The Lucky Golden Stripes and Starpose

Lucky Golden Stripes and Starpose is the sixth studio album released by Wigwam in April 1976. The album was recorded at Virgin records’ The Manor in Oxfordshire in January 1976 with Scottish musician Ronnie Leahy in the producers’ chair. The album had a double release by Love Records in Finland and Virgin internationally. The track listings were identical but the releases had different artwork.

Lucky Golden Stripes and Starpose
The Love Records release
Studio album by Wigwam
Released	April 1976
Recorded	January 1976
Studio	The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire
Genre	Pop rock
Length	36:11
Label	Love Records
Producer	Ronnie Leahy
Wigwam chronology
Nuclear Nightclub (1975) Lucky Golden Stripes and Starpose (1976) Dark Album (1977)
Alternative cover
International Virgin Records release

Lucky Golden Stripes And Starpose continued the theme of the previous album Nuclear Nightclub in having a pop-rock style. There were however still prog-rock elements to the album and the track Colossus is a stand-out piece of classic 70s prog-rock. The album did strangely not include the single Tramdriver/Wardance, which had been released the previous year. Hopes that it would be added came to pass in 2010 when the whole album including these tracks was re-mastered and re-released on Esoteric Recordings. The album was recorded at the Virgin Manor (UK), January 1976, except "Tramdriver" recorded at Manor Mobile and Kingsway Studio August 1975 and "Wardance" recorded at Marcus Music Studio, Stockholm November 1975.

Artwork

As noted above, there were two versions of artwork. The Finnish release had artwork by former Wigwam bassist Mats Huldén. This depicted a group of US 19th century Cavalry soldiers on horses and with weapons depicting the middle ages. Wigwam were hoping to break into the US market and this hope is more clearly sign-posted on the international release. The cover design by Clive Arrowsmith shows headshots of the band within the US Flag.

Reception

The album has received mixed reviews. This reflects the bands continued move away from their prog-rock routes. The album was not seen as good as its predecessor Nuclear Nightclub and to be of varied quality, with some songs poorly arranged. Some tracks such as the title track and Colossus are highly regarded. Progarchives.com found the album to be Good, but not essential[1]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Sane Again"	Pembroke	Pembroke	3:37
2.	"International Disaster"	Pembroke	Pembroke	2:41
3.	"Timedance"		Pembroke, Groundstroem, Hietanen, Rechardt, Österberg	1:07
4.	"Colossus"	Pembroke	Rechardt	6:30
5.	"Eddie And The Boys"	Pembroke	Rechardt	4:03
6.	"Lucky Golden Stripes And Starpose"	Pembroke	Rechardt	6:36
7.	"June Maybe Too Late"	Pembroke	Pembroke	3:35
8.	"Never Turn You In"	Pembroke	Pembroke, Rechardt	5:03
9.	"In A Nutshell"	Pembroke, Rechardt	Rechardt	3:47

Bonus tracks

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
10.	"Tramdriver"	Pembroke	Pembroke	3:48
11.	"Wardance"	Pembroke	Rechardt	3:43

Personnel

The line-up was identical to the previous album apart from the replacement of Esa Kotilainen with Hessu Hietanen on keyboards.

• Mosse Groundstroem – bass
• Hessu Hietanen – keyboards
• Ronnie Österberg – drums, percussion
• Jim Pembroke – vocals, piano
• Pekka Rechardt – guitar
• Paavo Maijanen – backing vocals

Production

• Engineer – John Eden
• Mastered By – Ben Wiseman
• Producer – Paavo Maijanen (tracks: 10), Ronnie Leahy (tracks: 1 to 9, 11)
• Recorded By – Paavo Maijanen
• Remastered By – Pauli Saastamoinen

References

1. "THE LUCKY GOLDEN STRIPES AND STARPOSE". www.progarchives.com. Retrieved 7 March 2017.