Starry Eyed & Laughing - 1970's amazing UK 12 string jangly band

STARRY EYED & LAUGHING
"...were either 15 years ahead of their time or 10 years too late"

They were huge in the UK but never quite caught on elsewhere...too bad. They are amazing!

Voted the Rickenbacker twangers most likely to succeed in 1974. Visit their site to buy their music and to get the whole story.
Starry Eyed And Laughing »



Their newest collection of cover songs recorded in studio and radio sessions before it was decided their first LP in 1974 would contain all original songs.

And they did a fantastic cover of my Byrds hero Gene Clark's first solo effort: ECHOES...

 

...a fine sampler of their original material...some of the finest Rickenbacker picking and what The Byrds lacked...a searing second lead guitar on a fender Stratocaster!



This track is killer...
Starry Eyed And Laughing - Everybody »

 

I didn't hear the band until the "Amazing Zig Zag Concert" cd set (sorry couldn't find Youtube videos for this or any Zig Zag show!) and I was as you'd say blown away by that 12 string sound. Kind of out of place in the Elton John Age.

 

I see Starry Eyed and Laughing CD reissues around...I listened to some track samples on Amazon and they sound pretty brittle. On the band's own label or something? Are they legit?

 

But a very welcome sound for those in need of 60's original sounds...fresh and new!!

 

They are legit--at least the ones I have. Can't vouch for sellers' offerings on Amazon. I have the two CD release from their site and it is very full and deep, excellent audio...not brittle at all. HQ audio all round...

Go to the Starry Eyed and Laughing homepage if you are unsure...those will be legit.
Starry Eyed And Laughing »

 

One of Starry Eyed's heaviest 12 string cookers...and one of my faves!!!

 

To me, the original UK LPs on CBS are the best sounding versions of their music. If you listen to vinyl, they are worth seeking out.


Ed Hurdle
HeavyDistortion

 

they were a decent enough band strongly influenced by the Byrds , but saying "They were huge in the UK" is news to me - popularity wise I'd put them in the same category as Bronco, Help Yourself , Brinsley Schwarz, Hookfoot,Home etc. - all very good bands but most definitely not commercially successful by any means

 

once again, timing was/is everything...had they come along a few years later, maybe they'd have been touring with later UK pop band The Records, etc....while i DO love the more jangly stuff they did, much of it to me sounds very atypical '70s rock...that said, definitely hunt down later band The Falcons cd (with 12 stringer Tony Poole) with the tremendously Byrdsy "It's Gonna Rain Soon" which is FANTASTIC!!!

 

I`d never heard of them until a few years ago and being a sucker for that `Jingle-Jangle` sound I bought a compilation I think `That Was Now This Is Then`. To be honest I was a bit underwhelmed but maybe my expectations were high. I`ll play the CD again and come back on this.

As for them being `huge` in the UK, I would have heard of them but sorry see above. Thanks for the reminder Lemonade Kid.

 

"... huge in the UK ... " is, unfortunately, quite an exaggeration. And, not even as popular as Brinsley Schwarz, I would say.

SE&L had a very loyal but very small fanbase - between 74 and 76, when I was very active in booking/promoting bands for our University shows, SE&L were booked once and pulled in no more than 125 - 150 people, despite extensive promotion and the University having a reputation for putting on a wide-ranging and reliably good programme of shows (e.g. Blue Jays, Fairport Convention, Status Quo, Heptones, and many others)

By way of comparison, Commander Cody at exactly the same venue attracted almost a sell-out audience. We very actively did not book SE&L on another occasion when a tour agent was offering the band to us (at very low cost, if I remember well)

Personally, I really enjoyed SE&L, the guys in the band were engaging characters and they had great integrity and worked very hard but 'huge'? Afraid not.

Best Wishes,
David

 

Check out the new Tony Poole project...

Bennett Wilson Poole
Traveling Crosbyrds...Bennett Wilson Poole, great twangy stuff

 

Bummer. I read of a loyal following from those days, but had no idea how small, at least when you were booking for university shows.
They definitely deserved a better showing, but as has been said, they were either "15 years ahead of their time or 10 years behind."

 

So weird, I'm spinning Best of the Byrds and my eyes fell on the title of this thread at the exact moment they're singing the words "starry eyed and laughing"...... woooooooo so groovy choice of band name, I'll have to check these fellows out!

 

Do! Please!

 

SE&L were an excellent band. It's a shame they never got the same level of attention as Brinsley Schwarz, because they're every bit as deserving.

 

Definitely. If anyone is looking to buy SE&L on CD at a reasonable price, I'd recommend avoiding scalper prices. Sony will be releasing two Starry Eyed and Laughing CDs in April 2018. This is great news as both albums have been OOP for sometime.

 

Only have their live set from the Zig Zag set. Pretty good stuff. Will be looking for the best sounding versions of their albums now.

 

Have you heard these? Do they come with bonus tracks? I want to buy from their site but those GBP are heavy. Hopefully the 2018 are part of Sony's winning streak of audio quality in terms of re-releases this year (i.e. The First National Band Reissues).

 

Can you check the samples on the Amazon downloads and lets us know if they match your CDs? The downloads are legit but they don't sound as good as some of the YT uploads I've heard (maybe from the 2018 sources?). Also if you have Forever Young can you compare those downloads to your CD? Thanks.

 

Sure. Later today I hope I can get them to you.

 

there's some SUPER jangle on that Bennett Wilson Poole release, definitely give it a listen....

 

I've very much appreciated Tony Poole's role in keeping the Byrds sound/style alive all these past decades. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

 

About those 2018 releases...? Bump. Anyone?