Where is the love for HOUNDS and STREETHEART and SHOOTING STAR and PRISM?

They weren't midwestern undercard arena and florid/grandiose-sounding like Shooting Star. Shooting Star = always a favorite at BestBuy in the classic rock aisles. Streetheart I have no idea on and Prism, woo, "Young and Restless" and "See Forever Eyes."

"Young and restless, yes, you are!" Wooden Nickel-ly Styx from Canada.

Starjets makes me think of Starfighters, the band with the cousins and castoffs of AC/DC, wasn't it? One of those albums was decent heavy boogie.

From Jasper & Oliver's "International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock & Heavy Metal:"

ZON Pomp rock of the first order. "Astral Projector" is the near classic, full of every overblown musical cliche ever laid on vinyl.

Headpins "Headpins started as a studio project by Chilliwack stalwarts...They invited the delicious Darby Mill, who makes Kate Bush seem positively unattractive, to take the lead vocals...the style is brilliant, over-the-top, high energy metal with touches of AC/DC."

Which surely overstates things in its enthusiasm.

http://www.glory-daze.com/html/modules.php?name=Topics

Scan down to the 80s reviews.

From the dim dark days of 1978 came a band with a southern style called Creed. Lets not get this mob confused with that other popular outfit by the same name from the late 90's. This Creed go way back into time. The guys in the band weren't up to much before and after this effort, but they did leave a legacy of a great album with some enjoyable moments. They have a bar-room boogie mentality about them, which places them in the same booth as The Boyzz, or Foghat for that matter. But let me reconfirm, the predominant sound and style is of period seventies hard rock. Vocalist Hal Butler has a lot in common with The Doobie Brothers Tom Johnston, though their music is not as commercial as those guys. So, if you think about a mixture of all that, then you've got Creed sussed.

Creed give us a storming opener in 'Keep On Rockin', and thats exactly what they do to great effect. Despite the songtitle 'Tied Down', they are gonna do nothing of the sort with this type of catchy southern rock being dished up. For me the album highlight is the keyboard driven event that is 'Firecracker'. The relentless boogie attack continues on 'You Never See It That Way'. There's clever guitar lines leading into 'Just Can't Stop' with some interesting instrumentation in between. 'Too Proud To Cry' is a rollicking piece of hard rock, which has a British blues feel to it, while Butler lets his keyboard fingers do the talking on 'Can't Find Love'. The band could be forgiven for slowing down by the time they get to the end with 'Time And Time Again', but they don't, with keyboard flurries and guitar solos flying out the window in true 'lets go out with a bang' attitude. Unfortunately for Creed, there would never be another time for them again, based on this one off effort.

Judging from what I've heard on this album, I can imagine they would have been an awesome band to see live. There's so much energy coming through the speakers that it's obvious they've rolled some of that live spirit into the studio. This is definitely the sort of sound/album now being promoted by labels such as Record Heaven, who deal with that retro hard rock sound. As I mentioned, nothing really heard from these guys since (and it's been a long time between drinks). Anyone with any news please feel free to drop us a line.

Review

http://www.glory-daze.com/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=187

Like Shooting Star, Morningstar were from Kansas City, Missouri - in the heart of the Midwest. It shows in their music, for the most part a powerful blend of Midwestern Pomp and late 70's AOR. Closest relatives would be Boston, Roadmaster and possibly Styx with much more power. This self titled debut turned out to be the first of only two albums from this great band.

And they get Ram Jam's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram" right.

And here's Nantucket, which I reviewed for the Voice with Ten Benson. Again, on the mark.

http://www.glory-daze.com/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=357

St. Paradise, too, although they seem to miss that "Live It Up" was a redo from Nugent days, except the way Derek wanted it:

http://www.glory-daze.com/html/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=338

Hye, they have Laurie and the Sighs in there which was a major garage heavy thing aimed at the New Wave which, of course, it failed at miserably because Laurie and company were just TOO DAMNED HEAVY and CRUNCHING.

They missed Point Blank's debut but get "The Hard Way" which is OK.

Lion's "Dangerous Attraction," had one great song, later covered by Heep, I thin' "Running All Night with the Lion." The rest blew.

Thanks much for the link. It was a segment of my old record collection!

Obviously this sounds grebt. Do any of these bands REALLY REALLY (genuinely) live up to this description? (Because, you know, these albums cost A DOLLAR. And they might make for CLUTTER in the house.)

And Shooting Star & Morningstar were both from St. Louis and did the same things only with pomp and keys. SS was more successful and MS were harder sounding. Morningstar in mint condition was selling for 25 cents in Pasadena and you can't even buy a daily newspaer for that. Bargain!!

