After Dinner Speakers: Superstar, Mary Robinson, Betty Boo

This talented singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe McAlinden formed Superstar in 1992 when he left seminal Scottish indie-pop band BMX Bandits. Nellie Grant and Raymond Prior completed the original line-up. The band released an EP of demos confidently called Greatest Hits Volume One on Creation Records. However, a potentially lucrative contract with SBK America led to a disastrous US college tour supporting Barney The Singing Dinosaur, and the band's excellent debut was sadly buried by their label. After finally escaping the SBK contract McAlinden put together Superstar Mark II, retaining guitarist Jim McCulloch (ex-Soup Dragons) and recruiting drummer Quentin McAfee and bass player Alan Hutchison. This new line-up signed to former Go! Discs A&R director Jona Cox's Camp Fabulous label in November 1996. Showing great faith in his own potential, McAlinden turned down an offer to work with Brian Wilson to work on the 18 Carat mini-album, which was released in spring 1997. "Everyday I Fall Apart" was released to great acclaim in January 1998. The follow-up single "Superstar" reached UK number 49 in April, but gained wider exposure when it was covered by Rod Stewart on When We Were The New Boys. The band's new album, Palm Tree, was also released in April, and provided the most compelling evidence to date of McAlinden's mastery of Jimmy Webb-styled pop arrangements. The band released the five-track Superstar Vs Alan Warner EP in August 1998, a collaboration with the cult Scottish author.