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 my duty 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. This was 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 if 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 principal 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 whose pedigree was pretty impressive. He, along with Taffy Nivert (later Danoff), co-wrote "Take Me Home, Country Roads" with John Denver, and the duo would record a number of albums before signing with John Denver's Windsong label and forming the Starland Vocal Band.

In a weird way, one could make comparisons to The Mamas & the Papas. Two guys and two girls, great vocal harmonies, and their song "California Day," which 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, which 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's 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 remembered. 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 like a hollow victory. 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 been 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 cover, the band was, from left to right:

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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