STAR DANCER – Welcome To My World (2016)

STAR DANCER is the creative vehicle of American composer and vocalist Robert Star, and operate out from his home base in Detroit, Michigan. “Welcome To My World” is the debut album by this venture released today, April 20.

Produced by Tim Patalan & Vinnie Dombroski (Crud, Sponge) and including fine musicians from the present Detroit scene, Star has recorded a quite eclectic bunch of songs here ranging from US Hard Rock to British.
Many people with a deep knowledge of music tends to seek out artists that can provide them with something new, music that in a minor or major way is innovative or otherwise adds some new flavors to the music they already know. But there’s no harm in exploring waters already explored by others, as long as you manage to do so with a high degree of quality.
Star Dancer is precisely such a project. Robert Star do not bring anything new to the table, but have taken care to see that their stew of familiar sounds is one that holds a high quality throughout.

Hard Rock is probably the word that best describes this recording as a whole, but it is a rather diverse set of material that fills “Welcome To My World”.
Title track opens the album driven by a classic guitar riff with some Alice Cooper on it, Star’s slightly raspy vocals, a set of female backing vocals and a nice lead guitar all over.
Second track ‘Earth Mother Dance’ should bring a smile on the face of those who love and cherish The Cult in their late Eighties / early Nineties ‘American era’.

A wee bit of hair metal follows on ‘Great Sexpectations’, and that the composition named ‘She’s In Love With Joan Jett’ isn’t all that far removed in core elements from the hit song of a certain pioneer lady of hard rock shouldn’t be all that surprising either. In this case we’re given a slight interlude featuring a short snippet from the very song everyone thinks about when they hear the name Joan Jett, kind of to emphasize the lyrical and musical message here.
‘The Weed Don’t Lie’ is the first of the songs that enters a calmer landscape here, rather unsurprisingly I guess, in a ballad-oriented manner that has a lot of Pink Floyd to it. Strange, but works.

The following ‘High & Mighty’ returns us to the jubilant, vibrant hard rock that somehow reminds me Motley Crue in the ’90s.
‘Annie’ represent another gentle moment – and album variation – in this case with a Guns N’ Roses style when they did acoustic songs. ‘Unbelievable’ is a re-imagined take on EMF’s monster hit from the Nineties, with new lyrics and a subtly noise flavored synth pop goes synth rock take on it in terms of style.

Although disparate and perhaps too much varied musically speaking, “Welcome To My World” is an interesting debut by Star Dancer / Robert Star.
But considering the present American music scene, this record works like a vitamin pill of uplifting, joyful music, where the hardest songs stands out as the ones shining brightest with life, vitality and positivism.
A fairly diverse taste in music will most likely be warranted to enjoy all aspects of this album, but worth listening to in its entirety.

01 – Welcome To My World
02 – Earth Mother Dancer
03 – Great Sexpectations
04 – She’s in Love With Joan Jett
05 – The Weed Don’t Lie
06 – The High & Mighty
07 – Annie
08 – Unbelievable
09 – IntraVenus Fly Trap
10 – Before I Die
11 – Welcome to My World (Patalan Mix)
12 – Great Sexpectations (Patalan Mix)

Robert Star – Vocals
Tosha Owens – Vocals, Tambourine
David Black – Lead Guitar
Wally Filipiak – Guitars, Vocals
Jason Lollio – Bass, Vocals
Jerome Day – Drums
Rachel Williams – add. Vocals

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