Frozen Corn - "Frozen Corn" Vinyl, LP, Album, 2017 (IDEA)

I wish that my blog cannot only see but to feel the texture of a record cover.  Tom Recchion (friend, hero, graphic artist, and composer) designed this cover based on his ceramic dishes/artwork.  The cover is also textural to the touch, in that the images arise such as the lettering and the ceramic plates.  The budget to make this cover must have been 'forget the budget!'  The music within this great package is a trio of two banjo players and an acoustic guitarist called Frozen Corn.  Which is a good descriptive name for this band, because one can imagine that these three guys are sitting by some frozen lake, with luke-warm hobo coffee on the side, and maybe beef jerky as well.  

The thought of two banjos and a guitar plus voice(s), brings up an image of a trio of cowboys, but that is only in my imagination.  There is something hypnotic with the playing that is perfectly arranged among the other string instruments.  Also, the main singer has a voice that reminds me of a combination of Smog and a low-key Scott Walker. There are two different voices, the other has an everyman vocal, which again, reminds me of hobo activity around a fire.   It's a beautiful sexy voice that yearns as well as tell a tale.  The trio's names are Anthony Pasquarosa, Chris Carlton, and Joshua Burkett.   This album I suspect is a limited edition, just due to the printing of the cover.  Pick it up, and go outside and face the night of stars.  

Bee Gees - "Idea" CD Album

Bee Gees – Idea

CD Album, reissue 1989

Polydor

There are two golden eras for the Bee Gees. One is the “Saturday Night Fever” era of the 70's and then there's the first three albums by the Bee Gees in the '60's. Perfect baroque pop production with songwriting skills of a trained ear. All that plus the addition of the vocal skills of the Gibb brothers added up to a seductive package that couldn't possibly fail, and it didn't. What I find missing is a sense of genius or that one step beyond, that someone like Scott Walker did or even The Beatles at the same time and place. But this I can't fault the band, because what they do, they do it extremely well.

The quivering voice of Robin Gibb adds a great deal of 'personality' to the songs that he sings lead on. It is that series of moments for me that strikes me as that this is a personal take on whatever the subject matter of the song is. Whatever it is by design or just DNA, Robin was a magnificent singer. Barry and Maurice can't be faulted in the voice area at all, but when I rear Robin a light goes on in my ear, and it brilliantly shines on the material.

Idea conveys a sense of promise or adventure that serves Bee Gees well. Their form of pop is more majestic than say the baroque small chamber sound of the band Left Bank. But I would think that it would be impossible to dislike a Bee Gees song from this period (or any period really, but that's another essay) because their work has a vision and it follows through due to the talents of the Gibb brothers.