Stardancer

Infobox Album
Name = Stardancer
Type =Studio
Artist = Tom Rapp


Released = 1972
Recorded = August 29 - September 12, 1972
Genre =
Length = 36:32
Label = Blue Thumb Records BTS-44
Producer = Peter H. Edmiston
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|2.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0xfrxqy5ldae link]
Last album ="Familiar Songs"
(1972)
This album =Stardancer
(1972)
Next album ="Sunforest"
(1973)

"Stardancer" was the second solo album credited to American singer-songwriter Tom Rapp, the leader of folk-rock group Pearls Before Swine, and his first for Blue Thumb Records. It was recorded and released in 1972, and has never been reissued on CD or in digital format.

Background

After two Pearls Before Swine albums for ESP-Disk, and five albums for Reprise Records which increasingly acknowledged his solo status, Rapp signed for Blue Thumb as a singer-songwriter, ironically around the same time as Pearls Before Swine had at last begun to perform as a regular touring group. The group, including Art Ellis, Harry Orlove and Bill Rollins, appeared on three of the tracks on "Stardancer", but on most of the songs Rapp was supported - as he had been two years earlier on "The Use of Ashes" - by Nashville session musicians, led by Charlie McCoy and supported by Steve McCord (who had previously been a member of one of Lou Reed's first bands, The All Night Workers) [Interview with Rapp in Ptolemaic Terrascope, Spring 1994] .

Rapp stated [Interview with Rapp in Ptolemaic Terrascope, Spring 1994] that "Stardancer" was the first album since the first Pearls album "One Nation Underground" over which he had full control. Although Allmusic gives "Stardancer" a mediocre rating, this is not supported by other critics [ [http://members.chello.nl/cvanderlely/pearls/disco/disco8.html Stardancer ] ] [ [http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/roadhouse/albumreview.html Music Reviews ] ] , nor by Rapp himself, who has rated the album as one of his finest. The fierce anti-war song "Fourth Day of July", with its references to "the broken children of Vietnam", was widely played in "underground" circles of the time. The lighthearted "Summer of '55" contains some of Rapp's cleverest aphorisms, such as "When the day breaks / the pieces fall on you". Two of his other songs, "Stardancer" and "For The Dead In Space", reflect on themes of loss against a background of space travel and can be seen as reworkings of Pearls Before Swine's earlier "Rocket Man". Several of the arrangements hark back to the psychedelic style of his earliest albums, such as "Balaklava", with use of bell overtones and phasing.

Like most of the Pearls Before Swine albums, the sleeve design used classic art works, in this case the painting "Descent of the Rebel Angels" by Pieter Brueghel the Elder on the front sleeve, and a William Morris background design on the reverse.

"Stardancer" has never been released on CD. The rights are held by Universal Music, who administrate the properties of the former Blue Thumb label. [ [http://www.pbswine.com/ 2008 information on Tom Rapp reissues and archives] ]

Track listing

#"Fourth Day Of July" - 4:55 (Rapp)
#"For The Dead In Space" - 4:05 (Rapp)
#"The Baptist" - 5:10 (Rapp)
#"Summer Of '55" - 2:13 (Rapp)
#"Tiny Song" - 2:33 (Rapp)
#"Stardancer" - 5:42 (Rapp)
#"Marshall" - 2:15 (Rapp)
#"Why Should I Care" - 2:54 (Osborne / Addison)
#"Touch Tripping" - 4:55 (Rapp)
#"Les Ans" - 1:50 (Rapp)

Musicians

*Tom Rapp: Vocals, Guitar
*Charlie McCoy: Guitar, Dobro, Organ, Banjo, Harmonica, Toy Piano, Session Leader
*Mike Leech: Bass Guitar, String Arrangements
*Steve McCord: Guitar, Musical Advisor
*David Briggs: Piano
*Bobby Wood: Piano
*Jim Isbell: Drums, Percussion
*Buddy Spicher: Fiddle, Electric Viola, Electric Violin
*Weldon Myric: Steel Guitar
*Florence Warner: Vocals
*Reggie Young: Electric Guitar
*Jim Colvard: Electric Guitar
*Pearls Before Swine (on tracks 3, 6, 7):
**Art Ellis: Flute, Wind Chimes, Congas, Vocals
**Harry Orlove: Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
**Bill Rollins: Cello, Vocals
*String quartet (on track 10):
**Brenton Banks: Violin
**Gary Van Osdale: Viola
**Sheldon Kurland: Violin
**Byron Bach: Cello

Other credits

*Recorded at Quadrafonic Sound and Woodland Sound Studios, Nashville, August 29 - September 12, 1972
*Produced by Peter H. Edmiston
*Engineers : Rex Collier, Gene Eichelberger

References

External links

* [http://members.chello.nl/cvanderlely/pearls/disco/lyrics.html#stardanc Lyrics to "Stardancer"]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0xfrxqy5ldae AMG review]
* [http://www.pbswine.com/ Official site for Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=57218849 Fan site on MySpace]