yes,this was a fine group,fabulous jangly Rickenbacker guitar sound,with cracking harmonies and well written songs,i have 3 cds,which i feel so lucky to have,To Try For The Sun,Forever Young and the 28 track double cd That Was Now And This Is Then.They only released 2 albums in their lifetime,the self titled album from 1974 and Thought Talk from 1975,luckily both included in full on the double cd i mentioned.
Tony Poole,vocalist and the Rickenbacker man,has made many of their recordings avlaiable,including many gems that where not issued at the time,many of those recordings just bolster what a major talent they were,but as is said on a cd of theirs,they were either 15 years ahead of their time,or 10 years too late.......and that could be true,as has been said before highly influenced by that Byrd sound,courtesy of the guitar,but they were certainly no Byrds copyists,they still had their own vibe,but the Byrd comparisons are too obvious to ignore or not notice,but this was well after the peak of The Byrds sound,and by 1974 when that debut came out,that jangly Byrds sound,was just a memory,so one can only but wonder at what the public thought of this sound,and did it not connect with many people? Then in the 80s,that sound became popular once more amongst certain music enthusiasts and musicians,particularly in the indie music buzz,and things like the paisley underground crowd and groups,but they were fabulous songwriters in their own right,and had assistance by the likes of BJ Cole,Peter Woods tinkling lovely harpsichord,Russ Ballard,Jeff Bannister,Frank Riccoti,Colin Walker,PeterZorn,Michael Gore,Ray Jackson,Roy Carr,Steve Lewis,Nick Bicat,Tony Meehan and Dan Loggins,plus ex Turtles and Mothers of Invention duo Flo and Eddie aka Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan.
They originally formed in may 73,and with only a couple of pesonnel changes in the coming years,split up in April 1976.
Starry Eyed And Laughing were and are:
TONY POOLE
ROSS McGEENEY
IAIN WHITMORE
MICHAEL WACKFORD
Other members included at one time or another
STEVE HALL
NICK BROWN
ROGER KELLY
They were produced by Dan Loggins for CBS Records,but other production duties fell upon Per Froem,Bob Parsons,plus Flo and Eddie.Lets not forget the engineers Mike Ross,Bill Aitken and Mike Stone.
I was told about this band by a guy called Steve who used to post on here but I've had no contact from him for ages and think covid took him ..he was a very nice and inspirational guy