Radio Stars' second album was released well over a year after its debut, and during a period when the first fires of the punk storm that brought the band to prominence had been utterly quenched and musicians were again thrown back upon their own musical devices. For songwriter
Martin Gordon, that entailed tracking back to the grandiose pop of his earlier bands
Sparks and Jet, and the ensuing shock to the band's system certainly derailed the manic joy that characterized their first album.
Holiday Album lacks little in the actual songwriting department -- "I'm Down" is one of the finest romantic break-up songs ever written, while "The Real Me" and the anthemic "Radio Stars" could both have slipped into the band's primal canon. But there was still something missing from
Holiday Album, namely the sense of innocent fun that permeated Songs for Swinging Lovers. Much of this recording has a downbeat bleakness wholly out of keeping with
Radio Stars' traditional concerns, while the moments of comedy that do surface are so over-stated that they completely swamp the music. "Baffin Island" and "Sex in Chains Blues" are both horribly clumsy by
Gordon's normally high standards, but it was only later that fans discovered such clunkers were merely symptomatic of his declining interest in the band. Indeed,
Gordon quit the band soon after
Holiday Album was released. Much of its audience had already left. ~ Dave Thompson