Cheap Star is this french pop band I mentioned a while back whose album was partly produced by Jon Auer and partly by Ken Stringfellow. Like I said I ordered the album and now when I’ve been listening to it for a few days I have to say this is even greater than I ever could have imagined. I really can’t picture a fan of power pop who wouldn’t love this. Well maybe someone could complain that it sounds too much like The Posies, because it really does sound like them an awfully lot. And well having Ken and Jon singing bit of harmonies and adding a bit of sounds from Frosting On The Beater here and there does not really help me to get rid of that image. However, I don’t mind at all. I love The Posies and now I love Cheap Star.

Obviously it’s not just The Posies connection that I love about them. It may be the reason why I found them, but it’s their own excellent song material and that gorgeous singing that keeps me interested. This is just high quality pop album full of gorgeous melodies and beautiful harmonies. There’s also enough variation to maintain your interest. A lot of Guided By Voices in the title track, some of that Frosting On The Beater-ish power pop elsewhere and a plenty of pure and soft pop gems wrapped around them. Speaking Like An Elephant is a slice of pop heaven and it’s totally my kind of album. It might not be the most original release you’ll ever hear, but it perfectly captures all that was great in the 90’s power pop and beautifully brings it back to life. A truly wonderful album. Just give me a few more days  and I probably will change that grade to full five hearts. Part of me would like to do that already.

Cheap Star at myspace

I’ve known this french band Cheap Star for some years, because of their The Posies connections, but only found out today that they’ve released an album a couple of months ago. It’s called Speaking Like an Elephant and half of it was produced by Jon Auer and the other half was produced by Ken Stringfellow. So The Posies connections are still there and it’s certainly not a bad thing, because for me The Posies is the greatest band ever. Still just the fact it was produced by Ken & Jon wouldn’t make one love  them if the songs weren’t as great as they are. Okay, so far I’ve only heard these four songs that are on their myspace, but based on those I really like them and will order the album tonight.

This is definitely my kind of music and brings back the golden age of music. Because for me this dearest era and golden age of music is the 90’s power pop, guitar pop, indie rock etc. The stuff finnish indie freaks heard on Räkärodeo and fell in love with it. There’s a lot of that The Lemonheads, TFC, The Posies thing going on in here. Wonderful melodic guitar pop with  beautiful mellow harmonies. The title track on the other hand sounds almost exactly like the great Guided By Voices.  I’m definitely hooked and convinced enough to order the album.

http://www.myspace.com/cheapstar