Jack Starr’s BURNING STARR – Eternal Starr: The Burning Starr Anthology [The Best & Unreleased remastered] (2022)

Founded by guitarist Jack Starr in the mid-80s, BURNING STARR has been delivering consistent rock music ranging from hard rock, melodic metal and even some AOR in their origins, always staying true to the genre’s spirit & sound.
Now 2022 the New York combo release their first ever career spanning anthology, “Eternal Starr: The Burning Starr Anthology“, consisting of three CD’s spanning the band’s long career since 1984, encompassing the key studio albums, with additional rarities and live tracks from Jack’s personal archive.
It’s really cool to hear songs from Jack Starr’s BURNING STARR early albums fully remastered, very melodic tracks including into the line-up the likes of bassist Bruno Ravel (future Danger Danger, The Defiants), awesome vocalists Frank Vestry (Marcello / Vestry, Last Temptation), Mike Tirelli (Holy Mother), Todd Michael Hall, and more.

This release come hot on the heels of the brand new Burning Starr album “Souls Of The Innocent” which is already generating fantastic reviews worldwide.
Jack Starr throughout his career has consistently performed and recorded with world-class musicians, cultivated a devoted fan base with his signature style and inspired musicians who have kept his legacy relevant in recent years.

In the mid-to-late ’80s his band Burning Starr became a cult sensation with releases like ‘Rock The American Way” (which Hit Parader magazine called “an album that rocks with both strength and precision”), “Blaze Of Glory” and “No Turning Back” . The band also became a springboard for musicians who would go on to play with Danger Danger, White Lion, Yngwie Malmsteen, Quiet Riot and Widowmaker, among others.

Burning Starr’s debut full-length, ‘Rock The American Way’ perfectly encapsulated the American metal spirit of ‘85. A quartet of tracks from that record open this first disc, and ‘Fight The Thunder’ makes for a raucous introduction. Burning Starr deliver a sound that’s hard, yet accessible, and despite the screaming guitars and pounding drums, it remains catchy as hell.
Originally released on an indie label (Passport) Rock The American Way was given a warm, luxurious production and along with the band’s melodic sensibility, placed them somewhere between Dokken, Icon and Scorpions.
Featuring Frank Vestry on lead vocals, songs such as ‘Heat Of The Night’ even have an AORish touch,
This was a solid start that found Jack Starr burning brightly.

When ‘No Turning Back’ hit the streets the following year, Burning Starr had undergone a radical change in personnel with only Jack remaining from the previous release. While some bands play it safe on their sophomore record, Burning Starr took a different route, and this is a much heavier affair.
The four tracks presented here have a definite European melodic metal feel, and feature plenty of frenetic fretwork fireworks from Jack Starr, and it’s easy to hear why the album got a glowing review from the metal bible, Kerrang!.

More line-up changes accompanied ‘Blaze Of Glory’, but Jack was wise to hang onto vocalist Mike Tirelli and the LP became one of 1987’s key releases. It pushes all the needles firmly into the red and continues in much the same vein as its predecessor, but finds the musical pendulum swinging back towards a more Americanized sound.
Titles such as ‘Overdrive’ and ‘Stand Up And Fight’ give a good indication of the sound contained within, and if anyone asked you what was so great about ‘80s US metal, I suggest you spin ‘Blaze Of Glory’.

Jack Starr’s Burning Starr were a constantly evolving beast, yet they always stayed true to their core metallic sound, and their eponymously titled fourth album found them moving in a slightly more commercial direction.
The tolling cowbell, crystalline guitar solos and operatic vocals all scream “1989” (which, of course, is a good thing) and those with a penchant for the likes of Warrant, Black N’ Blue or Cinderella will find a spiritual home in tracks such as ‘Fool For Love’.
Two years later Mike and Jack reconvened under the name Strider (presented here as The Strider Project) and got low down and dirty with some of the best blues/groove metal known to man. It flew defiantly in the face of grunge and alternative metal, which makes its charms all the sweeter. The four tracks here find Mike in fine voice, while Jack’s guitar has never sounded crisper and cleaner, and these songs will certainly whet your appetite and have you searching for the full album.

Fast forward a decade and Jack formed Guardians Of The Flame, a traditional metal outfit who took their name from the second Virgin Steele album, Jack’s first band. In many ways it found Jack returning to his roots yet upgrading his sound for the new millennium.
Aside from Jack Starr, the band featured ex-members of The Rods and Pentagram and, as you’d expect from such pedigree, the sound they produced veered towards the heavier side of metal.

2011 found Jack Starr releasing the excellent ‘Land Of The Dead’ album, and by the time this opus rolled round, Todd Michael Hall had replaced Schmoulik Avigal on vocals (although this change occurred in 2003) and this constant injection of fresh blood seems to have constantly revitalized the band.
The title track is evidence of this, and as soon as that opening riff kicks in, it’s time to grab your air guitar, ‘cos you know you are in for some good music. While it is true you can’t judge a book by a cover, the sleeve which housed Land Of The Dead, featuring a muscular dude with axe held aloft is pretty indicative of the sound contained with.

Three live tracks are culled from 2018’s ‘Keep The Metal Burning…Live In Germany’ album, and they show why Burning Starr are such an intriguing live proposition with ‘The Flame That Never Dies’ licking at the listener’s ears, and ‘The Reaper’ further drawing comparisons of Judas Priest.
“Bang your head and raise your fist/toast the spirit of ‘86” is sung by way of introduction to ‘Spirit of ‘86’ (the first of four unreleased bonus tracks), and never in the annals of heavy metal have truer words been uttered. This is metal, pure and unadulterated, and is played for no other reason that is sounds absolutely marvelous.
A raw version of ‘Der Klang Der Liebe’ brings this collection full circle, and it’ll have you pressing ‘play’ at its conclusion.

37 tracks spanning over three decades, this anthology not only charts the rise and fall (and rise) of heavy metal, but one of the genre’s most inspirational and talented guitarists. A fitting tribute to the man and his music.
Highly Recommended

CD1:
01. Fight The Thunder
02. In Your Arms Again
03. Heat of The Night
04. Live Fast, Rock Hard
05. No Turning Back
06. Light In The Dark
07. Evil Never Sleeps
08. Call of The Wild
09. Overdrive
10. Stand Up And Fight
11. Tear Down The Wall
12. Metal Generation
13. Burning Starr

CD2:
01. Send Me An Angel
02. Break The Ice
03. Fool For Love
04. New York Woman
05. It’s Not Over
06. Under The Influence
07. Dancing On The Edge
08. Down On Love
09. The Flame That Never Dies
10. Conspiratos Sanctos
11. Masters of Fate
12. Sharon of The Woods

CD3:
01. Land of The Dead
02. Sands of Time
03. Daughter of Darkness
04. Here We Are
05. On The Wings of The Night
06. The Flame That Never Dies (Live)
07. Day of The Reaper (Live)
08. Conspiratos Sanctos (Live)
09. Spirit of ’86
10. From The Ashes We Rise
11. Forever
12. Der Klang der Liebe (The Sound of Love)

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www.amazon.com/Eternal-Starr-Jack-Starrs-Burning/dp/B0B6D467DW