Ride With Me" and NRBQ's "It Comes to Me Naturally" are good fits, though not revelations, and Smokey Robinson's "Being With You" is uninspiring. Additional originals include the lightly psychedelicized Americana "Better at the End of the Day" and the moody closer, "Symphony," mates a drum machine with warm strings. Borges voice holds the album's variety together, but she and the band sound most vital when they take it up tempo and girlishly sweet. Don't let the Sugar Hill tag mislead you; this is an excellent album of pop and rock with only a few undertones of country and Americana. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]