Star Dancer, the brain child of Robert Star, operate very much in the area vacated by Velvet underground. Slick riffs, radio-friendly production and just enough grit to appeal to fans of Stone Temple Pilots, Rolling Stones and Guns ‘n’ Roses, it’s a familiar sound that Star Dancer deal in, although not without merit. However, the album’s greatest strength is, paradoxically, also its greatest weakness, for, whilst the album taps into the same nostalgia that allowed Velvet Underground to build such a huge following at a time when Guns ‘n’ Roses were haemorrhaging fans at an alarming rate, Star Dancer does not have the <ahem> star power of that band and the familiarity of the music, coupled with the slick production, strips it of the danger that once made it so appealing. Moreover, a tendency to drift into odd pastiches of other genres (particularly in the album’s uneven second half) rob the record of the consistency it needs to make any significant impact.
Opening track ‘welcome to my world’ sets the tone perfectly. Hard hitting riffs, fiery solos and soulful backing singers, this would undoubtedly have made a splash on the radio if it had appeared some twenty years ago, but now the big guitars and super-catchy chorus seems destined to appeal to a select few who hanker after the days of Big Rock. ‘Earth mother dancer’ is similarly driving road rock with plenty of melody, but whilst the title hints at an exploration of Robert Star’s native Indian heritage, the music is more the sound of the LA strip circa 1989. Highlighting a miss-spent youth spent listening to Kiss, the easy-going potential single choice of ‘Great Sexpectations (turn off the lights)’ is pop rock in the vein of ‘Plaster Caster’ and no subtler either. It’s fun, but you can’t escape the feeling that you’ve heard it all before, and better, and whilst it’s enjoyable enough, it pretty much evaporates the moment it finishes. The band continue in a pop rock vein with ‘she’s in love with Joan Jett’, a full-bore pop extravaganza with tightly compressed guitars, incongruous synths and just a hint of Sum 41 apparent in its melody. Reaching the mid-point of the album, it’s time for a ballad, and the acoustic-led ‘The weed don’t lie’ offers up acoustic guitars, a female backing vocalist and some deftly delivered atmospherics. A more natural song than ‘she’s in love with Joan Jett’, here the band come into their own and it’s easy to imagine this being delivered in a stadium as fans stand, lighters aloft.
The second half of the album kicks off with ‘High and mighty’, a rollicking slab of hard rock complete with sassy female vocals, huge sounding guitars and pulsing rhythm. This is what we’ve been waiting for and it’s an album highlight, especially when a blistering solo decimates the song’s second half. Sadly it doesn’t last, and ,in contrast, ‘Annie’ is a somewhat insipid acoustic song that feels like it should soundtrack the closing credits of a rom-com. It sounds particularly weak following on from ‘high and Mighty’ and is liable only to appeal to those who thought ‘shiny happy people’ rocked. The biggest surprise the album offers is a meaty partial cover of EMF’s ‘Unbelievable’ that, with its throbbing electronica and spoken-word vocals, comes across as a cross between latter-day Butthole Surfers, EMF and Guns ‘n’ Roses ‘my world’. The surprises don’t stop there, either, as huge drums herald the Marilyn Manson-esque ‘IntraVenus FlyTrap’, at which point you start to wonder just how many influences the band are planning on cramming into this album. The album concludes with the totally bizarre campfire singalong of ‘before I die’, a track which initially sounds like it was recorded on tape at a back yard BBQ, only to suddenly head off into pop-punk territory, ending the album on a truly unhinged note.
A somewhat bizarre record, ‘welcome to my world’ lacks any clear sense of identity and, whilst Star Dancer offer a few brilliant moments (and there’s no question that this album is perfectly played and produced), there’s a nagging feeling throughout that the band are a little too much in awe of the music that inspired them to bring much that is new to the table and some songs border on pastiche. When the band cook, as they most certainly do on the inspired ‘high and mighty’, the results are astonishing, but it’s not consistent across the album and so the record should be approached with caution. Fans of hard hitting FM-friendly rock (the most obvious influence) should give the album a spin but for those who prefer their music grittier, this should probably be avoided.
