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These Haunted Dreams Are Brushed Aside Mar 05, 2008 The sophomore effort from stellastarr* starts off very strong. The first four tracks are fantastic, as good as the material on their first release. "Sweet Troubled Soul" in particular has some excellent lyrics and very hooky music. The material that follows the first four songs is somewhat uneven. "When I Disappear", "Love and Longing", and "Island Lost at Sea" are all quite good, while I wasn't as impressed with "Stay Entertained", "Born in a Flea Market", and "On My Own". They're not horrible songs, by any means, but they don't stand up as well alongside the other material. The vocals are a little more polished on this release, not quite as energetic as on their debut album, which I was a little surprised by. I still enjoyed this album very much, but it didn't spend as much time in my CD player as their first release did. I will probably buy their third album, as this band still has a great deal of potential. Harmonies for the Haunted is a very good second effort, with a few weak songs.
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Better than their first release! Jan 21, 2008 Honestly, owning and having listened to both stellasarr* CDs, I'd say I prefer this over the first. I know that everyone is crazy about 'My Coco' (on the first CD) but I honestly am NOT impressed by that song (which is one of my least favorites on the other CD). If you like stella's lyrics and their upbeat style, I'd say you'll enjoy this CD. "Lost in Time," "Damn this foolish heart" and "Sweet Troubled Soul" are always getting stuck in my head and I get post-it notes thrown at me by co-workers as I can't help but sing along with them. I really enjoy the entire CD and I listen to it from start to finish regularly.
Tom Jones Meets The Cure Jan 16, 2008 Ever wished you had a record that was all rock anthems? Even if you're not a Journey fan?
While it's obviously self-evident that Journey was a long, long time ago, it's equally so that Stellastarr has stepped into an often very lonely territory in that its often almost always overwrought songs all share an explosive, showy, anthemic quality with some of the great, operatic acts of the Seventies and mid-Eighties. Time was, a band that wanted to reap the big bucks had to come up with a sound that could fill arenas, and often that meant lots of echo, a predelection for soaring guitar runs and, most important of all, a vocalist who could belt one out over and over again. Stellastarr has all these qualities. This is a band that knows how to thrill. Better, it's a band that seems to like thrilling.
With its gauzy, gothic sheen, Stellastarr blends what has come to be called emo with some of New York City's finer art trends. Here, there are strains of numerous influences not mentioned in any of the other customer reviews: Like where are the comparisons to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds? Where's anyone calling up the group's likeness to The Strokes? Stellastarr is equally as dark and ominous as the Bad Seeds, even though this is a much more energetic band that seems to deal with the same romantic-related issues. It's also got that quirky Strokes attitude.
All in all, if ever an album was nominated to be an air guitarist's fantasy, this is it.
Fantastic Album from an Underrated Band Jul 31, 2007 In a time when bands like Interpol and Editors get so much attention, you would think stellastarr* would be kings of the world. In my opinion, in the new genre' of new-wave-post-punk revival, it is stellastarr* that most completely NAILS IT!
"Harmonies for the Haunted" is chock-full of extremely listenable soaring New Wave anthems, and is quite simply brilliant. A short list of standout tracks would include "The Diver", "Lost In Time", and "Love and Longing."
So to all you kids out there with your crazy new-fangled Interpol and Editors records, you owe it to yourself to get into stellastarr* if you have not already done so!
stella-five-starrs!! Feb 07, 2007 What a great album this is!! Saw them in NYC and performing they're amazing. Just thinking like lot of people that have been written here, it's such a shame they're so underrated. My fav's tracks are: Damn this foolish heart, Sweet trouble soul, when I disappear (this song reminds me so much about NYC) and Island lost at sea. Buy this album and support them, they deserve to be listened and we deserve to hear good indie music!!
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