| Stars on E.S.P. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 24, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1992-1995 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 44:11 58:33 (1998 reissue) | |||
| Label | 4AD | |||
| Producer | Warren Defever | |||
| His Name Is Alive chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Stars on E.S.P. | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A [2] |
| NME | 7/10 [3] |
| Pitchfork | 7.1/10 [4] |
| Spin | 7/10 [5] |
| The Village Voice | A− [6] |
Stars on E.S.P. is an album by His Name Is Alive, released by 4AD in 1996.
Stars on E.S.P. had the longest gestation period of any His Name Is Alive album, a project that band leader Warren Defever spent three years crafting before it saw release. In his notes written at the time of the album's release, he mentions that he began work on "I Can't Live in This World Anymore" in December 1992, right after the completion of Mouth by Mouth . The project took so long for a few reasons: HNIA's 1993 tour in support of Mouth by Mouth; the death of Defever's mother in 1994, which led his father to move to Florida, leaving the house to Defever and him living alone for the first time; and various other projects that were started but mostly left uncompleted. The album finally saw release in July 1996 on 4AD, both by their native UK branch and their USA wing, which was distributed by Warner Bros. Records at the time.
This was the first album to feature Lovetta Pippen, who became the band's primary vocalist in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She sings as part of a gospel choir on the song "Last One."
While a deceptively simple and minimalist album at first glance, Stars on ESP is actually rich with detail.[ original research? ] The overarching concept is that the album is a pseudo-compilation of singles on the ESP-Disk label founded in 1966. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, ESP was noted for its roster of psychedelic, folk and progressive bands. The label had its own identity, similar to the way 4AD would develop its own identity in the 1980s. On the album's sleeve, all the songs have the album's 4AD catalog number (CAD6010) with a number appended after it, as if each one was a single. (For example, opener "Dub Love Letter" is labeled CAD6010.01, etc.)
The album also seems to allude to the old days of pop music, that once a song became popular, several different artists recorded their own version of the song. Therefore, tracks 2, 10, and 15 are all different versions of the same song.
The other main theme is Defever's memories of AM radio and being a youth in the 1970s, and the songs both reflect the sound of the decade's AM radio fare and are filled with memories of Michigan winters, summers and locations. There are several musical interludes that give the impression of turning through a radio dial, including snippets of songs that later appear in full.
Perhaps taking this fascination with past AM radio to its extreme, "Universal Frequencies" is highly reminiscent of The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". In interviews, Defever has called the song a "sequel" to "Good Vibrations". [7]
All songs are written by Defever, credited as His Name Is Alive, except for: "The Bees," co-written by Erika Hoffman; "Universal Frequencies" and "The Sand That Holds The Lakes In Place," co-written by Matthew Smith; "Across The Street," co-written by Mark Kozelek; and "Movie," written by drummer Trey Many.
For the first time in His Name Is Alive's history, the 4AD UK release (CAD6010CD) and the American CD release were the same. See entries for earlier albums for the differences in UK and USA releases. As noted above, the 1998 reissue on 4AD (worldwide, and not distributed by Warner Bros. in the USA) contains the tracks from the 1997 Nice Day EP. This version has the catalog number GAD6010CD
4AD's vinyl LP release of Stars on ESP, a limited edition, featured a special mono remix of the album, further emphasizing the album's tribute to the past glory days of AM radio (which is always broadcast in mono). A different cover featuring oven mitts was used. The LP features tracks 1 through 8 on side one, and 9 through 15 on side two.
During the years that Warner Bros. distributed 4AD's releases in the US, they used their own catalog numbers that did not correspond with the standard 4AD numbering scheme (one can tell whether a release is an LP, EP, etc., and what year it came out by looking at a 4AD catalog number). Nonetheless, the front and back cover CD artwork for the Warner Bros. release did use the CAD6010.01, CAD6010.02, etc., designations as mentioned above, even though the Warners' catalog number was different. However, a special promotional release with a different cover re-did this scheme with the Warner Bros. catalog number (46207).
