Customer Reviews

Starting Up

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Take it for what it is, an album recorded on a really tight budget on a really small label, which is better than okay but could have been better if there was more money to work with. According to Rick Price, the members of Wizzard rarely saw any money from the records because it was consumed paying for the studio time, and that was when Roy was having hits.

The samples of this are cleaner/clear than the original issue on Legacy copy i have. Roy complained that Legacy tampered with the EQ and stuff trying to make it sound more contemporary, which left it sounding rather murky.


Most of the songs are reasonably good and do grow in appreciation with repeated listenings, with the cleaner sound that should happen sooner with this mastering. A few sould like they are a draft or two from being ready.

Is it an essential part of his catalog, well no, but it deserves at least a couple of listenings before you write it off.

Even though Roy is still alive, doing concerts and (most likely) writing new stuff, this was his LAST real album. And what is it like?

Well, let's just say that there are some things about this album you might not like. Bad:

1. Drum machines. Roy always was a multi-instrumentalist, and surely could play drums. But here he was left to record an album in very short time with very small budget. Not wanting to risk it, he used drum machines to do things faster. Whether or not he did this in every song, hard to tell.

2. 3 songs are cases when your mileage may vary: "Turn Your Body To The Light", "Hot Cars" and "Keep It Steady". They are either mediocre, or very good dance numbers. And I am talking about the lyrics here, not the music (which is good).

Good:

1. The other songs are great. If you like good ol' rock, you have "Red Cars Are After Me", "Under Fire", "Starting Up" and "On Top Of THe World". Listen to them in the morning when no coffee option is available. If you like slow but epic songs, you have "Raining In The City". If you like songs with serious music, but goofy lyrics, "Ships In The Night" will leave you... impressed.

2. It is still Roy Wood, which means high musical quality is expected. And this CD delivers, with good editing and Roy's guitar solos.


So, with 2 "Bad" entries, why 5 stars? Because "the good" totally outweighs "the bad". You really should forgive this album for tight budget and speedy recording, the man did the best he could. And the result deserves 5 stars.

Roy Wood is Roy Wood and how the "other" reviewer can claim to be a HUGE FAN and then post such an ill-informed review is right next-door to comical.
Starting Up is just more fruit from the Roy Wood Tree and I have nothing negative to say about it. Starting with Red Cars Are After Me all the way through to the end this is just more ROY ... maybe you need to sip the right tea or have waffles for dinner, but when you get your personal planets lined-up and you are ready to go where the host (RW) intends to lead, then you just follow along and enjoy. It's that simple and the one-star review that is floating there on the page like a punch in the face is reprehensible.
Most fans know that Roy Wood is NOT Billy Joel or any other easily digested "pop" by any stretch of the imagination, and I doubt you would put him on when Dear Auntie Elaine comes to visit, but once you've been bitten by the Woodbug..well there's no turning back now is there.
Thanks Roy.

I have really gotten into Roy Wood again lately thanks to getting a CD version of MUSTARD. MAIN STREET turned out to be a great surprise that should have been released when it was originally ready. However, STARTING UP is a different kettle of fish.

It is extremely dated with its 80's production, approach and sound. It was a pretty painful listening experience for me and being a big Roy Wood fan (and huge ELO/Move fan) it pains me to say that. There's not much I would want to listen to again. I have heard comparisons to McCartney's PRESS TO PLAY and the Stones' DIRTY WORK (haven't heard it), but it mostly makes me sad listening to this CD. Press to Play is not one of my favorite Macca albums, but it's great compared to this.

I can only recommend this for the Roy Wood completist and even then don't say you weren't warned.

Everybody who is a Roy Wood fan is because of the beautiful 60's and 70's tunes with The Move, Wizzard, ELO and solo. This album is very different compared with some other Roy solo albums like Mustard or Boulders.

This album has an 80's style so it's a different Roy Wood style. But there are beautiful songs like Ships in the Night and Raining in the city.

Forget Boulders, Mustard and On the Road Again. This not the Roy Wood of those perfect to listenable '70s solo efforts, or even of Wizzard or the jazzy Wizzo. For the first time in his career, Wood seems to be struggling.

Starting Up, from 1986, finds him doing disco, more or less. It's not even particularly good disco. The nine songs here sound more or less the same; they flow from one to the next with little to distinguish them and there are few if any links to the wonderful pop confections of the previous 20 years. Just sad.