Album Notes

LodeStar; a guiding light

People say that you can never go back to the past and relive the times of your youth but the music of your youth somehow can send you on a trip thru old memories faster than anything else I know of. We (meaning Lodestar) shared a unique experience with the people of our community of Corvallis, Oregon.

We lived, worked, and on the weekends, we played music for our friends in Corvallis. Ours is a story like so many other hometown bands across America. We had screaming fans, the girls dancing, and the whole scene around the band was like being a local star. Man, were we something. And, according to the local radio stations, we were a ‘band on the rise’ and ‘the best unsigned band in the northwest’.

They put our pictures in the papers and we put a record together (Lodestar). We knew we’d soon be playing in front of huge crowds, rolling in money, and living the high-life. It was such a lovely dream for so long but making money, having children, making car payments, home payments, and of course all those pesky bills had a way of bringing reality rudely back into the picture.

It wasn’t long before the band broke up. There was no main reason for it. It was just time I guess. Our friends were doing the same things we were doing: digging-in and getting on with life. The dreams fade, the passion dulls, life gets lived, but the dreamer never goes quietly into that good-night.

So I’ve done something I always wanted to do; once I discovered that I still had the original two-track masters of our recording sessions, I re-released the first LodeStar record with a new digital facelift. I’ve tried to bring back some old times for ourselves and our friends.

In fact, the most common thing I hear from people who have listened to the CD, is how it has brought back those old feelings and good memories that we all shared in those wonderful years of our youth. A youth that went by soooo.. quickly. It happens without warning. Bam! You’re almost sixty, and you start thinking how nice it would be to leave the best of what you had for everyone else to enjoy. So, slow down, take some time, and give LodeStar a listen. Discover for yourself the magic that is music from the heart. Ours to yours.

-Paul Lemoine