Moonlight Feels Right

Starbuck is one of the rare '70s pop oddities that live up to their one-hit wonder, delivering music every bit as beguiling and strange as their one-hit wonder. For Starbuck, that one hit was 1976's glistening synth-and-marimba sensation "Moonlight Feels Right," a slick slice of soft rock that captures the mid-'70s in all its feathered, polyester glory, but the remarkable thing is that their full-length debut — naturally also titled Moonlight Feels Right — follows through on its smooth promise, offering another nine gauchely bewitching soft pop tunes. A certain amount of cheese comes with this territory and Starbuck has some of the silliest in memory: a swinging ode to "Lash LaRue," a stiff bit of white-boy funk on "Working My Heart to the Bone" (just like you're "picking on a chicken"), the chant-along chorus of "I'm Crazy." But even at their silliest, they're still tuneful, fusing attractive elements of Steely Dan and 10cc while leaving behind guitars, and when the goofiness is toned down, the group offers some pure pop pleasure, particularly in the opening "I Got to Know," "Lucky Man," and "Moonlight Feels Right," which remains strangely timeless even as it is inextricably tied to its time. And that's appropriate — Starbuck is a thoroughly modern band circa 1976, which also means that its appeal lies in both its melody and cheese, and Moonlight Feels Right excels in both.