Just before the first Lockdown, a couple of years back, London throwback alternative guitar band, The Hanging Stars, were due to play one Sunday evening at The Brandling Arms in Gosforth, a twenty minutes bus ride away from me. It's a rare thing indeed to get to see a band as good as this one playing in a pub and I was all set to go but sadly the times conspired against me an the gig was pulled.
The Stars have just released their latest record. Hollow Heart and it's the latest in a number of fine ones they've put out over the years. In terms of their sound they're really in thrall to the great B guitar bands of the Sixties and Seventies. Beatles, Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Burrito Brothers, Big Star and Badfinger. Add The Eagles, elements of Waters Floyd, Unhalfbricking Fairport, Moody Blues and Teenage Fanclub and you have their sound. They're mellow fellows.
This is not music that has any plans at all to rock your boa,t so much as make you tap your toes, perhaps in front of an open fire at your local on a Sunday night. Occasionally they take their love of the idols a little too far. Fourth song, sounds uncannily like the time when Alex met Gram, and would never have standed the remotest chance of even existing if Big Started hadn't written Thirteen all those years ago. Still, that description sounds like aversion nice thing to me and trust me, the song sounds just as nice as the description.
Elsewhere, The Hanging Stars do their thing and the records spins with mellow determination and certainty. You could play The Notorious Byrds Brothers tonight. You could play #1 Record or Songs From Northern Britain. Or you could just play this. It's not as good as any of these records. But it might give you a similar warm, contented feeling.
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