The Hollywood Stars - Live at the Sunset Strip/Starstruck (Rum Bar)

It never seemed like the time for the Hollywood Stars. The Kim Fowley-guided power pop/glam rockers became big stars in the mid-70s on the Sunset Strip in their eponymous hometown, but neither the rest of the country nor the major label machine seemed to really know what to do with them. (Cf. the band’s belated 1977 debut, defanged by Arista Records and future Air Supply producer Harry Maslin.) Fast forward forty-odd years, and rock & roll spelunkers rediscovered the band via a pair of then-unreleased albums, reveling in the delights of power pop anthems like “All the Kids on the Street” and glam pounders like “King of the Night Time World” (later recorded with some success by Kiss) at last.

That was enough to get the band to reform, with original members Scott Phares (vocals), Ruben De Fuentes (guitar) and Terry Rae (drums), plus longtime bassist Michael Rummans and new second guitarist Chezz Monroe. That led to the triumphant 2019 concert captured on Live at the Sunset Strip. History briefly repeated itself: the album was supposed to come out on Burger Records, but the company’s scandal-ridden self-destruction pushed the Stars first to Golden Robot, then Rum Bar Records. Now the record’s finally arrived (again), and it was worth the wait. Though age comes to us all, the members still perform with the ardor and energy of folks a third of their age. Since the tunes – “King,” “Kids,” “Escape” (later covered by Alice Cooper), “Shine Like a Radio,” “Habits,” “Modern Romance” – still hold up all those years later, that means Live at the Sunset Strip is a fine modern day rock & roll record.

Rather than a mere nostalgia trip, the record also served as a relaunch, as the Stars follow up with a brand new record. Starstruck sees a couple of new members aboard, with guitarists Jeff Jourard (a former Motel) and George Keller (like Rummans, a member of legendary L.A. sixties rockers the Sloths) replacing Monroe and De Fuentes. Each member brings in material old and new, from Phares’ pre-Stars hard rocker “Bad, Bad Man” (co-written with late Stars founder Mark Anthony), Kim Fowley-era power ballad “Shortage of Love,” and frisky bopper “Taxi Driver” (from his post-Stars band Hero), to Rummans’ garage rocking Sloths tune “Haunted” and Jourard’s Motels glam pop single “Total Control.” But the new cuts are just as good – check out the musclebound “Sleeping Giant,” the deliriously catchy “Can’t Do It Right,” or the blazing “Am I Right or Wrong?” Regardless of origin, these songs are proof that, nearly fifty years after their supposed heyday, the Hollywood Stars still have plenty left in the tank.