Jack Starr's Burning Starr
Rock The American Way

I think it has happened to many to listen to an album with the highest expectations, and then be literally overwhelmed by a sense of disgust mixed with banality and predictability at unimaginable levels. Well, that's the sensation I had listening to the debut of Jack Starr's Burning Starr.

Being primarily a lover of those sounds that do not promise significant musical or stylistic changes, let's say I have always settled. I always try to see the glass half full, even with the worst release that comes my way, perhaps thinking "Okay, the first half of the tracks was nothing special, but maybe the second half isn't that bad!" And usually, it was always like that.

Jack Starr, however, managed to change my mind. I find it difficult to believe that a brilliant guitarist like him, a former member of Virgin Steele, could have produced such a disaster as this "Rock The American Way", the debut of his namesake band. I got to know this group only with their more recent releases, such as "Land Of The Dead" or "Stand Your Ground", the latter released a few months ago, and minimizing by saying they are good records would be an understatement because they are perhaps the best heavy releases of the year, talking about historical bands. So, I thought about going back to uncover their early works, and I wish I never had.

Aside from the cover, which I still have to understand what it means with the album title, "Rock The American Way" succeeds in Starr's intention to materialize on album his passion for captivating but damn catchy melodies, Journey style to be clear, but fails in composition. Freed from the passion of the future Virgin Steele leader, David Defeis, for more epic and classical sounds, Starr concentrates all his energies on this work, probably too hastily, and what comes out is a work that would make even the worst of Motley Crue envious.

The title track has such a cheesy and radio-friendly refrain that it stays imprinted in your mind for eternity, with its "Hey hey hey, rock 'n roll is the American way!" spinning, spinning, and spinning continuously in mind. "Woman" and "Live Fast, Rock Hard" are saved by some nice riffs supporting the piece, but no offense to Frank Vestry, the voice is so high-pitched and overly sweetened that I can't stomach any of the tracks. The album was released in 1985, and there were already quite a few power ballads, many good, others not so good, but Starr had the idea to compose "In Your Arms Again", and forgive me for the excessive sarcasm, it is the only way I can describe an album of this kind, but it seems like a song written specifically for the first week of a fourteen-year-old couple. "Fight The Thunder" is the only track that manages to have its own personality, avoiding falling into the already heard, with a vocal performance that at least doesn't sound plasticky but natural.

There's little to say about the songwriting. An elementary school kid could have done better, and I'm not exaggerating. Quoting a passage from "Born To Rock":

"Since I was young, I remember I had a bad attitude

Breaking all the rules when I was at school, teachers calling me a fool

Now I'm 22, and I've got nothing to lose, and there's only one thing I want to do

Because I was born to rock, and I'll never stop."

As I said at the beginning of this writing, from Jack Starr, one could expect anything, but I thought I'd never hear an album like this. The atmosphere surrounding this album will gradually fade away in the following records, preceding the group's first dissolution in 1990, but this does not change the fact that "Rock The American Way" represents one of the lowest points, if not the highest, of US Power Metal. I would be tempted to say that this album is recommended only for those with a strong heart, but why not, even for masochists. Handle with care...