#with obviously fake titles embossed in gold

[rubensmuse]

@everyone saying ''brutalism'' in the tags to get around op's ban on the word ''minimalism'': you're not slick. go google some pics w/ an open heart, some of it's nice actually

does anyone have like an anti aesthetic. like something you look at and can recognize as a complete fashion/interior design/artistic movement and understand it but it makes you shudder seeing it. i am not talking like “its morally bad” “its poorly structured” like just sheerly devoid of joy for you actually invites a repulse response.

[stevecanmakeanythingnerdy]

Session #8 Artist: Starz: S/T Time: 40 minutes Calories: 280 Songs: 10 Calories burned per minute: 7.0 Calories burned per song: 28.0 Ok, ok, ok, so what silly quip or factoid will RRW reveal to you about this band you may never have heard of? Well, starting right off, the first thing I will say is MAKE yourself familiar with Starz, right flipping now. If you are like me, you constantly flip past their records in bargain bins looking for gold. Well, you, like me, are the fool in this situation, until one day... Attracted by the cool embossed logo (designed by Michael Doret) I decided to flip over the record and check out the back. My eyes were met with a bunch of dudes with some crazy Rollie Fingers looking ‘staches and 70’s hair in black leather. Ok, so probably some rock leaning. As I am looking it over, a friend of mine with pretty good taste gave me the encouragement to pick it up, saying it was pretty good Kiss influenced stuff. He was not wrong. Starz is a heavy metal and power pop band from New Jersey, United States. Despite a lack of big commercial success, the band has a lasting cult following and has been cited as a major influence by bands such as Mötley Crüe, Poison and Twisted Sister. Here’s another weird twist, they didn’t start out that way. No, quite the opposite actually. Starz was formed out of the ashes of an early 1970s pop music band, Looking Glass, which you may recognize their number 1 hit single "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)". After lead singer Elliot Lurie left Looking Glass in 1974, the three remaining members (keyboardist Larry Gonsky, bassist Pieter Sweval and drummer Jeff Grob, who adopted the stage name Joe X. Dube) teamed up with Michael Lee Smith (vocals) and guitarist Brendan Harkin to continue the band and soon changed their name to Fallen Angels. Eventually Gonsky left and was replaced with former Stories guitarist Richie Ranno. They changed their name to Starz, and were introduced to the Kiss management team. From there a deal was struck with Capitol and the rest is history. To this day the band remains in relative obscurity, but I promise you that is a travesty. This album is amazing from start to finish. The action starts in five with a tune called “Detroit Girls”. By the way, this was a hard fast lesson in never getting the titles from the album art. Always, always, always off the label on the platter. Not a single track listed follows the order listed on the album art. Anyhow, the first cut is chock full of Kiss-like riffs. Heavy handed hi-jinx. “Live Wire” follows and again, that Kiss influence shines through. “Tear it Down” is the first instance of a more original sound. It’s a slower, more melodic and hook-laden blues influenced number. Pretty decent. “Boys In Action “ contains some nice riffage! Bad ass metal. I can totally see how Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records contacted Ranno in 1989 telling him of his longtime admiration of the band and asked if Ranno held the rights to any of the band's material, so he could eventually re-release it. Even a few cool fake out endings. This is cool kid music. “She’s Just a Fallen Angel” is next, and perhaps an homage to their former namesake. Formulaic smooth 70’s hard rock and brilliant every step of the way. I imagine this band to be very similar to the fictitious band in HBO’s short lived Vinyl series. Perfect end to side one. Side two is where the band really comes into their own though. “Monkey Business “ see’s to that. It has some pretty rad guitar harmonics (ch-ch/ch-ch) and literal screaming guitar solos. It’s truly everything that is righteous about 70’s rock. Even though that track is hard to beat, “Night Crawler” is hands down the brightest spot on the whole album. From the title to the Goddamn beautiful guitar work, it’s a piece of art. F#&*!@g genius chord progressions, both major and minor. Harmonies too, I promise you will love it. It might actually be the perfect song. I could talk about it all day, but there are still 3 other tunes to get to. “Over and Over” is a pretty straight ahead song. Good melody, but comparatively, nothing outstanding. “Pull the Plug” is next on the docket. Very ahead of the time for 1976. Almost experimental in nature with the heavy use of delay pedals. This is 100% a guitar-as-phallus song, but in a good way. By the way, if we are just rearranging songs then this ones should OBVIOUSLY be last. C’mon! Do I have to think of everything?? Finally it all ends with “Now I Can”-a heavy as bricks riff, centered with killer production. Yeah, lots of good stuff on here. I feel like this album was a reaction to The Doors...just a vibe I get. Starz were definitely Stars that just never got the deserved recognition. These dudes are like farmers: outstanding in their field (#seewhatididthere). Starz: “Night Crawler” (there were live versions but the footage was more current and honestly not as powerful as the original studio effort) https://youtu.be/49wqGFQTrfM #randomrecordworkout #randomecordworkoutspringtraining2018