Everything reviewed on Glory Daze is grate! Susan, Dixon House Band, Doc Holliday, Teri Desario, Tears, "Girl You Blew a Good Thing" Nantucket...

Next we'll be into Flame, City Boy, Sabu (well, maybe not), Precious Metal...

Shooting Star: One of the finest pomp rock outifts to emanate from the USA...Shooting Star's sound is like a cross between Kansas, Styx and Foreigner. Their LPs have improved consitently and culminate with "Ill Wishes" which enjoyed considerable success...

Which is to say they were a semi-disco proto-glam hard rock bubblegum metal etc. band.

Morningstar, again from Jasper & Oliver's International Encyclopedia:

Multi-instrumentalists who look like a straighforward, head down boogie outfit ... But the music is more complex pomp rock, like rock and roll version of Starcastle. They are a good band with a resemblance to Axe.

Peoples here should check Terry Luttrell pre-Cronin REO Speedwagon. The band likes to see that buried but it is because they are pansies and embarrassed that once they were very full of thud and thrilled to write songs about women in prison.

Actually I MEANT Toronto, rather than Headpins. Always got 'em confused, (same as 10 yrs later when I'd confuse Sass Jordan with Alanna Myles.)

George, didja know that Dave Marsh described Creed as "Ten Years After, ten years after" and gave 'em zero stars in that Rolling Stone "blue" book? So, you should expand your quality-indicators to include Dave & the blue book, besides Xgau & the red!

No. But Marsh was already part of the upside down barometer. My perception was that he despised hard rock. Everything he hated I liked, a matter/anti-matter equation, so to speak. There's good humor value in his one-line quashes although there are better insulters, too.

Creed was something I picked up thirty years ago for about a dollar around the same time I was buying Moxy albums. I often played them in the same session.

THOMAS BUCKNASTY/ Blast-O-Funk
(0 stars)
Rot-o-record.
(John Swenson, I think)

Were supposed to be like Kansas but where from Kansas City so why'd everyone describe 'em that way. Must have been the fiddle which is pushed out of the way in most of the hard rock tunes and more gone for "Silent Scream" (I'm hearing it now in the cracks of one of the big arena-aimed production ballads) which was the most AOR of them. Latter is probably too Journey-ish for many but it was the last for Virgin, so the edict had to have been get a single at all costs.

Had two songs on "Up The Creek" soundtrack which still sells and is in replay somewhere in the US during the year. The movie was duff, and I liked the soundtrack.

Entire Virgin catalog transfered to guitar player who administrated it to digital on-line last year, as far as I can tell.

Uh-oh. Wasn't on Virgin, but was last before that edition of band ruptured. Album previous was last on Virgin. Scream might've been on Geffen. I guess I should check.

And the "Up the Creek" songs are cool. "Take It" the most rocking, "Get Ready Boy" a close second.

This has got to be an elaborate joke, right? Right?

"Check out [All Music Guide]. You will be grossly misinformed." CAP-fatigue and having to keep snapping the Geocities ad banner back in place made me quit, though. I kind of agree with 'em that Bon Jovi owed something of a debt to Prism.

Yeah, but "Baba O'Riley"?!

BODY: Hey you dumb shit, baba o'reilly was released 8 years before any of Prism's [EXPLICATIVE DELETED].

WE WERE PRETTY SAD WHEN WE FIRST GOT THIS EMAIL BUT THEN WE KNOW THAT UNFORTUNATELY NOT EVERYONE IN THE WORLD LOVES PRISM AS MUCH AS WE DO AND SOMETIMES THEY DON'T KNOW AS MUCH ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MUSIC AS WE DO EITHER AND WE KNOW THA T MUSIC BEGINS AND ENDS WITH THE GLORY OF PRISM NOT BABA O "WE STOLE THIS SHIT FROM SEE FOREVER EYES AHAHAHHA" REILLY!!!! BUT WE ARE NOT ANGRY BECAUSE WE ARE PRISM FANS AND THEREFORE HAVE THE PURE LOVE IN OUR HEARTS JUST LIKE ALL OF PRISM'S AWESOME FANS DO!!! YEAH FUCKING ROCK ON FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!! NOW FOR PRISM FAN ART!!!!!

You have to admit the over-the-topness CAPshouting almost makes you want to rush out and buy a copy of See Forever Eyes or Young and Restless -- both of which I used to have. Almost...

I remember Young and Restless as jam-packed with way too much histrionic and pomp rock cornpone, even for me.