Category Archives: Midsummer Madness/Shooting Star

Midsummer Madness:

…’Los Dias Del Sol’ (‘The Days Of The Sun’) suggests exactly that: warm, sunny, with a hint of Latin America. It’s also a rather short instrumental. But mainly it’s short. Like sunny spells in Great Britain!

The ethereal, haunting quality of ‘The Easy Way Out’ turns Courtney’s most famous piece into a timeless classic – beautifully performed with a moody and melancholy piano for support. Pass me the hanky please!

Closing number ‘Save The Encores’ is a blend of classic rock, some harder rock, a bit of jazz, a bit of this, a bit of that… Well, make up your own mind. But my oh my is it skilfully executed.

Shooting Star:

…’Goodbye Home’ is a number I warm to. The song tells the story of a trip ’round the universe and unexplored galaxies, while the musical arrangement thankfully remains more grounded and isn’t spoiled by an overpowering electro sound. There’s a proper melody to it, actually!

Things get all cosmic and distorted again on ‘Mind Radio’, before taking on considerable more organic forms with ‘Pure Emotion’. I mean, we’re talking a proper rock song here, complete with groove and nice riff work by John Verity. Whoa, beam me up, Scotty!

Claudia A, music-news.com (Jan 2013)

…1980′s Shooting Star, fuelled by Courtney’s passion for UFOlogy, is a welcome-to-the-world-of-tomorrow riot of frosty Radiophonic Orchestra synths and vocoders – impossible to hear without picturing Hazel O’Connor’s Breaking Glass face. The vocal cadences of The Boys In A Dream perhaps suggest why Mike Love was sufficiently enthused by the album to ask if The Beach Boys could adopt it wholesale as their next LP: Courtney
refused. Dig those Joe Meek oscillations on the title track.

Record Collector (March 2013)

…the members of Argent (minus Rod Argent himself) operating as Courtney’s highly-impressive backing band…

Kevin Bryan, Stirling Advertiser (February 2013)

It could have been much sweeter if David agreed to Mike Love’s proposition to turn all of the “Star” songs into a BEACH BOYS record, yet that might ruin its own good vibrations, and now it’s a memorial to the author’s integrity.

DME Music Site