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Mike Starrs — Electric Garden
(Cherry Red Explore Rights Management ExM028, 1973/2022, CD)

by Jon Davis, Published 2023-04-25

Electric Garden Cover art

Among progressive rock fans, Mike Starrs is best known for his appearance on the first Colosseum II album, Strange New Flesh, in 1976, but his career in music stretches back a few years before that. He went to London from his Edinburgh home in the late 60s and started working in various bands, but none that managed to get recorded until he met producer Tony Atkins and recorded his first solo single in 1973, followed by an album in 1974. Atkins, who was also involved in the Lodestone project, recruited Gerry Morris (bass) and Phil Chesterton (drums) from that band, along with future Procol Harum guitarist Geoff Whitehorn and Daddy Longlegs keyboardist Peter Arneson to bring it all together. Starrs had a hand in writing four of the eleven tracks in collaboration with Morris, and other Lodestone members also contributed. There’s also a cover of “Da-Doo-Ron-Ron,” which was the lead track on the original release. When put in its original context of 1974, it’s easy to see why the album didn’t get much attention — it sounds more like something from 1969-70, with touches of psychedelic pop and callbacks to old rock ‘n’ roll. But listening to it nearly 50 years later, that seems unimportant and it can be judged on its musical merits. In that light, it’s a fine bit of pop-rock with a foot in the 60s and a foot in the 70s. Starrs is a good singer (much better than I remember from his work with Colosseum II), and the songs are well-written. There are a few proggy touches, but I wouldn’t emphasize that too much. This new reissue adds five extra tracks (mostly from singles of the time) and completely ignores the original running order, which is probably a good thing since “Da-Doo-Ron-Ron” is not one of the stronger tracks and would give the listener an inaccurate first impression — it’s now track 15. To my taste, the more rock-oriented tunes have aged better than the ballads, but on the whole Electric Garden is worth attention for fans of 70s rock who like to explore the also-rans that didn’t manage to hit the charts.

Filed under: Reissues, 2022 releases, 1973 recordings

Related artist(s): Mike Starrs

 

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