STUCK IN THE VINYL AGAIN - STARZ - STARZ

[maggot]

Good morning Wednesday warriors and welcome back to Stuck In The Vinyl Again . It was on this very day in 1947 that the newspaper, the Roswell Daily Record published an article claiming a "flying saucer" had been captured on a ranch in Roswell. The official US Military story is that it was a weather balloon. Nonetheless the public's attention and curiosity had been piqued and some were undoubtedly convinced the UFO was from the stars ...

Which leads us the the band and name of today's record of choice, conveniently titled Starz (that's stars with a z).  Starz were a hard rock/ pre-heavy metal band that formed from the ashes of early 1970s pop band, Looking Glass, who you might remember had a #1 hit with, Brandy (You're a Fine Girl). Those guys broke up in 1974 and three of their members,  keyboardist Larry Gonsky,  bassist Pieter Sweval, and drummer Jeff Grob recruited vocalist Michael Lee Smith (older brother of teen sensation Rex Smith) and drummer  Brendan Harkin and took the name Fallen Angel. The next year they were joined by Stories' guitarist Richie Ranno and Larry Gonsky dropped out. Soon after the group changed their name to Starz. KISS mangager  Bill Aucoin, then started to represent them and helped get them a deal with Capitol Records. Their self titled debut is our subject of focus today.

Starz was released June 21, 1976 on the Capitol label and produced by Jack Douglas, who had made a name for himself producing albums for Aerosmith, the New York Dolls, and Cheap Trick. The LP (#123 on the Billboard 200)  gave birth to a sole single, "(She's Just A) Fallen Angel" which peaked at #95 on the Hot 100. The band would release another three studio albums, and a handful of live albums before disbanding. Although they never broke through into the arena of household name, they are cited as influences of Poison, Motely Crue, Bon jovi, Twisted Sister, and Cinderella. 

1. "Detroit Girls" Richie Ranno, Michael Lee Smith, Piet Sweval 4:05

2. "Live Wire" Ranno, Smith, Sweval 3:23

3. "Tear It Down" Sweval 3:13

4. "Boys in Action" Ranno, Smith, Sweval, Brendan Harkin 5:37

5. "(She's Just a) Fallen Angel" Ranno, Smith, Sweval, Harkin, Sean Delaney, Joe X. Dube 3:35

Side two

6. "Monkey Business" Harkin, Smith, Sweval, Delaney 2:52

7. "Night Crawler" Harkin, Ranno, Smith 4:32

8. "Over and Over" Smith 3:17

9. "Pull the Plug" Harkin, Ranno, Smith 4:43

10. "Now I Can" Harkin, Ranno, Smith 4:11

Michael Lee Smith - vocals
Richie Ranno - guitar
Brendan Harkin - guitar
Pieter "Pete" Sweval - bass
Joe X. Dubé (aka Jeff Grob) - drums

With :

Gary Coleman - additional percussion

Jack Douglas - producer
John Jansen, Jay Messina - engineers
Sam Ginsberg - assistant engineer