Product Description

With their jangling, overdriven guitars and breathless, mysterious vocals, Belly suggests the hard/soft edge of electric girl groups and power pop bands like The Bangles, The Pixies, The Breeders and Throwing Muses (with a dark hint of early Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground). Vocalist Tanya Donelly, formerly of The Breeders and Throwing Muses, joined forces with the Gorman brothers Thomas and Chris (on guitars and drums respectively) and bassist Fred Abong to launch Belly.
On STAR they revel in eastern overtones, psychedelic musings and a folk-rock-styled loss of innocence, even as they chart a more modern musical course with their ambivalent lovesongs, pained recollections and distinctly dissonant style of lyricism. Echoes of childhood remembrances and bad dreamspepper the soundscape on STAR, such as the evocative overture "Someone To Die For", and the menacing "Angel" and "Dusted" (where the crunching cathedral chords suggest R.E.M). This hypnotic sense of rural dread, alienation and sublimated sensuality permeates every second of STAR, as Donelly's ruminations brush dangerously against the Gorman Brothers' jarring rhythms, particularly on the anthemic "Feed The Tree".
Belly was nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best New Artist".
STAR was nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best Alternative Music Album".

Track Listing

1. Someone To Die For
2. Angel
3. Dusted
4. Every Word
5. Gepetto
6. Witch
7. Slow Dog
8. Low Red Moon
9. Feed The Tree
10. Full Moon Empty Heart
11. White Belly
12. Untogether
13. Star
14. Sad Dress
15. Stay

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9552 in Music
• Released on: 1993-12-31
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
On Star, Belly's 1993 million-selling debut album, former Throwing Muse and Breeder Tanya Donelly created an album of haunting, edgy, melodic folk-alterno-pop that in many respects was the precursor of today's crop of female singer/songwriters. With songs like the slow-burning "Gepetto" and monster hit "Feed The Tree", Donelly proved she had an off-beat, almost perverse reading on the cradle, the grave and decay--the lyrical concerns which would later serve artists like Alanis Morrisette and Sarah McLachlan so well. Belly, however--boasting such impeccable alterno-rock credentials--had a hard, meaty rock sound to match their sweet, breathy vocals. And on tracks like "Angel" and the crystal-bright "Stay", the Rhode Island band proved they also had a knack for churning out incredible, catchy hook-lines. --Everett True

Customer Reviews

Star
After a brief stint in The Breeders, Tanya went off to form her own band, expanding on the ethereal pop songs she made during her time in Throwing Muses. Tanya can make fantastic pop songs like Gepetto and Feed the Tree till the cows come home but it's Star's spookier moments like Witch that really make this album just what it is: a triumph.

Highlight: Feed the Tree

A recommended blast from the past
After cutting her teeth with underground bands such as Throwing Muses and The Breeders, Tanya Donnelly decided to branch out and formed her own band which she christened Belly which is allegedly her favourite word. Starting off with the meloncollic Someone to Die for, the album bursts into life with indie rockers Angel and Dusted, both. After this initial burst, the record demonstrates a versititlity that Donnelly was unable to bring to the fore with her previous two bands. The lyrics themselves are full of imagry which along with memorable hooks and folk rock influences makes this one of the better debut albums released at this time. In fact, I would be hard pushed to name too many better debuts from any other period. The two main singles, Gepetto and feed the Tree are excellent slices of indie pop. These were boths hits and gave Belly an unexpected cross over success that Donnelly had been unable to find with either of her previous two bands. The album might appear to be a little dated, as the era of this sort of indie pop died out around the mid 1990's, but it is still worth a listen to. It must be said that Donnelly suffers from the fact that her lyrics are a little too precious, or that some of the ideas remain as not well though out as others, but this is a very good record. Highly recommended.

Under-Appreciated Classic
Belly's full length debut, Star, is a classic record. Easily one of the best albums of 93. Star brings together an impressive array of influences such as the Cocteau Twins, Velvet Underground, the Beatles, Sonic Youth, and of course the Pixies. The sound is complex and varies song to song but over all it is dream-pop w/ a folk tinge. The songwriting is really what makes this record a timeless listen while the pacing on the album is strong and engaging. On songs such as Gepetto, White Belly and Every Word, Donelly proves that she can take on her influences and embellish them all the while turning them into pop gems. Her lyrics on the other hand are dark and disturbing. This contradiction makes Star that much more compelling a listen.