Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

Twilight of The Starz
3 Out of 5 Stars

The last album of the original Starz run was also their last big rocker. "Coliseum Rock" was almost an act of wishful thinking; they wanted an album so big it would boost them to headliners. Instead, it became their swansong for Capitol.

And just as unfortunately, it is also the weakest of their four albums. It's hard to say exactly why, as there are several mitigating factors. First, Pete Sweval and Brendam Harkin were out, likely because of the rift started over musical differences on the poppier "Attention Shoppers" album. To that end, there are no powerpop numbers here, but that leads to problem two, and that is the rockers are almost ungodly generic. "Outfit" is almost Spinal Tappesque, and "Take Me" has a cock-rocker "orgasm" that is funny for the wrong reasons.

On the plus side, there was the fantastic first single "So Young So Bad," which became the last Starz entry on the top 100. Almost equal is "Last Night I Wrote A Letter," on which lead singer Michael Lee Smith unleashes the charismatic style that had so many predicting super-stardom for Starz. The instrumental title track is all firepower, a showcase for Richie Ranno, and leading into a full-bore "It's A Riot." "Coliseum Rock" may not have been the massive last minute breakthrough Starz wanted, but as a curtain call, it does just fine.

Vanished like a Spirit in The Night
3 Out Of 5 Stars

One of the mysterious to me is that this album, by Casablanca recording act The Skatt Brothers, has never made it to CD release. I will go out on a limb to say that it's an incredibly dated record, had one minor dance classic and another single that became a huge hit in - of all places - Australia. But except for its extremely minor and devoted cult following, "Strange Spirits" remains utterly unknown.

That really sucks. There are a lot of reasons this should be better known, the greatest of which is historic. This may be one of the earliest efforts by a band that was outre' gay on a major label. Granted, there was plenty of lyrical gender bending, but when the biggest hook on one of your best songs is "give your love to the cowboy man" being song in a campy, uber-deep voice over a near disco beat, well, the gaydar should be hitting 8.5 by then.

There's also the band's pedigree. The late Sean Delaney was one of the lead singers, played keyboards and did a fair chunk of the songwriting. Delaney was openly gay, was lovers with super-manager Bill Aucoin (who repped the Skatts), and was an early contributor to the stage show of Kiss. He was also one of the men who discovered seminal 70's rock band Starz, brought them to Aucoin, and recruited their bassist, the late Peit Sweval, to play on "Strange Spirits." And if the background vocals sound familiar, it's because some of the men here were regular contributors to Village People albums.



Which is what The Skatt Brothers seemed to be positioning themselves for; something not as gay as the VP's, but exploiting the homo-eroticism of Kiss. There are a few moments here that come close ("Life At The Outpost" and "Fear Of Flying," alleged to have been written about fisting), and some that are outright comical ("Fear Of Flying" and the soft-rock attempt at a harmonic power ballad). Sean's "Midnight Companion" is the better ballad, and I knew several old-school LA men who swore up and down that Sean had written it about/for them. (The album's cover was shot at Griff's - now the Faultline - leather bar, adding to that back story.)

But there's one moment of pure genius: that comes from "Walk The Night." A song that makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's about cruising for some hard-core gay SM action, the darn thing became a major danceclub anthem and still gets played. The makers of Grand Theft Auto acquisitioned it for one version of their game, and it is the only Skatt Bros song to make a CD appearance (on "The Casablanca Story" collection, and as a CD single along with a Village People cut). Even with the campy/sinister vocal singing lead, buttressed by horror movie laughter and screaming, there's no mistaking these lyrics:

Upon his lips the taste of pain
venom kiss of love insane.
He's got a rod beneath his coat
he's gonna ram right down your throat.
Make your grovel on the floor
spit up and scream and beg for more.
He'll whip ya good,
and strip ya down.

Yep. They just don't write 'em like that anymore. Still available on auction sites.
 
 
PS - The guys in this video are NOT the band, seems an Australian Promo company made the vid on their own when the song took off down under.