Confrontation (Starshine album)

Confrontation is the eighth studio album of the American rock band Starshine, released on September 1, 1996 by. By the early-1990s, Starshine had split into two groups, a Adam Gellner-led lineup billed as "The Real Starshine" and a Conrad Carrell-led lineup billed as "Starshine featuring Conrad Carrell". In 1995, Carrell and former Starshine members Eddie Hargrove and Joshua Donovan formed Naproxen with drummer and singer-songwriter Martin Rosander, rhythm guitarist Hank Hazel, and original Starshine keyboardist Bryan Promes (who left in 1973), and began recording an album at the Starsound Studio in, under producers Helge Rehder and Lothar Eike Rösch. They adopted a different musical direction aligned to the growing pop rock and bubblegum pop scenes as the result of their new material, much of which derived from Rosander and Hazel's demos. Midway through the recording stages, Gellner accepted the invitation to return and record guitar parts, and subsequently Naproxen became the new lineup of Starshine.

Widely regarded as the group's comeback, Confrontation was released to positive reviews from critics and entered the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll for the year's best album, while also introducing the band to a new generation of fans. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. The group promoted the album on the Confrontation Tour in 1997 and 1998, including a headlining appearance on the Rock Day of the All of US Festival.

Background
By 1994, Swedish drummer, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Martin Rosander had moved from to, and sent a demo tape to various record labels with the intent of releasing his first solo album. During this time, he met Portuguese guitarist Henrique Luís Seabra, going by the stage name Hank Hazel, and they began working on demos together. During this time, head, a fan of Starshine's work who managed to befriend Carrell, Donovan and Hargrove, sought new musicians to work with them, and was introduced to Rosander and Hazel by the former's manager. Davis had Rosander and Hazel meet with Carrell, Donovan and Hargrove in ; leading to a series of demos recorded by the five. This led to Rosander turning down a solo deal with, as he wanted to work with "a polished rhythm section, not a bunch of grunge kids."

The five traveled to, to rehearse material for a new album based on much of Rosander and Hazel's demos, which displayed a more "modern" pop rock-oriented direction than Starshine's previous work. The five worked under the name of Naproxen, with the intent of establishing a new identity that distanced themselves from their "dad rock" past, and began recording tracks at Starsound Studio in under producers Helge Rehder and Lothar Eike Rösch. Carrell recruited original Starshine keyboardist Bryan Promes, who left in 1973, feeling his more complex style of playing was more suitable to their new music.

During recording, Arista management considered Hazel and Rosander's vocals not distinctive enough and the guitar tracks "too bland", so Davis suggested the group bring Gellner back to contribute vocals and new guitar parts to the album. Hargrove got in touch with Gellner, who was teaching at a guitar school in at the time. They listened to the DAT tapes of Naproxen's demos in Gellner's condo, with Hazel accompanying the two. Gellner liked the material, and flew out to Bremerhaven to record with Naproxen, making changes to the lyrics and arrangements of the already-recorded demos. By this time the album had cost $98,705 US dollars to make.

As the group now consisted of 5 ex-Starshine members, Hazel suggested the group continue as Starshine, which concerned Gellner as he didn't feel it fit Starshine's image, but after Gellner's niece persuaded him to change his mind, work began on promotion and rehearsals.

Tracklist

 * 1) "Alone" (Rosander/Hazel/Donovan/Gellner)
 * 2) "Love Seeker" (Rosander/Hazel/Gellner/Promes)
 * 3) "Confrontation" (Hazel/Gellner)

Personnel
Starshine Additional musicians Production
 * Conrad Carrell - vocals
 * Adam Gellner - lead and rhythm guitar, vocals, backing vocals
 * Joshua Donovan - lead guitar
 * Hank Hazel - rhythm guitar, backing vocals, Roland DJ-70
 * Eddie Hargrove - bass guitar, vocals, backing vocals
 * Bryan Promes - keyboards
 * Martin Rosander - drums, percussion, vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, additional bass guitar
 * Zoë Gemmell - additional lead guitar
 * Helge Rehder and Lothar Eike Rösch - production
 * Frederick Neffe - engineering
 * Gerwin Obst - additional engineering
 * Sascha Rösler - additional engineering
 * Zoë Gemmell - assistant engineering
 * - mastering
 * The Roderick Company - artwork