Starcastle - Citadel


Bottle's taxonomy of music criticism is filled with deep, probing questions like "what the hell am i listening to?," "who?," and "whaaaa?!" Today we get to use all three.


Now, i think we can all safely judge this particular book by its cover. Space fantasy, of the wackadoodle variety. And those guys can't exist ouside the vacuum chamber of absurdity that is the 1970s. I'm not familiar with the band Starcastle, but this is clearly some variety of Prog, and there will be Moog. Oh yes, there will be Moog. 

What's their story? The inner web of the networldtube tells me everyone thinks they're just Yes clones. Kay, that's not helpful, guess we'll just have to make up our own minds. Alright, first thing, it's going to take you a bit to get used to Terry Luttrell's voice. It's not weird or funny, but it is testicle clenchingly high. It doesn't sound like falsetto, i think he's just a legitimate Alto. That's totally normal for Prog Rock and the 70s in general, it's his dead inside, lack of any color tone that i have to get used to.

Sure, fine, if Yes is your benchmark for 70s rock, then they sound like Yes. Synths and jammin basslines, hardcore chorus vocals, but that's like saying all Industrial rock sounds like NIN; your perception is a bit skewed toward celebrity as opposed to genre. This is definitely prog, and the Moog is strong on this one. It's also so sunshiny i'm worried about carcinoma. I wouldn't call it cheesy, though. Definitely eccentric, but so polished and happy you desperately want to punch them in the face.

As is often the case, this album is musically fantastic. But, and it's another one of those big buts that Becky's friend simply can't refrain from commenting upon, i can't tell you what any of the songs are about because i can't remember a single word he sang for the entire album. Some stuff about love, possibly the word "leper," and maybe a little bit of outer space. Lyrically, this is an example of how to guarantee you will be obscure in the future. That doesn't bother me, i like this quite a lot, there just isn't anything to really latch onto as far as statements go.

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