REVIEW: Superstar, Superstar (SBK/ERG)
- Bob Gajarsky
The four Glasgow men who call themselves Superstar have an awful lot of guts. But they also know how to make a record that combines some classic harmonies and guitars into a beautifully crafted pop record unlike anything that's available today.
"In a way, we're taking the piss out (making a joke) of ourselves - you know, the Superstars no one's ever heard of," says singer/songwriter Joe McAlinden. "It's fun, but it does fit in a way. We're more of a pure pop band (than the current noisy, grunge environment) and pop has always been a 'superstar' kind of thing."
But pop usually takes several albums to rear its head. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds and the Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band each took several years of playing to develop and those releases appear to be the biggest influences on Superstar's debut.
Another major influence for Superstar shows up on the album, playing guitar: Big Star's Alex Chilton. As another one of the purported pop icons, Chilton was responsible for one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 1970's as well as influencing many of the top alternative artists of the 1980's; the Replacements even performed a song named, appropriately enough, "Alex Chilton".
So, how about the music of Superstar? It's guitar, harmonies, drums, harmonies, horns and more harmonies. McAlinden's voice reminds one of Tim Burgess (Charlatans U.K.) with less layers of music and less complications allowing the sheer beauty of the tunes comes through. "Can't Help It" is one of those songs which could get NME's "Single of the Week", if ever released. "Let's Get Lost" (which employs McAlinden's 62 year old father playing piano) and "The Reason Why" have a tinge of Sgt. Pepper's horns in them and the single "Could It Be You" subtly sneaks harmonicas in with the multi-part harmonies and the sweeping, almost classical, bigger-than-life ending.
That classical part can be explained by another of McAlinden's influences: Vivaldi. "I was brought up playing and listening to classical music," stated McAlinden. "I know the cool thing is to say I rebelled and started buying all sorts of punk records, but I really was into Vivaldi." After teaming up with future Teenage Fanclub members in the short-lived group Boy Hairdressers, as well as associating with friends in the band Eugenius, McAlinden became hooked on the pop life and wanted a band that could play instruments and sing harmonies as well. And, with his four piece band, he has successfully found it.
Superstar's eponymously titled album, Superstar, has all the things critics live and die for in music. It's different than anything currently out there and that's refreshing. Let's hope that, as opposed to Big Star, it doesn't take fifteen years for this one to become a classic.
