The Lucky Golden Stripes and Starpose
| Lucky Golden Stripes and Starpose | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Love Records release | ||||
| Studio album by Wigwam | ||||
| Released | April 1976 | |||
| Recorded | January 1976 | |||
| Studio | The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock Pop-Rock | |||
| Length | 36:11 | |||
| Label | Love Records | |||
| Producer | Ronnie Leahy | |||
| Wigwam chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative cover | ||||
 International Virgin Records release | ||||
Lucky Golden Stripes and Starpose is the sixth studio album released by Wigwam in April 1976. The album was recorded at Virgin records’ The Manor in Oxfordshire in January 1976 with Scottish musician Ronnie Leahy in the producers’ chair. The album had a double release by Love Records in Finland and Virgin internationally. The track listings were identical but the releases had different art work.
Lucky Golden Stripes And Starpose continued the theme of the previous album Nuclear Nightclub in having a pop-rock style. There were however still prog-rock elements to the album and the track Colussus is a stand-out piece of classic 70s prog-rock. The album did strangely not include the single Tramdriver/Wardance' which had been released the previous year. Hopes that it would be added came to pass in 2010 when the whole album including these tracks was re-mastered and re-released on Esoteric Recordings. The album was recorded at the Virgin Manor (UK), January 1976, except "Tramdriver" recorded at Manor Mobile and Kingsway Studio August 1975 and "Wardance" recorded at Marcus Music Studio, Stockholm November 1975.
Artwork
As noted above, there were two versions of art work. The Finnish release had art work by former Wigwam bassist Mats Huldén. This depicted a group of US 19th century Cavalry soldiers on horses and with weapons depicting the middle ages. Wigwam were hoping to break into the US market and this hope is more clearly sign-posted on the international release. The cover design by Clive Arrowsmith shows headshots of the band within the US Flag.
Reception
The album has received mixed reviews. This reflects the bands continued move away from their prog-rock routes. The album was not seen as good as its predecessor Nuclear Nightclub and to be of varied quality, with some songs poorly arranged. Some tracks such as the title track and Colossus are highly regarded. Progarchives.com found the album to be Good, but not essential[1]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sane Again" | Pembroke | Pembroke | 3:37 |
| 2. | "International Disaster" | Pembroke | Pembroke | 2:41 |
| 3. | "Timedance" | Pembroke, Groundstroem, Hietanen, Rechardt, Österberg | 1:07 | |
| 4. | "Colossus" | Pembroke | Rechardt | 6:30 |
| 5. | "Eddie And The Boys" | Pembroke | Rechardt | 4:03 |
| 6. | "Lucky Golden Stripes And Starpose" | Pembroke | Rechardt | 6:36 |
| 7. | "June Maybe Too Late" | Pembroke | Pembroke, Rechardt | 3:35 |
| 8. | "Never Turn You In" | Pembroke | Pembroke | 5:03 |
| 9. | "In A Nutshell" | Pembroke, Rechardt | Rechardt | 3:47 |
| Bonus tracks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
| 10. | "Tramdriver" | Pembroke | Pembroke | 3:48 |
| 11. | "Wardance" | Rechardt | Pembroke | 3:43 |
Personnel
The line-up was identical to the previous album apart from the replacement of Esa Kotilainen with Hessu Hietanen on keyboards.
- Mosse Groundstroem – bass
- Hessu Hietanen – keyboards
- Ronnie Österberg – drums, percussion
- Jim Pembroke – vocals, piano
- Pekka Rechardt – guitar
- Paavo Maijanen – backing vocals
Production
- Engineer – John Eden
- Mastered By – Ben Wiseman
- Producer – Paavo Maijanen (tracks: 10), Ronnie Leahy (tracks: 1 to 9, 11)
- Recorded By – Paavo Maijanen
- Remastered By – Pauli Saastamoinen
References
- ↑ "THE LUCKY GOLDEN STRIPES AND STARPOSE". www.progarchives.com. Retrieved 2017-03-07.