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Starry Eyed & Laughing – Bells of Lightning

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What does it sound like?:

Forty-six years after their last album, Starry Eyed & Laughing are back, back, back.

“So what?” you say.

“Who?” you say?

SE&L were a short-lived band in the early 1970’s. Their star burned brightly, for just three years, and then it was snuffed out by broke management and record company disinterest. Founder members Tony Poole and Ian Whitmore kept in touch, and even wrote a few songs together, before Tony was taken ill, in 2013. Tony had done some production and was also in the wonderful Bennett, Wilson Poole, whose debut album was Americana Album of the Year in 2018 (in my house, at least.) Tony’s illness took hold once more and, during lockdown, he began to write with Ian again. And this wonderful album, (plus an accompanying album of beautiful covers,) is the result.

And it’s glorious.

Tony and Ian unashamedly wore their Byrds influences on their arms, back in 1973, and celebrated them. Their gigs were full of their own original material and a few Byrds/Dylan covers and were packed with rich harmony vocals, gutsy bass and drums and Tony’s 12-string Rickenbacker, sprinkling the stardust. And that’s what you get here, without the covers.

The opening, one-two knockout punch of Set Me Free From This Lost Highway and I See My Rider are perfect scene-setters for what is to come. Lush harmonies, a great rhythm section, strong melodies and ‘that Ricky’ make for an irresistible combination. Throughout the album, the songs are strong, the melodies insistent and the vocals, from both of them, are spot on.

Of the eleven tracks, I don’t yet have a favourite – I was playing the album while walking around a very sunny Primrose Hill, in London, the other day, and the first five tracks were on constant rotation. Today? It’s the closing three. If the sun comes out, this is the perfect soundtrack.

The album is not yet on Spotify so I’ve linked the opening track, in the Comments.

What does it all *mean*?

When they disbanded, in 1976, Starry Eyed & Laughing were a promise unfulfilled. With this new album, Tony & Ian have fulfilled that promise, and then some.

Goes well with…

Sunshine, bottles of cider, wine and sunshine.

Release Date:

30th September 2021 – my 65th birthday! – available from their website, above. You even get a handwritten post-it from Tony, thanking you.

Might suit people who like…

Their volume at 11 and guitars set to Maximum Jangle.

6

Comments

    • “So You Wanna Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star Pt. II”.
      Bounces along most pleasantly. Very enjoyable indeed except they should have worked on the chorus a bit longer, put the two short lines together as one line and written another line to follow. In my opinion.

  3. I saw them in Bristol, and using the website reckon it was Churchill School in 1975 (I remember it being in a school as it was an odd venue). They were terrific, and I still have a poster somewhere. Thanks for this – I seriously wondered if anyone else had ever heard of them!

      • That must have been the same tour that I saw – they played Exeter University at some point during my first year, which was 74/75. I remember enjoying them at the time, and being amused when they even explained from the stage exactly how they had decided upon their name. I can’t remember if they were the main attraction that night or the support band, but either way they stuck in my memory and I still remember the gig fondly almost half a century later!

  5. I saw them at Surrey Uni, at one of their Free Festivals – 1974. It was a hot, sunny day, outside, the cider was flowing, and they sounded fantastic. I have loved them ever since, chasing down imports, best ofs, etc. I met Tony outside the Betsey, in London, before a Bennett Wilson Poole gig. I described the gig from ’74, but with no detail. He thought for a moment, and said,
    “A grass amphitheatre? Hot afternoon? Good crowd? Yes, I remember. “

  6. That track sounds petty good, loaded with Byrds and CSN influences.
    I looked at their website and the gig diary and note they are listed as playing at Birmingham University on February 7th 1976, but my memory is that the gig was cancelled.
    I will be putting in an order for it.

    • Wow, a decent gig diary, and there’s the listing for the gig I saw: 4-Oct-74 – Exeter University, playing as the support band for Hudson Ford. Amazeballs!

      Thanks Niall, I’ll be buying this one too.

  7. Thanks for this @niallb, I absolutely love this band, unfortunately I never got to see them live but I have that that Rockpalast CD/DVD as compensation.

    I never expected a new S.E.A.L. album and was very happy with the ‘Bennet Wilson Poole’ album.

    When I went on the bands site I thought it was download only, I don’t do fresh air music. Then I found the physical media links. Ordered the LP/Covers CD & CD. Very pleased about this.

      • Disappointed that there is not another Bennett, Wilson Poole album and by coincidence the latest Danny George Wilson cd should be on my doormat when I arrive home tonight.
        Since I loved the BWP album this is very much of interest to me. Will check it out.

        • It looks and seems DGW has “gone” all electro home studio. Lockdown has done this to a number of artists: the great, IMHO, Alan Tyler, head honcho of the Rockingbirds, has done the same, all with a cheap analog drum machine. Not unendearing, just a little unexpected.

      • I`m certainly not disappointed @niallb.

        I`m playing the new album* at this moment (for the 3rd time) and it`s bloody superb!!!

        Mr Whitmore & Mr Poole certainly wear their Byrds/West Coast influences on their sleeves but the end result is an album of new music that I feckin` love. Like you Niall I have no faves yet, 11 songs, 11 classics.

        They sent the covers CD (free with the LP which isn`t yet released) and what a treat this is. Loving the covers of Gene Clark`s `American Dreamer`, Jackson Browne`s `Birds Of St. Marks` to name just the first two tracks.

        HEY! Blackuntry Boy (@SteveT) I get what you say about another Bennett Wilson Poole album, get this. You will not be disappointed.

  9. Got hold of it yesterday and, by jingo, it is a delight. The unashamed Byrdsian influence is a joy, to the extent of, sometimes, spot the reference, but all in a new coat of paint. This is no copycat exercise. Inklings of CSN also filter through, together with the astounding closer, which is deader than the Dead, reincarnation rather than any rotting corpse.

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