How in the hell have I not heard of Major Stars before? More Colors Of Sound is this Boston bands fifth album, they formed out of the ashes of the brilliant Magic Hour whose records I treasure and Wayne Rogers and Kate Biggar (Village) were both also in the incredible Crystallized Movements whose Mind Disaster is still regularly played here. They are joined in Major Stars by Noell Dorsey, Tom Leonard, Casey Keenan and David Dougan. The album was recorded at Bang-A-Gong studios in Gloucester Massachusetts by Warren Babson and Tony Goddess.
The album opens with Final Analysis that opens like we've missed the intro, straight into the verse with some heavy psyche rock with Young Grace Slick style vocals from Noell Dorsey, guitars splinter and shatter through several mood changes, can anyone keep their head, madness continues into the major guitar freakout, that has elements of both Crystallized Movements and Magic Hour at their peaks.
Midpoint stomps and grinds into a full-on psychotic freakout and wailed vocals full of lysergic energy, blasting your mind to pieces.
Wrapped Up In Circles plays with loud quiet dynamics and thunderous drums to emphasise how things just seem to go round and round in an endless cycle, no matter how much you push back things never seem to change. Like these songs having a glorious fried brain melter of a guitar freakout to wallow in.
Erasable Time is a slower song about just how time seems to evaporate, before you get to a massive build into the tyranny of modern times, squalls of guitars and heavy drums obliterate all whose path they cross, before everything gets dynamited this is explosive psyche rock.
Like A Siren of the female variety rather than the police kind, this is a beacon in the middle of an era defining storm, can you get out the way or will you be totally consumed by the immensity of the storm.
Here There & Gone sounds like you've been chasing an elusive dealer all over town, getting one of the three options to any questions, to who's seen him or her, they have either been Here There & Gone, you just want a taste, to get to the Gone stage again, the lyrics are obviously about something else, but musically this sounds like you've come down and want to go back up and are looking for ways to do that, the slow rising guitars may help.
Blackout is vastly different to the David Bowie classic of the same name, this does however have heroic guitars and splashes of reverb and distortion driving you through the Blackout, they seek magic powers to put the lights back on, without compromising anyone's integrity.
The album closes with the 10 minute freak out of Not Alone that starts with some ominous buzzing noises and fades in and after the first verse comes a long snake like flaming intense guitar psychosis, banishing any doubts of how they want to re-arrange your brain, you'll still be out of mind and touch, but will have discovered your place in the universe, the squalling intensity of the guitars and drums goes off the charts, this is just the sort of musical cataclysm I always hope for when buying records that Wayne Rogers features on, long term fans will not be disappointed.
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