by Brian Flota
The Dim Stars were a short-lived, indie all-star group consisting of Gumball's Don Fleming, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, and Steve Shelley, and most importantly, Richard Hell. This was Hell's first album since 1982's Destiny Street. "All My Witches Come True," "Downtown at Dawn," and a cover of T. Rex's "Rip Off" sound like vintage Richard Hell, while "Dim Star Theme" and "Incense is the Essence" resemble prime Sonic Youth noise-guitar workouts. One interesting moment on the album is "Stray Cat Generation." Sung by Fleming, it pays homage to Hell's "Blank Generation," which contains a riff later lifted by the Stray Cats. Robert Quine, Richard Hell's guitarist in the Voidoids, appears on five tracks. Dim Stars is a shambles as an album, but in its defense, it is a very relaxed album, not at all containing the same political or emotional intensity as Sonic Youth's Dirty.