Har Mar Superstar - Bye Bye 17

Bye Bye 17 – Har Mar Superstar

 NOTE: Above photo is not Ron Jeremy.  Sorry, ladies. 

Enter Sean Tillman, make that three Sean Tillman’s, as Har Mar Superstar- R&B, pop, and soul heavyweight.   

Bye Bye 17 had me at “Lady, You Shot Me”, the opening track to this soulful masterpiece.  Jumping straight into the hook, the song explodes with horns, keyboards, and guitars all tuned to the key of 1973.  But this is not a typical throwback album.  

For me, throwbacks often leave the aftertaste of that Alabama Shakes album-  good at first, but loses its flavor upon realizing that all these guys have cell phones. 

Har Mar Superstar holds the classic, soulful, R&B sound hostage throughout this 10-song experience while still keeping it 2013.   The warmth of rich horns, soft organs, and carefully placed electric guitars create a lush sonic bed for Har Mar’s voice to rest upon throughout Bye Bye 17, cutting through the music like a rusty switch blade.  Eat your heart out, Pitchfork. Oh, I can do ratings too. I give this an 8.6 (whatever that means).  

It’s the end of summer and I can’t do downer albums right now.  I need sunshine and good, good, good, good vibrations.  And this album is a great way to bid adieu to the season.  And when winter rolls around I will dish out the saddest, most heart wrenchingly beautiful singer/songwriter albums I can dig up.  But until then, it’s all happy shit.

I’ll leave you with a little background on Sean Tillman… The man’s written songs for Jennifer Lopez, The Cheetah Girls, and Kelly Osbourne.  He’s pretty well known in the UK, has toured with friends The Strokes, Tenacious D, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and appears mostly naked throughout his performances while using a ton of inappropriate language.  Dude is everything I’ve ever wanted to be. 

Cheers,

John S. Krueger

9/15/13