Starcastle

I love listening to Starcastle.  As long as I can set aside thoughts of how derivative they were, I really enjoy the music.  

Barbu wrote: Never heard.

I've heard Starcastle being dismissed as Yes clones over the years, and can't say I agree. They have a distinctive sound all of their own, imho, and some of the vocal harmonies are exquisite and are nothing like Yes.

I'm a Citadel man myself.

I have the first 2....on old vinyl....would pick up Citadel if I saw it in a shop. 

Edited by dr wu23 - September 19 2021 at 13:49

I have really liked the Starcastle debut album for many years; for me, their later records don't quite match the first one. The debut is the most striking one.

Steve Wyzard wrote: Vastly underrated band - I will always love and listen to the first three albums. Gary Strater and Stephen Tassler are one of the greatest rhythm sections of all time! As far as the Yes comparisons go, it really only applies to the first album. When Roy Thomas Baker produced the next two albums, they started to sound more like Queen, Rush, and Boston, with some Yes influences still present.

Like Prog Archives says sometimes: "only for fans (of Yes)" or "completionists". Two words come to my mind: imitator and clone.

Awesoreno wrote: BrufordFreak wrote: Rednight wrote: cstack3 wrote: Local fans understood the parallels to Yes, and we embraced that, as they were the "American answer to Yes."   If that were true, God save America. I thought Yezda Urfa was the American Yes! Always loved Starcastle--even got see them live as warmup to Todd Rundgren's Utopia. (The keyboard guy was he most impressive to me.) Nice to see the love being expressed for these talented Illini.    Yezda Urfa is in no way the American Yes, in my opinion. The similarities are minimal. The bassist certainly has a Squire-like tone for the bass and style in playing, but otherwise, what else is there? The singer... also sings high...? The singer actually really sounds like Trevor Horn, if anything. Almost EXACTLY like Trevor Horn.  In every other way, to me, they sound like a band already obsessed with Zappa who all did cocaine and discovered Gentle Giant together. Gentle Giant on coke. That sounds more like it to me.

"Citadel" was actually the first Starcastle that I owned.  I like it enough to go back to their debut and "Fountains of Light" albums.  I liked them even before Yes became one of my favorite bands, but I must credit them to get me to listen to Yes a lot closer back in the day, mainly because back then I even heard people say they were Yes clones.  I have kept my appreciation of them even now.

SteveG wrote: Great band! And what's wrong with Yes clones?