STARFLOWER: Celebrating The Spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys [Import]

About the Artist
This project features the talents of many notable musicians:

MOOGY KLINGMAN, an original member of UTOPIA, and writer of Bette Midler's mid 70s hits including "Friends".

Home taping legend R. STEVIE MOORE who has three tunes included here, one of which features the guitar wizardry of ex-XTC member DAVE GREGORY!

Todd Rundgren band member JOHN FERENZIK.

Product Description
'Starflower' celebrates the spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys with some progressive cosmic pop striving to elicit a musical vibe strong enough to live by all summer long. 17 tracks including three from R. Stevie Moore, one being 'Dates' with a special appearance on guitar from Dave Gegory (XTC) and 'Earth, My Body' by Moogy Klingman (Utopia). Standard jewel case.

STARFLOWER: Celebrating The Spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys,Various Artists,Medicine Park Recordings,A tribute to Brian Wilson & the Beach Boys in a progressive style... a morning to night summertime musical soundtrack featuring members of XTC and Utopia.,Rock/Pop Collections

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Average customer rating: Excellent and exciting music INDEPENDENT CD SALUTES ENDLESS SUMMERS Where are the melodies? Where is the harmony?

STARFLOWER: Celebrating The Spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys Various Artists Manufacturer: Medicine Park Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Compilations | Rock | Styles | Music General | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music ASIN: B00004WLOK Release Date: 2000-08-01

Tracks:

1. Sunflower - Reynold Philipsek
2. Today - 3tripper
3. Hip Hop & Pop - Big Fresh
4. Dates - R. Stevie Moore with Dave Gregory
5. Can't Feel Sad - Tom Getter Slack
6. California - synchro1
7. Kloreen - Mitch Friedman
8. Beach Glass Intro - SNG
9. Beach Glass Bouquet - SNG
10. Riptide Lullaby - Billy Marsh
11. Dewey Decimal System - R. Stevie Moore
12. Space Pilot Astrud Star - Charlie Zayleskie
13. Dandelion - John Ferenzik
14. Please Send Boat - R. Stevie Moore
15. Maximum Love Vibes - Chris McKenna & GG1
16. The Tie-Dyed High Tide Radio Reprise - synchro1 & the Starflowers
17. Earth, My Body - Moogy Klingman

Album Description

'Starflower' celebrates the spirit of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys with some progressive cosmic pop striving to elicit a musical vibe strong enough to live by all summer long. 17 tracks including three from R. Stevie Moore, one being 'Dates' with a special appearance on guitar from Dave Gegory (XTC) and 'Earth, My Body' by Moogy Klingman (Utopia). Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent and exciting music.......2002-04-19

Now we're talking about the disc that looks like it was made specially for this radio show. It's dedicated to the genius of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and contains a whole BUNCH of names that are absolutely new for me. The only name that is well known here is Dave Gregory, former member of XTC. He is here together with R Stevie Moore doing a overhaul of Making Plans For Nigel entitled Dates. The whole record is increadibly up-to date and just sounds amazing. Brian Wilson would be probably very proud when he hears the record.

Acutally, the beauty of the record is that it doesn't imitate Brian Wilson's style. It only exploits Wilson's childlike curiosity for new things and therefore, we get a ultra modern product full of nicely written songs and small experiments, beatifully arranged and quite appropriatelly entitled Starflower.

Although novelty experiments take a large part of the record and sound very pleasent, I still prefer more structured songs like Hip Hop and Pop by Big Fresh or even some more daring pop songs like Mitch Friedman's Kloreen. Straght-forward hit are provided by John Ferenzik in his adorably catchy Dandelion and also by Reynold Philipsek and opening theme Sunflower directly dedicated to the same name Beach Boys album. Definitely the beachboyiest song is Today and comes from a band called 3Tripper. Album simply kicks ass and it's the most serious cadidate for my favorite album this season. I will definitelly try to contact each participant of this album and explore their works further.

Disc is available through Medicine Park Records and it's their second release. The first one was a similar edition dedicated to Todd Rundgren. I wonder how that one passed un-noticed by me ;)...

INDEPENDENT CD SALUTES ENDLESS SUMMERS.......2000-11-25

Excerpts of an article from The Daily Oklahoman (August 18, 2000):

They sure don't make albums like they used to. That's especially true of "Starflower", a shimmering summertime soundtrack celebrating the spirit of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.

It features 17 tracks by 14 different artists, including former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory and ex-Todd Rundgren / Utopia keyboardist man Mark "Moogy" Klingman.

Contributors to the "Starflower" project submitted their songs to Medicine Park on recordable CDs or Digital Audio Tape. Medicine Park then forwarded those to San Mateo, CA, where the album was mastered by Jim Whittemore.

Whittemore's alter ego is synchro1, the "group" that supplied "California" and "The Tie-Dyed High Tide Radio Reprise," two of the album's trippier forays into techno territory.

"Although most of the songs do succeed in containing that Beach Boys vibe, there may be a few that fall short in that area," says Medicine Park's Toby Thomas.

"However, I hope that the songs evoke a youthful summertime joy or present a certain spiritual element that somehow works altogether."

Thomas' hopes are realize on R. Stevie Moore's three tracks, "Dewey Decimal System" "Please Send Boat" and "Dates", the last featuring former XTC guitarist Dave Gregory. All three recall Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds" / "Smile" period of stately, complex melodies and elaborate, electronically enhanced instrumentation that sometimes sailed into quirky, psychedlic seas.

Other standout sun-and-surf moments are heard in the layered harmonies of "Sunflower" by Minneapolis-based Reynold Philipsek; on the cosmic hang-ten anthem "Today" from Hawaii's 3Tripper; and on South Carolinian Billy Marsh's "Riptide Lullabye," which doesn't sound anything like the Beach Boys but still has a melody, multi-tracked vocals and blazing guitar passages that soar into the big blue sky.

Where are the melodies? Where is the harmony?.......2000-10-11

I must admit that the recent spate of Beach Boy rereleases has certainly whet my appetite for more of the great music of Brian Wilson and his band. I bought this disc with hopes high that it would offer some of the gorgeous Beach Boy - inspired pop of Jeff Foskett, or the wonderful homage of The High Llamas' GIDEON GAYE.

Unfortunately, there was little of that old Beach Boy magic to be found on STARFLOWER. Many of the tunes are stilted, neo-Baroque pieces ala latterday XTC, displaying none of the Beach Boys' penchant for crafting melody. And the Boys' wonderful vocal prowess is nowhere to be found on this collection. Some tunes on STARFLOWER (such as Moore and Gregory's "Dates") do show some promise, but these rare moments are undone by a deadly combination of poor vocals and haphazard production. Worse yet, the entire set lacks energy, a key ingredient in the best works of the Beach Boys.

STARFLOWER was a real disappointment. Fans of the Beach Boys would be better served by purchasing Jeff Foskett's sunny pop CDs. I also highly recommend Jeff Larson's SUNFLOWER-like WATERCOLOR SKY and the High Llamas' SMILE-influenced GIDEON GAYE and HAWAII discs.

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