Stars After Stars After Stars

Evansville Courier & Press Review

By MARK WILSON, Music critic
April 1, 2005
Spike Priggen
Stars After Stars After Stars (Volare Label)

Intelligent, well-crafted pop rock is vastly underrepresented in today's music scene. There seems to be a a consensus that it has to be disguised as "punk" (of the most lightweight variety), and even then it's generally rendered in primary colors and paint-by-numbers formula.

But for those willing to dig a little deeper, there is still a wealth of great new music out there. Priggen's 2001 solo debut, "The Very Thing You Treasure," was an under-the-radar gem. It wasn't just critics who picked up on it. It slipped into the mainstream with a song on the TV show "Felicity" and another song ("Outtasight") appearing in the first-ever iPod TV commercial. Considering that mega-rockers U2 are also shilling for iPod these days, that puts Priggen in some pretty heady company.

Although it is a highly eclectic collection of mostly obscure songs by other artists, Priggen's second album, "Stars After Stars After Stars," underscores the considerable depths of his talent. Priggen makes each song his own, giving the album a remarkable coherent sound. Some of that is due to his song selection, songs which, except for a straightforward reading of Alice Cooper's "Eighteen," render themselves to his vaguely rootsy power pop interpretations. Priggen reclaims "Questioningly," the Ramones' well-written but improbable stab at country-rock and rescues from obscurity early British pop gems such as Tracy Thorn's "Plainsailing" and Scritti Politti's "A Slow Soul."

Other highlights include a beautiful, guitar-filled version of singer-songwriter Jennifer Jackson's "When You Looked at Me," a loving rendition of Alex Chilton's "Nighttime" and the melancholy "How We Were Before," originally done by the Zombies.

The other thing that makes this album work so well is its stellar caste of backing musicians. In addition to Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos on six songs, "Stars After Stars After Stars" features a virtual Who's Who of the New York City underground music scene, including legendary guitarist Ivan Julian and musicians who have played with acts such as They Might Be Giants, Fountains of Wayne, Jay Farrar, Beat Rodeo, XTC and even Ozzy Osbourne.

Don't miss the bonus tracks either, which include the hilarious underground hipster "J and H Productions" tape (Google it for background) and two excellent bonus songs that are as good as any of the songs on the proper album.

Dream Magazine Review

Spike Priggen
Stars After Stars After Stars (Volare)
This second album finds Spike Priggen and a bunch of friends (Ivan Julian, Bun E Carlos, etc.) covering some great underknown songs by folks like the Pontiac Brothers, the Zombies, Nikki Sudden/Dave Kusworth the Jacobites, Tracy Thorn, the Ramones, etc. If Spike is doing all of the vocals as the press kit seems to indicate; he's the best singing vocal mimic I've ever heard. His Tracy Thorn, and Joey Ramone are uncanny.
George Parsons
Dream Magazine #5

The Big Takeover Review

This may end up being one of my fave reviews of this record. Seems no one told this guy that it was all covers, thereby proving my point that most people would not even realize it was covers unless you told them.
"Priggen is a frequent performer on the NYC scene and at various times has been a member of Dumptruck, Hello Strangers, Liquor Giants, Schramms, and Pussywillows. His 2001 debut revealed a tremendous talent for perfect pop songs often filtered through a country sound. Therefore, the first track on his new disc comes as quite a shock with its blast of synthesizer. Thereafter, he returns to his normal style, for which a useful comparison is Freedy Johnston, whom Priggen resembles in vocal timbre, melodically (especially), and to a lesser extent in overall style. It's a sound that doesn't work well unless lavished on high-quality songs, and Priggen supplies plenty. "
The Big Takeover site.

Delusions Of Adequacy Review

"Most of the album is a nostalgic look back at the artist's past, including the bands he's played in as well as those he's idolized, including the Hot Bodies, the Jacobites, and the Zombies. He works through these songs competently and respectfully, and in the end what he's created is a tribute to his own musical development. But in doing so he's also given us a window back into some forgotten moments in music from the 70's and 80's various indie, new-wave, and punk scenes." - George Ford, 3/29/2005
Read the whole thing here.

Village Voice Mini-Review

The Village Voice gave me a nice little pick in the "Voice Choices" section which contained this little mini-review.
"On Spike's new "Stars After Stars After Stars" he pulls off the neat trick of recording a classy set of covers (The Pontiac Bros. "Be Married Song"; Zombies, Jenifer Jackson, Sudden & Kusworth) with a star-studded cast (Bun E Carlos, Ivan Julian). He's kicked around in some bands that almost crossed over (Dumptruck, The Liquor Giants, The Caroline Know)--can he finally get a break?". - Josh Goldfein

The Very Thing That You Treasure Amazon Review

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An exemplary volume of power-pop anguish, May 13, 2003

Reviewer:   redtunictroll (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews

Spike Priggen's name pops up often as a contributor to such in-the-know New York and Boston bands as Dumptruck, The Pussywillows, and The Liquor Giants. He's also achieved minor renown for his productions on his own #1 Records label, including projects with Caroline Know and The Mad Scene.

In 2001, Priggen finally ventured out front for this debut solo CD. On it he combines a wealth of pop and rock influences, including Big Star's chiming melodiousness (along with antecedents like The Beatles, Searchers, and Byrds), the quirky styles of Chris Stamey and Mitch Easter, the power-pop energy of Velvet Crush and The Greenberry Woods, and hints of the 70s guitar excess Matthew Sweet brought to bear on his post-Girlfriend albums. At times his lyrics seethe with John Lennon's anger (and wit), but most often, and most brilliantly, they hinge on the sort of forlorn melancholy that Chris Bell made so affecting.

The opener is a note-by-note textbook of the perfect pop song. The vocal is at turns angry and defiant (the song opens "I never thought that I could be this bitter / I never thought that I could hate you the way that I do"), but ultimately the bravado gives way to a sense of haggard defeat in the refrain, "every broken heart is like the first one." Cascading guitars (including a volume pedal effect that beautifully captures the sadness of pedal steel) and unusually flanged cymbals perfectly underscore the lyrical despair. The overall effect is a mesmerizing outburst of emotion - something that everyone who gets dumped should listen to for a few days without interruption.

Priggen's ferment takes a sharper turn with the howling guitars and surreal mellotron of "Alright," and the riff-heavy "Yesterday" finds Priggen stridently whinging, "Yesterday, you couldn't live without me." The album's balance of electric and acoustic, loud and soft, rockers and ballads is impressive, but it's the contemplative, downbeat numbers that really stick to the ribs. "The Right Thing" and "Outtasight" brilliantly capture the end-of-the-night (or early morning) exhaustion of an emotional downpour in both their words and music. Acoustic and resonator guitars, Searchers-like electric 12-string, wavery mellotron, and folk harmonies perfectly match the emotional tenor of the lyrics.

Priggen's work as producer captures the jangly sheen of his songs with a ragged glory that spells out his emotional distress. The odd bits of vocal echo on tracks like "The Right Thing" and "So Good to See You" are at once noticeable and atmospheric, as are the splashes of mandolin, cello, xylophone and Hammond M3. You can't quite always put your finger on why they sound right, but you realize that the songs would never be the same without them. Even the fanciful "I'm in Love" is lavished with bouncing, twanging guitars that build to a petulant climax.

This is a truly masterful work, with derivations that lead to subtle, highly-rewarding originality.