Belly: Tanya Donelly (vocals, guitar); Thomas Gorman (guitar, organ); Fred Abong (bass); Chris Gorman (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Chick Graning (guitar, slide guitar, vocals), John Douglass (violin). Recorded at Sound Emporium Studios, Nashville, Tennessee and Amazon Studios, Liverpool, England. All songs written by Tanya Donelly except "White Belly" (Donelly/Abong). With their jangling, overdriven guitars and breathless, mysterious vocals, Belly suggests the hard/soft edge of electric girl groups and power pop bands like The Bangles, The Pixies, The Breeders and Throwing Muses (with a dark hint of early Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground). Vocalist Tanya Donelly, formerly of The Breeders and Throwing Muses, joined forces with the Gorman brothers Thomas and Chris (on guitars and drums respectively) and bassist Fred Abong to launch Belly. On STAR they revel in eastern overtones, psychedelic musings and a folk-rock-styled loss of innocence, even as they chart a more modern musical course with their ambivalent love songs, pained recollections and distinctly dissonant style of lyricism. Echoes of childhood remembrances and bad dreams pepper the soundscape on STAR, such as the evocative overture "Someone To Die For," and the menacing "Angel" and "Dusted" (where the crunching cathedral chords suggest R.E.M). This hypnotic sense of rural dread, alienation and sublimated sensuality permeates every second of STAR, as Donelly's ruminations brush dangerously against the Gorman Brothers' jarring rhythms, particularly on the anthemic "Feed The Tree." Belly was nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best New Artist." STAR was nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best Alternative Music Album." Format: Vinyl Genre: Rock Released: 2014-12-22
