This album gathers the complete released recordings made by the Stargazers during the time they were under contract with CBS in the early 80’s, which for many is the golden age of the band. The line up was at that time Danny Brittain (lead vocals), John Wallace (saxophone), Anders Janes (double bass), Ricky Lee Brawn (drums), Peter Davenport and later Marc Breman (guitars)
The songs are listed chronologically. Thus you can see the evolution of the sound. The first twelve songs feature former member and lead guitarist Peter Davenport whose passion for Bill Haley was a main ingredient in the band’s sound at the time. Both “Groove Baby Groove” and “Go Go Honey” (listen to those steel guitar ricochets ala Bill Williamson!) could have easily been recorded by Haley on Decca. Likewise, “La Rock’n’Roll” with John Wallace playing accordion reminds strongly of the Comets’ “A Rockin’ Little Tune” Three unreleased songs also featuring Davenport and recorded for the debut album but rejected by the label are included here In August 1982, Davenport left the band and was replaced by Marc Breman a friend of Danny Brittain. With him on board the sound of the band changed and they started to experiment and play a more modern brand of Rock’n’roll. The production also changed to become less “authentic” and more radio friendly. Songs like Wallace’s “Marcelle mania” and Brittain’s “Follow Your Heart” which is not that far from what a neo-rockabilly band like Restless would later do are typical of that sound. But with the exception of Louis Jordan’s Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens which is wasted by the producer choosen by the label, this is top class Rock’n’roll.
In all you have 22 songs by one of the best and most influential rockin’ band of the early 80’s, packed in a superbly designed digipack (made by the same person who did their designs back in the days) with a poster and informative liner notes. If you don’t know this band, do yourself a favour and buy it right now, and if you only own the original singles and lp, buy this reissue cause the sound is just perfect. Let’s just hope that the label, owned by Anders the original bass player, wont stop here and will release live stuff, unreleased rehearsals or demos in the future. One can dream!
Buy it directly at www.rhythmrock-it.com (only £9!!!!)

Fred "Virgil" Turgis

The main interest of this compilation released by Vinyl Japan (which explains the absence of songs from Back In Orbit) is to feature the four songs of the Go Go Honey ep that were only available on vinyl.

A best-of featuring all the issued sides made for Epic. Also contains an informative booklet written by Ricky Lee Brawn and Danny Brittain.

Actually recorded in 1994 this album was only issued in 1999. It was recorded after the band had fired former drummer Ricky Lee Brawn to go into a more jazz direction. So it's not your typical Stargazers album yet it's a good one. Saxman John Wallace wrote the 2/3 of it hence the strong jazz coloration, John always been a fan of Lester Young. It also leaves more room to Gardner's piano and Davenport never sounded so close to Charlie Christian. More in their usual Rock'n'roll style Davenport penned a couple of Haley influenced tunes (L.O.V.E, Let’s Go Rockin’ n’ Rollin’) and Danny contributed Swingin’ On A Star a killer rockabilly number.

Produced by Ricky Lee Brawn, Froffee Coffee really differs from the band’s previous releases and even Watch This Space doesn’t show such a wide variety of style, featuring doo-wop, rock’n’roll, big beat, jazz, latin. With Jim Knowler of the Keytones replacing Peter on guitar it has a strong Keytones influence on songs like "Fools Fall In Love" or the doo wop cover of Chuck Berry's Oh Baby Doll. Actually it almost sounds more like a Danny Brittain's solo album than a typical Stargazers album.

Highly popular in Japan, the Stargazers recorded this 10" ep mainly for the Japanese market. It features a new recording of Go Go Honey, a Danny's original Send Me A letter Loretta and two covers that finds the band in full Haley mode. The line-up on this ep was Danny Brittain, Peter Davenport on guitar, Tim Purkess on doublebass, Chris Gardner on piano and Simon Gilby on sax and Shaun O'Keefe on drums.

Released to coincide with a tour of Japan, Rock That Boogie contains 21 unissued songs from the early years of the band (1980-1983). It features several originals that never made it on album and tracks from the rejected first album that lwas one of the reasen Peter left the band.

From its title to the songs, this album is more Haley-esque than ever. Out of the ten covers, seven had been played by Bill Haley and one by the Jodimars. The only two originals are two jazzy instrumentals written by Peter and John.
Despite this lack of original material it’s a good and very enjoyable album. The musicianship is top notch, especially on the two instrumentals that announce the jazz direction that the band would take in the future. Their cover of Just Go Wild over Rock’nRoll is also a rare occasion to hear more of Chris Gardner’s playing.
Marshall Lytle, now a friend of the band, even makes a guest appearance and sings Eat Your Heart Out Annie, a song he recorded for the first time in 1956 with the Jodimars.

Back In Orbit hit the shelves in 1991 to great acclaim. It proved that, nearly ten years after their first album, they hadn’t lost their energy. For this album he band decided to focus mostly on Rock’n’Roll/Jive stuff. And Back In Orbit is loaded with hotter than dynamite songs, some sounding like Haley’s unissued songs from the vault of Decca. It burst with Crazy But True that quotes Haley’s Dim Dim The Light (the mambo passage) and Birth Of The Boogie (the sax riff). It’s Only A Paper Moon is a good opportunity to hear the new rhythm section formed by veteran Ricky Lee Brawn and newcomers Chris Gardner and Tim Purkess in action and it confirms that Tim was the right choice to replace Anders. Clive Osborne also guests on steel guitar. The instrumental version of Sweet Georgia Brown shows their jazzy side and leaves plenty of room for Peter and John to express their skills. All in all, a killer album.

Though it's a bootleg album, it's a very interesting one. It contains live recordings, rehearsals, demos and unissued tracks from the CBS period. Vinyl only.

The fourth (and last) single recorded at 10cc’s Strawberry studios in Stockport. A side is a cover of Louis Jordan’s Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chicken. This time the label chose the song and the producer (Peter Collins who worked with Shakin’ Stevens and Matchbox). It’s clear that CBS wanted a modern production, which now sounds horribly dated, to get that hit that wouldn’t come. The result is as far as possible from the good old rock’n’roll (even with modern aspects) the band used to play, using electronic drums instead of Ricky’s distinctive groove. At least the buyers could find comfort with Rocketship to the Moon on the b-side, a gentle jazzy ballad penned by Janes and dating from the Davenport era of the band.

The legendary debut album. See "Epic Rock'n'roll" for a detailed review.