Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Starcastle - Real to Reel CD (album) cover

REAL TO REEL

Starcastle

 

Symphonic Prog

1.73 | 60 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
2 stars Stealing orchids from magnolias

This "witty" title has been used by several bands including Marillion, but I think (and will no doubt be proved wrong!), Starcastle were the first. "Real to reel" bears little resemblance to other Starcastle albums, especially the very Yes sounding "Fountains of light". Unfortunately, not all change is for the better, and you know you are in trouble when the band themselves refer to this as an album "they felt should never have been released".

According to the band's official website, the more progressive demos the band prepared for the album were rejected by their label CBS. The band lost faith in the project, and this half hearted anonymous pop rock effort was released, promptly bombing. Thus, this became the band's last album; they were dropped by both their label and their management. The band continued to tour and work together in various combinations, but to date no further original albums have been released under the Starcastle name.

To the music itself, and it is hard to find much to say of a positive nature about what is on offer. The songs here could have been recorded by any of the thousands of US pop rock bands who have plied their trade over the years. The structures are very basic verse & chorus affairs, with competent musicianship which is left totally unchallenged by the mediocre compositions. Title such as "Half a mind to leave ya", and "Whatcha gonna do" give a stark indication of the STYX and BOSTON sound-a-like nature of the music. The song-writing is poor though, and the sound uninspired.

There are a couple of better moments. The soft ballad "Song for Alaya" which closes side one features Stephen Haglar on vocals. It does serve to relieve the tedium that went before it. "When the sun shines at midnight" shows that the band could still do it when they put their minds to it and the record label did not interfere in pursuit of the mighty dollar. This sole track would have fitted in fine on their earlier albums, being a soft prog ballad with an anthemic chorus. "We will walk along the river stealing orchids from magnolias till we die", Jon Anderson could not have said it better.

The front sleeve illustration is Starcastle's "Love beach", the back cover having a rather silly photo of the band jumping in the air in the middle of a farm track, except they are clearly not actually there.

Sadly, bassist Gary Strater died in 2004, but the good news is other members of the band are working together again under the Starcastle name. Hopefully we can look forward to some fine "symphonic prog" per the band's sub-genre on this site.

Easy Livin | 2/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this STARCASTLE review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.