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Anteater · 07-10-2015, 09:57 PM

AOR: The Best Of '75 - '77

10. Starcastle - Fountains Of Light (1977)

While it may seem strange to you guys that I'd start off with an album that's more vintage progressive rock than AOR, this was actually a defining trait in some respects of every major band who formed the bedrock for what was to come in 80's arena rock. Styx, Boston, even Journey...all these guys started off with a strong leaning towards the ambitious, keyboard driven theatrics of their British peers.

In the case of Illinois based AOR group Starcastle, the primary point of reference that's most obvious, of course, were Yes. That booming Rickenbacker bass, the obtuse vocal harmonies, the cosmic rambling lyrics...it's all here, but with a more straightforward bent that made them favorites in the heartland during their heyday. It didn't hurt that lead vocalist Terry Luttrell had originally gotten started musically with REO Speedwagon at the beginning of the 70's, so being a cosmic, high-tenored prophet at the mic was a fitting evolution.

After an auspicious and entertaining self-titled debut in 1976, Starcastle's second album Fountains Of Light in '77 took everything up a notch in most respects. This was partly due to the creative influx of hotshot producer Roy Thomas Baker, well known for his work with Queen at the time and already intimately acquainted with pomp rock by association. Couple that with a relatively sharp songwriting sensibility on the part of the band and everyone being above average at their instruments...and you have a recipe for success, at least in the context of what they were aiming for.

Songwriting-wise, anyone familiar with the dense keyboard orchestrations of Rick Wakeman or Styx's late 70's material will find that in high proportions over this album...and it works like coke-laced auditory magic on the 10-minute opening title track, the pastoral 'Portraits' and minor radio hit closer 'Diamond Song (Deep Is The Light)'. Hell, I'd argue that at this point in the decade Starcastle were actually a better "Yes" sounding band than the guys they supposedly ripped off. The harmonies are an interesting thing, somewhere between the aforementioned Queen, Yes and CSN&Y tonally. I suppose with lyrics like "Thousands have followed in the light of her hands", you know exactly what you've paid for here...but the fantasy flavored spaciness mixed with those dazzling keyboard runs and FM-ready choruses is quite the treat if the mood is right.

While the sound of radio rawk to come would be shaped more prominently by the bands these guys were actually opening for in the latter half of the 70's (such as Boston), you have to give 'em credit: Yes were probably the hardest progressive rock band to actually emulate either in actual performance or even in general "vibe". Just finding guys to do their particular brand of choral harmony would have been a challenge, and yet these supposedly derivative musicians managed to cop Yes's sound convincingly and take it into more commercial directions before Yes themselves thought to do so...and wrote some catchy tunes in the process!

And that, my friends, is a form of genius that doesn't come around too often. Catch you all on our next excursion into AOR's early years next week!