Love Is Here - Starsailor
Metascore
72 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 19
  2. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. As much as you want to tell [James] Walsh to calm down, this stirring debut wouldn't be half as potent without him. [18 Jan 2002, p.80]
  2. Frontman James Walsh channels Jeff Buckley's soaring vocals so perfectly over those lovely acoustic guitars and pianos that you won't be surprised when you hear the band's named after a Tim Buckley album.
  3. Sure, Starsailor may be part of bloated hype-fest, but it's important to remember that sometimes things get hyped because they deserve it.
  4. Starsailor have produced a debut album of real emotional depth.
  5. Starsailor back up their hype with a debut album worthy of more than a few cursory spins. [Feb 2002, p.80]
  6. Each song soars with intricate musicianship and melodic lushness.
  7. Their debut bears the hallmarks of carefully assembled, widescreen pop-rock.
  8. Starsailor is one of those wonderfully rare bands that manages to be gentle and sensitive while also rocking admirably.
  9. 'Love Is Here' actually manages to deliver on all that early promise and, more than any of the singles that preceded it, completely conjures up the giant-hearted beauty they're capable of live.
  10. 70
    Similar to the Radiohead-lite maneuvers of fellow Brits Coldplay, the bright spots (of which there are a fair share) are dulled by the facsimile presentation.
  11. The band, while heavy on charm, is light in its ability to demonstrate any diversity in its songs.
  12. 60
    If there's a fault here, it's in the slightly hand-wringing lyrics, which, of not overwrought, are certainly pretty darned wrought. [#4, p.123]
  13. Starsailor are the U.K. equivalent of the Goo Goo Dolls.... You may well like Love Is Here, but it could take a while before you admit it to yourself.
  14. 'Love Is Here' - expansively, expensively produced, lavish yet aspiring to understatement (if such a contradiction can be accepted) and containing some affecting songs - is a pretty good record.
  15. 60
    Love Is Here is juvenalia -- persuasive, and suggesting greatness should the band have the courage (or the license) to cut loose. [Nov 2001]
  16. Love Is Here radiates as-yet-unfulfilled potential, like the work of a band going through the motions to get its foot in the door.
  17. Love Is Here isn't bad, and its prospect for radio play is far more appealing than, say, Train. The four just don't have the depth of their admitted influences.
  18. Although much of the record re-verses and re-crafts melodies in the same vein, there are a few gems that can't be missed.
  19. The worst mistake you can make is to write off this band as just another sappy, sentimental Brit-pop effort, because you'd miss out on supreme moments of emotional clarity that far outweigh the muddier, more overwrought mistakes.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 15 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 2 out of 11
  1. TiagoD.
    10
    Just awesome.
  2. mwaha
    10
    Incredible, amazing, fantastic. Every song is a journey of considerable depth and intensity
  3. edt
    10
    favourite album