Product Description

Debut album from the Wigan based indie quartet. It featuresthe singles 'Fever', 'Alcoholic' and 'Good Souls'. Their work has been compared to that of The Verve and Jeff Buckley.

Track Listing

1. Tie Up My Hands
2. Poor Misguided Fool
3. Alcoholic
4. Lullaby
5. Way To Fall
6. Fever
7. She Just Wept
8. Talk Her Down
9. Love Is Here
10. Good Souls
11. Coming Down

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2173 in Music
• Released on: 2001-10-08
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Although Love Is Here, Starsailor's anxious, soulful folk and urban blues nuanced inaugural album will be less of a culture shock to any scene-follower who experienced, say, Tom McRae's debut from 2000, it will certainly jolt the core beliefs and common cultural values of the British indie scene. Nothing about Starsailor is remotely alternative--at least not in the conventional interpretation of the word--nor perfunctorily fashionable or juvenescent. Cool dads will appreciate them every bit as much as the hip kids. After all, not only is tender-aged singer James Walsh proud to admit to being influenced by Van Morrison and Tim Buckley--blimey, it's like punk never happened--he is also gifted with a larynx as gnarled, emotionally articulate and demonstratively tremulous as the all-time great and latterly underrated Roger Chapman. Debut or no debut, Love Is Here is an assured classic, the exposition of impending mid-life crises and buttoned-up desperation (typical lyric: "I need to be alone while I suffer") conveyed through an impassioned and distinctly non-rock lexicon of shuffling jazz percussion, metronomic acoustic guitars and keyboards which veer--Ray Manzarek style--between decorative cocktail piano and ice rink organ (courtesy of former crematorium organist Barry Westhead). The gooseflesh frisson of "Tie Up My Hands" and "Poor Misguided Fool" is palpable, the taut, dispirited burnout of "Fever" and "Talk Her Down" fantastically lucid. Are Starsailor the future of British pop? Let's bloody hope so. --Kevin Maidment

Customer Reviews

Wonderful!
Wow, what a debut!
I bought this album when it first came out in 2001, played it a little and then discarded it to the bottom of my cd collection. Now I am older and much wiser and have now discovered my love of Starsailor. Wonderful emotionally raw album; far better than a lot of the Indie/rock bands around at the moment.

Better than On The Outside
This album is amazing. I never heard of Starsailor until i listened to This Time off an old Indie compilation and because i like that song so much i decided to buy On The Outside, there newest album. On the Outside is good but nothing compared to this album. It sounds so new and refreshing and for the price i payed i would of happily payed £15+ for it but i only payed £3 altogether. Bargain! Poor Misguided Fool is an amazing track and also Way To Fall with the amazing riff at 3:04. Reminds me of Muse. Would recommend this Album to anyone and if it doesn't hit your vibes straight away like it did me then it will surely do so after many listens. Coming Down is an amazing track although i can't understand why its 14 and a half minutes long and finishes at 3:04 with a pause for about 10 minutes and then continues at 13:36 with a bit of humming and then ends. Waste of space if you ask me but still 11 great songs which is plenty enough for an album. Buy It!!

Love Is Here
It's strange how some albums just take longer to like. And it's strange how, reading the other reviews, it seems to happen to others as well! Often though, the ones that do take time, stay for a long time, too. I love this album! Walsh's vocals are staggering. They're strong, emotive, gritty, unique... In the last track, Coming Down, he reaches a sound that's a completely different timbre from any other vocalist I've heard. Full of passion, it's a short, simple acoustic track, but the bareness just emphasises the superiority of his voice (I can't understand these people who think he cannot sing; are they deaf??). My highlights are Poor Misguided Fool - its strong, catchy, and has a beautiful piano accompaniment, Talk Her Down (for similar reasons), Love Is Here, and Coming Down.

But how can I not mention the other tracks? They are all so good. The way She Just Wept falls into Talk Her Down is perfect, and Walsh's vocals are also at their best in Talk Her Down. And throughout you have these shuffling, catchy beats, quite jazz-esque (which is Fever all over), well-placed piano parts, and fantastic vocals, akin to Richard Ashcroft. Did I mention that I love his voice?

A top quality album. It's a bit like a seed. You get it, you plant it, and it does nothing. So you forget about it. Then months pass, and it pokes its little head out of the soil (or in my case my appallingly messy CD rack). You decide to give it a go, then suddenly it blooms into a beautiful flower. Splendid!