Starland Vocal Band - Starland Vocal Band

Right off I'll say the only reason I got this was so I could take a monstrous dump on their 1976 earworm "Afternoon Delight" a song so catchy and equally irritating that I felt it was by doody to avenge my nearly ruined childhood by being merciless to a band who never did anything to me other than craft a song that got under my skin. Heck despite McCartney writing "Silly Love Songs" I still listen to his stuff, so I'm not sure why I'm so excited to go after a soft rock act that never hurt anyone.

So I put the album on and had my knives out waiting for the first song to start ... "Boulder to Birmingham" immediately got my attention, and I put down my knives. What the hell was this? This song was fantastic. Looking at the liner notes the song was written by Emmylou Harris and Bill Danoff.

The second track was a little more generic country pop but again, it was pretty solid. This was irritating, I so wanted this to be terrible. For a group who called themselves a vocal band they were just that, and to prove their point they performed Paul Simon's "American Tune" a cappella. It really isn't my cup of tea I'm I'm being honest, but it's kind of hard to deny that them there kids could sing.

I figured it was worth a little looking to see what was up with the band's principle songwriter Bill Danoff, and wouldn't you know it, he wasn't some guy who'd just fallen off a turnip truck. He was an established songwriter who's pedigree was pretty impressive. He along with Taffy Nivert (later Danoff) co-wrote with John Denver "Take Me Home Country Roads" and the duo would record a number of albums before signing with John Denver's Windsong label and released the Starland Vocal Band.

In a weird way one could make comparison's to The Mamas & the Papa's. Two guys and two girls and great vocal harmonies and their song "California Day" that closes out the first side felt a little like a different take on "California Dreamin'" but to be fair it's a bit of a stretch, and the conceit doesn't really hold up when you poke at it. I thought it was an interesting idea but yeah, these guys were not the Mamas & the Papas.

First side is over and I have to admit it was better than I expected, especially the lead off track that was far and away the best song so far. When reading up on this, I found it strange that "Boulder to Birmingham" wasn't pulled as a single.

Oh well, let flip this over and see how things fare.

I decided to step away from the computer and sit on the couch and listen to the second side. I will say that the big song, that song didn't feel as interesting or catchy as I had figured. It really was kind of "meh" which sort of made me happy and in a way fulfilled my initial desire to dump on the record - except it felt hollow. I had found myself rooting for this one to rewrite history. It just wasn't there. The songs were okay, and even had the odd spark but I found it all sort of blurring together. Even the weirdly goofy "Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll" with the "Oom-ba-la-da Ram-a-lama" vocals landed flat. In a couple of years when Grease was a big deal this may have caught on ... but, I doubt it.

Still the band had won me over with their first cut, and I found myself looking for things to appreciate, and yes, "Afternoon Delight" while not having the punch I expected is still one of the standout tracks here.

By 1976 the country rock phase had more or less be played out, and while the Starland Vocal Band was more of a soft rock act there just didn't seem to be enough here to distinguish them from a lot of the other acts out there.

Then again, what do I know?

From the back album cover, the band was from left to right:

Jon Carroll
Margot Chapman
Bill Danoff
Taffy Danoff

The album was produced by Milton Okun, who had worked with Peter, Paul and Mary as well as John Denver and it was engineered and co-produced by Phil Ramone.

I'm going to run this back and give it another spin, it's the least I can do.

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