Oscar's take . . .
Wow, this album means so much to me. The first time I heard the album was in 1978 at a
nightclub called One Block West. I had seen Morningstar before this, when they opened
for Styx at Memorial Hall in Kansas City the year before. There are few albums that
I distinctly remember hearing for the first time. Both Morningstar albums are on
that list. This was back in the day when my friends & I would cruise around town
listening to our 8-tracks at full blast. We all knew every word to every song on
this album. I even bought the 45 of "Sunshine" just to have it put in the juke box
of our local haunt. There is a certain dark tone to the music here, best
represented in the tracks "Premeditated Rendezvous" and "Turn Out All the Lights".
Finding these albums on CD some twenty years later was a big
surprise to me. I found out it was a big surprise to the band members as well. As
far as I know, they received no royalties for the reprinting. If you didn't get
your copies, good luck, I'm pretty sure they are all but gone. Hopefully there will
be another pressing someday. Anyway, this album is a true gem.
= lo-fi sound clip available
Oscar's take . . .
The second album from Morningstar was an improvement over the debut. The
sound here is much cleaner. The boys seem more comfortable in their
studio surroundings as the playing sounds more assured and Mike Edmunds sounds
like a seasoned professional. The ominous tone of the first album is
diminished here, with the exception of the brilliant "Never Meant To Be". "Rock & Roll Rodeo"
and their cover of "Everybody I Love You" are the only two songs that I remember getting
any airplay in Kansas City even though "Hard Bargain Driver" is probably the album's
strongest track. Fans who saw the band live knew their version of
"Gimme Some Lovin' " was one of the high points of the show. It was nice to have
a recording of this, although it doesn't capture the feel of the live act.
This album
was another gem from a band whose recording career lasted much too briefly.
Turn Out All The Lights
(M. Edmunds)
(lyrics)