STARCASTLE

To say that american band Starcastle copied Yes is an understatement. They simply worshiped Yes and tried very hard to sound like them. Every mannerism, every instrument timbre and every vocal line is reproduced here as far as any human being could. And, in several ways, they did sound like Yes around the time of their first two albums and a even a little bit like The Yes Album, but not much. Obviously the musicians are very good, but they lack the overwhelming talent, technique and boldness of their idols. I guess at the time I would despise them as mere imitators, if I had the chance to get this LP back in 1976. But now they don´t seem so bad. At least they come up with a decent selection of songs that somehow capture a little of early Yes spirit. And surely gives us hope that they would eventually outgrew their obvious limitations to reach something of their own.

I´m still amazed of how singer Terry Luttrell can reproduce Jon Anderson´s vocal style to the limit. Keyboardist Herb Schildt does a great Tony Kaye impersonation (Rick Wakeman would be too much), and Gary Strater bass is a fine bass player. They had two guitarists, Mathew Stewart and Stephen Hagler, that can do their Peter Banks numbers very well. Drummer Stephen Tassler is no Bill Brufford, of course, but he is good anyway. I guess they would play Yes covers better than most, like italian band The Watch can do excellent classic Genesis covers. The songwriting here is probably their most promising aspect. Although not one track brings anything new, they were not bad either. In fact, they did better than most Yes imitators, and they were many. Lady Of The Lake is almost a underground classic, but the best song here is Sunfield, a great lost Yes track of sorts. Production is also very good So, I´m looking forward to listen their next works.

Rating: 3 stars. A nice Yes copy. Recommended specially for 70´s symphonic rock fanatics who like early Yes and don´t mind the almost total lack of originality.