Stars

There are few bands who produce consistently good albums over a long career. Radiohead is in there. Modest Mouse is pretty good at not sucking. Beck. Neil Young. But a lot of bands are either around for a long time, making the same ridiculous, boring album over and over again (Aerosmith, AC/DC, Rolling Stones); or they release one great album and each subsequent album serves only to detract from the success of the first (Interpol); or they release a brilliant album and more or less disappear, a la J.D. Salinger (Neutral Milk Hotel). With the release of The Five Ghosts, Stars may have solidified their status as a quality act with the longevity to call it a career.

Five full-length albums in, Stars has been an indie rock mainstay in Canada for the last ten years. As we approach the release of the new record, though, they decided to do something a little different. Instead of enduring the inevitable leaks and piracy that come with a new recording, like they did with In Our Bedroom After the War, the band chose to start touring months before the release date, playing the new record from start to finish.

The Decemberists tried a version of this with the tour for The Hazards of Love, an album that truly requires a start-to-finish experience. After taking a set break, they returned to play some hits. Stars did the same. And this is a format I would like to encourage for a few reasons.

First off, it's amazing to hear an album in its entirety. Singles are the bane of modern music's existence. The single ruined popular music. I refuse to support this with evidence. It's obvious. Yay albums.

Second, when you put five hundred people in a room and play them songs that they are expecting to like, they listen better. When bands grind through old tracks in no particular order, half the room is having conversations or getting drinks, waiting for their favourite songs to start. When all the songs are new, no one wants to risk missing the Next Big Thing while he takes a giant deuce in the basement of the Starlite Room.

Third, playing several hits right at the end means no one leaves dissatisfied and there is no unreasonable lust for seven encores. The band says, "thanks, goodnight," waves to the crowd, and everyone makes it home in time to get a good sleep before the motherfucking roofers start work at the neighbours' at 6:45 a.m. the next morning.

So yes, The Five Ghosts is going to be good when it comes out in June. It's just as melancholy, hopeful, romantic, and sexy as their previous albums, while staying sonically innovative and musically interesting. But mainly, if Stars keeps touring this way in the future, I'll be buying presale tickets for the rest of my life and hoping Amy Millan doesn't end up like Stevie Nicks.