Grace Hotel
  Overall rating:  +++

Album Reviews

One look at the cover of the latest album from longtime indie favorites Starflyer 59 makes it pretty obvious that this album is a return to their roots. With a solid off-blue color and no text, the longtime Starflyer fan is immediately reminded of the days of silver, gold, and red. Of course, those days could never be returned to in full, but Jason Martin and company make a pretty good go at it here.

I Am the Portuguese Blues is ten tracks of highly listenable rock music. The guitars are loud, the melodies are sweet, and the tunes are cranked out. The closest comparison in the realm of Starflyer is Americana, but this really isn't noise rock. It seems to mix the pop sensibilities of Old with the dark rock and roll joys of Americana. This is something new, but at the same time, singer / songwriter / guitarist Jason Martin has made it clear that this album is just a sidetrip for the band.

But it's quite a nice little sidetrip, that's to be sure. There is not one song here to skip through. This is one of the best examples of ear candy in recent history. It's fun to listen to, but it's also really good. "Wake Up Early" takes the album off to a blazing start that doesn't let up during the 27 minute ride.

27 minutes? Yeah, that's the downfall here. The music is great, but it really goes by fast. I'm pretty sure it's just as much music as most Starflyer albums include, it's just played a good bit faster. The lyrics can largely be ignored. At least so far, I haven't picked up anything that important. Honestly, this is just a rock out album. Can I pick a favorite song? I've been addicted to "Teens in Love" lately, but it is one highlight among many.

I Am the Portuguese Blues exists mostly as a guilty pleasure, but good golly is it pleasureful.

  ~ loconotion

Starflyer 59 is one of the most innovative bands in existance today. Over the last 10 years, bandleader Jason Martin and his revolving door of musicians have created alternative rock masterpieces that all vary in sound and texture.
The band's latest "I Am The Portuguese Blues" is no exception. The material on this album was originally intended to be recorded and released in 1997 after the band's "Americana" album but before 1998's "Fashion Focus". Now, seven years after these songs were written, they are finally recorded and released on this album.
With this album, Starflyer has stripped down their sound to its basic elements of guitar, bass, drums and vocals with absolutely no studio tricks or special effects. Yes folks, this is a barebones Rock and Roll album. Tracks such as "Wake Up Early", "UnLucky", "Teens In Love" and "I Need Some Help" have a style similar to 70s glam-rock acts like T-Rex, Queen and David Bowie. "No Revolution" sounds like a pure Black Sabbath track with Jason Martin filling in for Ozzy. The instrumental "Sound On Sound" has a definite Led Zeppelin/jam-band quality to it. The remaining tracks are loaded with ear-crunching guitar riffs that rank among Jason Martin's very best. On previous Starflyer albums, his guitar work is more fluid and restrained. On "Portuguese Blues", he lets it all come loose as if something he'd been keeping inside just erupted.
This is Starflyer 59's greatest album yet. A small complaint would be the fact that this album only runs for 27-minutes total. However, considering the high musical quality of this album, its short length hardly seems to matter. Jason Martin and friends have undboubtedly created another modern rock classic with "I Am The Portuguese Blues".
Highly recommended.