His Name Is Alive is an American experimental rock band/project from Livonia, Michigan. After several self-released cassettes, they debuted on 4AD Records in 1990, starting a long run at the label. Throughout the band's long history, leader Warren Defever has been the only constant member, with a variety of musicians and singers contributing over the years.
4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of the label's first four singles. Later that year, Watts-Russell and Kent purchased the label off Beggars Banquet to become an independent record label, and Kent sold his share to Watts-Russell a year later.
Läther is the sixty-fifth official album by Frank Zappa. It was released posthumously as a three-CD set on Rykodisc in 1996. The album's title is derived from bits of comic dialog that link the songs. Zappa also explained that the name is a joke, based on "common bastardized pronunciation of Germanic syllables by the Swiss."
Zappa in New York is a double live album by Frank Zappa released on his own DiscReet Records label. It was recorded in December 1976 at a series of concerts at the Palladium in New York City.
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Heidi Berry is an American musician. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she recorded and released four critically acclaimed solo albums on the British independent record labels Creation Records and 4AD.
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Livonia is the debut album by His Name Is Alive. It was originally released by 4AD on June 25, 1990 in the United Kingdom and in 1992 on 4AD/Rykodisc in the United States.
Home Is in Your Head is the second studio album by His Name Is Alive, originally released via 4AD in the UK on September 9, 1991, and on Rykodisc in the United States in 1992.
The Dirt Eaters in an EP by His Name Is Alive, originally released by 4AD in early 1992. It has never been released on its own in the United States, as it was included on the 4AD/Rykodisc US reissue of Home Is in Your Head in 1992.
Mouth by Mouth is the third studio album by American rock band His Name Is Alive, released by 4AD in 1993.
King of Sweet is a compilation album by His Name Is Alive, originally released in a limited run by the Perdition Plastics label in 1993. Most, if not all, of the songs had previously appeared on the band's many self-released cassettes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and some of them had appeared in different versions on the band's 4AD releases.
Nice Day is an EP by His Name Is Alive, released by 4AD in the UK in 1997.
Ft. Lake is an album by His Name Is Alive, released by 4AD in 1998.
Always Stay Sweet is a compilation album by His Name Is Alive, released by 4AD on February 23, 1999.
Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth is an album by His Name Is Alive, released by 4AD in 2001.
1983–1991 is a four-CD box set of material by supergroup This Mortal Coil, released on March 30, 1993 on the 4AD label. The box set was released only in the United States, and was distributed by Warner Bros. Records, with whom 4AD maintained a distribution deal at the time. This marked the first domestic American release for most of the band's output, as only the debut album, It'll End in Tears, had been released in the United States previously.
Sleeps with the Fishes is the lone collaborative album from Clan of Xymox founding member Pieter Nooten and Canadian guitarist/producer Michael Brook, released by 4AD on 12 October 1987. Intended as Nooten's debut solo album after a brief split from Clan of Xymox, the record turned into a collaboration with Brook after a suggestion from 4AD label founder and boss Ivo Watts-Russell. Though not a huge commercial success, Sleeps with the Fishes was described by AllMusic as "essential listening for fans of 4AD, ambient music, minimalism, experimental electronic music, and morose themes alike... an overlooked masterpiece."
Between 1993 and 2000, a series of Ramones covers albums were released by Selfless Records, an independent record label based in Garland, Texas specializing in punk rock, on which bands influenced by seminal punk group the Ramones performed cover versions of entire Ramones albums. Under the Selfless label, Screeching Weasel, the Queers, and the Vindictives respectively covered the first three Ramones albums: Ramones (1976), Rocket to Russia (1977), and Leave Home (1977). Selfless then became Clearview Records and continued the series, with Boris the Sprinkler, the Parasites, the Mr. T Experience, the Beatnik Termites, and the McRackins respectively covering End of the Century (1980), It's Alive (1979), Road to Ruin (1978), Pleasant Dreams (1981), and Too Tough to Die (1984).
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