Released in 1993, ‘Star’ the debut studio album from Belly. Featuring “Gepetto”, “Feed the Tree”, “Full Moon, Empty Heart”, and “Slow Dog”, the album was certified gold and would be nominated in 1994 for a Grammy for Best Alternative Album. The band was also nominated for Best New Artist. Happy 30th anniversary!
Belly was an rock band formed in 1991 by former Throwing Muses members Tanya Donelly (who was also in The Breeders) , joined forces with the Gorman brothers Thomas and Chris (on guitars and drums respectively) and bassist Fred Abong to launch Belly “Star” was their debut album by this American alternative rock band Belly.
It was released in 1993 and was an unexpected success. With their jangling, over driven guitars and breathless, mysterious vocals, Belly suggests the hard/soft edge of electric girl groups and power pop bands like The Bangles.
Much of Star is like looking through the world from the otherside of the glass. From the ominous foreboding of “Low Red Moon” to the heady frenzy of “Slow Dog”, the whole thing drifts and jumps majestically. Marbled and distorted colours and sounds make new, hypnotic shapes. It’s the realm of dreams made into music.
The energy and infectious indie-pop hooks still have me dancing around the kitchen whenever it makes one of many outings. The guitar jangles are still as elastic and rawkus as ever and Tanya Donnelly’s otherworldly and haunting vocals still intoxicate me. Using the trance like harmonies of dream pop as a foundation, Donelly expands the genre’s boundaries, trimming away its pretensions and incorporating a flair for sweet, concise pop hooks and folk-rock inflections. She also spikes her airy melodies with disarmingly disturbing lyrics. Images of betrayal and death float throughout the album, but what hits home initially — and what stays after the album is finished — are the hooks, whether it’s the rolling singalong of “Gepetto” the surging “Slow Dog,” the melancholy “Stay” .
Belly’s second single ‘Gepetto’ taken from their debut album ‘Star’ – featuring Tanya Donelly (formerly of Throwing Muses and The Breeders), Chris Gorman and Tom Gorman. Bass on the first Belly album comes from former Muses bassist Fred Abong, who was later replaced by Gail Greenwood.
Donelly named the band “Belly” because she thought the word was “both pretty and ugly.”Their EP, Slow Dust (1992), made it to number one on the UK indie chart. Soon after, their single “Feed the Tree” made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart and their first album, Star (1993), hit number two on the UK Albums Chart.
In the United States, the album was certified gold, largely based on the success of “Feed the Tree” played on Modern Rock radio stations and MTV, where the video was featured as part of MTV’s Buzz Bin videos and Alternative Nation video show for much of 1993. Two follow-up singles were released, “Gepetto” and “Slow Dog” but neither matched the initial success of “Feed the Tree.” Star was consequently nominated for two Grammys. The album went on to sell over 800,000 copies in the US alone and two million worldwide.[citation needed]
In the spring of 1993, they embarked on a US tour supported by Radiohead
Recorded Sound Emporium Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
Amazon Studios, Liverpool, England .
The Fat Angel Sings 