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22: Starcastle DOWNLOAD: PLAYLIST: Stargate, from the 1976 album Starcastle Red Season, from the 2006 album Song of Times Ludwig Van Beethoven: Lady of the Lake, from the 1976 album Starcastle Song of Times, from the 2006 album Song of Times Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Nova, from the 1976 album Starcastle Dawning of the Day, from the 1977 album Fountains of Light Igor Stravinsky: All for the Thunder, from the 2006 album Song of Times
This episode celebrates the much anticipated album "Song of Times" --- the first new studio release in over 25 years from the American progressive rock band Starcastle. A group featuring talented musicians, intricate arrangements, and obvious classical influences, Starcastle released three excellent studio albums throughout the late '70s. They had the misfortune to begin their career just as the progressive rock era of the '70s was ending, and the tide of popular opinion swung against them. Fan support has continued Since the band's demise in the early '80s, culminating in the band's recent revival, the re-release of their entire catalog, and now a new studio album. Song of Times features stunning artwork and the classic Starcastle sound, and can be purchased NOW via the band's website at www.starcastlemusic.com. It will be available in stores March 13th. I was able to correspond with two members of the band in preparation for the show: Keyboardist, Computer Programming expert, and prolific author Herb Schildt (www.herbschildt.com), and Guitarist Matt Stewart. Together we selected three works that represent some of their most prominent classical influences. Herb lists Beethoven's 9th symphony as one of his favorites, and writes "I still find it humorous that Beethoven is not widely recognized as the inventor of rock and roll! How can anyone listen to just about anything written by Beethoven and not come away thinking that he was the first rock star?" In a recent e-mail interview Herb writes, "One of our original goals in the early days of Starcastle was to achieve a rich "symphonic sound" using the "new instruments" of the electronic revolution...In addition to that "symphonic sound", Starcastle was also influenced by classical music in another, perhaps more important way. Instead of evolving out of the Blues tradition, as did most rock bands of that time, Starcastle looked to that long musical heritage that began with Bach and ended with Stravinsky and Copeland. In other words, we studied, adapted, and integrated into our sound what is generally referred to as "classical music". Our goal was to define a sound that had the power of "rock and roll" but the depth and texture found in classical music." As I listen to Starcastle, the composer that comes foremost to my mind has always been Stravinsky. Both Herb Schiller and Matt Stewart confirmed that they were heavily influenced by Stravinsky. I've selected the First movement of his Symphony in 3 movements. |