BLACK TIE & TALES

Behold! This is manifesting the return of the STAR PEOPLE, yeah! Approximately two decades ago this US band earned some rave reviews, especially due to their impressing live performances. At that time they for example were touring together with Dream Theater and the Ozric Tentacles, usually offering their live shows with an outfit which better could be assigned to a Las Vegas show band or so. But this surprisingly was drenched with brain melting Sci-Fi textured progressive rock music overall. Genre-wise the band is offering a melting pot, nearly impossible to categorize. Yet in 2022, constituted around front duo 'The Teacher' Bill Olland (vocals) and 'Star Girl' Lorenza Ponce (violin, vocals), the STAR PEOPLE have released their veiled third album that already was recorded 20 years ago. And this furthermore is accompanied by a real re-union, that eventually evolved into the production of new songs. Initially dedicated as a bonus gift, but finally it reached for more. All was put together to this double album entitled 'Black Tie & Tales', fortunately released due to the Hyperspace Records label.

90 minutes of challenging rock music in total. I'm positively surprised, never took notice of them beforehand. Okay, in between we have some pop as well as singer/songwriter appeal available too. And there's also an obvious touch of musical in place, occasionally reminding me of B-52s, Roxy Music, Queen, Meat Loaf and similar. However, in its entirety this is a progressive rock production with certainty. As one would expect, the first disc covers the previously unrelased third album that is consisting of 10 items. At a first glance, pretty easy to determine, the particular song titles are blatantly referring to the Sci-Fi context. This is rocking a lot. The groovy Starman initiates the entertaining flow, provided with a relatively heavy nature, diverse riffs, odd time changes, Lorenza's lively violin, later then effectively duelling with the lead guitar. Great start! Space & Time alters the mood to charming balladesque, simply driven by vocals and acoustic guitar. Serving quite different stages Marriage In Space turns out to be a really versatile song. 'I read the news today, oh boy ...', last track A Day In The Life is what it is, just a nice Beatles adaption, though would not have been necessary really, my two cents.

In comparisn, at the moment I'm tending to prefer the newer stuff collection put on Disc 2. Probably it's the increased experience of the involved musicians? Who knows. 'We are victims of a dying star ...", the whole expedition sounds even more adventurous. The progressive rock essence comes to the fore with more intense. Featuring a bandwith from fulminant power, exemplarily presented by Twisted, towards jazz piano focussed bar music. The Pact turns out to be one of my favourites, coming with tremendous groove and Robert Dean's stirring rhythm and solo guitar presence all over. The Morning Star seems to be produced in order to showcase Lorenza's brillant singing voice in particular. Finally Exit, Stage Left, the title may apply to this album solely. I really do hope so. We have a smooth chanson alike entry, later though, provided by Randy Pratt, excellent bass lines are drawing a reference to Rush at least. And I even do smell some Gentle Giant leanings towards the very end. All in all, taking everything said into account, this only allows one conclusion. 'Black Tie & Tales' is providing a very pleasant listening experience. 4.5 stars so far.