SONG OF TIMES

Yes, they are back: Starcastle, (in)famous as the ultimate Yes clone in this Progrock Galaxy! So what about those Jon Anderson-like vocals, the Rickenbacker bass guitar sound mighty close to Chris Squire, the flashy Minimoog runs in the vein of Rick Wakeman and those vocal harmonies with strong echoes from ... Yes?

Well, from the very first second these elements are still present in the sound of the reborn Starcastle. But new Starcastle also sounds more polished featuring pleasant work on keyboards and guitar, especially the howling guitar runs delighted me. Although the focus is on the guitar work, the keyboards sound tasteful like in Red Season and Babylon (fluent synthesizer flights), the titletrack (wonderful dreamy climate with soaring keyboards) and Children Believe (lush organ sound).

This new Starcastle sounds very professional but I wonder how many progheads are pleased with the very polished 'progressive pop' on this album. I have to choose between 3 stars (good) and 2 stars (fans only), I go for 2,5 stars, where should I click on is my almost rethorical question?