The Electric Stars: Velvet Elvis The Only Lover Left Alive LP
I have to confess that The Electric Stars are a band I’ve not heard of at all, but I’m always up for some new music and it is often good to get nudged out of your complacent listening zone and try something different.
They are immediately quite hard to categorise – no bad thing – as the range of influences that are apparent is a wide one. I’d put money on these guys having seriously good record collections! Just when you think you’re settling in to a fairly traditional pop rock song along come some baggy drum beats to give everything a different twist.
Throughout the album there are hints of Primal Scream, and The Wonderstuff keep springing to mind both with the sound and the style of songwriting. The lyrics range from quirky and observational to serious comments on the human condition, while the sound – if it needed to be shoved into a genre at all – veers from classic rock to indie pop and back again, with a dash of glam simmering below the surface. There are a number of big ballad numbers and the whole album sounds crystal clear and produced with a fine edge. I’m personally in much more familiar territory with ‘We Love You’, an out and out pub rocker where the band let their hair down a little and inject a bit of swagger, it sounds like a closing number of a rowdy live set.
Overall it’s a real melting pot of ideas loaded with anthemic songs and enthusiastic pop hooks that would no doubt go down very well in a crowded boozy live setting (remember those days?) where the more polished edges might fall away. The Electric Stars have been around a while and you can tell they know what they’re doing and exactly what they want to sound like. Just be warned – you may need your best wrap around Raybans on to contemplate the strikingly mind bending sleeve design!
(Images courtesy of Ben Emery and The Electric Stars)
Grab a copy of this fine LP here from their official website for all further info: www.theelectricstars.com/
