Saturday, August 28, 2010
Fringe Benefit - Fringe Benefit
AAAAAAHHHHHHH..... It's saturday morning, the kids are asleep and the lady is out food shopping and the dogs are being surprisingly quiet, (probably eating my shoes again) so I am on my 2nd cup of coffee and i actually have time to write something! So here is a record that has been on my plate for the last week solid. Self titled from 1977 by a band called Fringe Benefit.
I had never heard this record or even knew it existed until I stumbled upon a copy in a record store in Philly the other day. It was CHEAP (1.99) and looked interesting. So I bought it.
It kind of had a punky glam cover and being from 77 and on the capricorn label, a label associated with more Southern Rock then glam, took a shot. Even though it happens to be from 1977 it sounds older in most spots, 74 or maybe even early. At the heart of it all it’s just a nice well played & produced AOR record but there are plenty of other sounds going on. Some late 60’s pop ala string and horn arrangements on a song or two, some west coast singer songwriter type sounds, even a Queen meets Rush heavy prog mash up that could have been a extra track from Yes - Fragile/Close to the Edge era; Even a little Glammy pub rock via Slade/Sweet, but mostly acoustic guitars rule the roost here. Also throw in a few covers, All Shook Up/Elvis and Suzanne by Leonard Cohen… Sounds like a strange mix but it all works. Maybe I’m getting old but really dig this record. It has not left my player to and from work all week… By the looks of the cover the band had some high hopes for success.... not so much.
So considering I'm pretty sure this thing is way out of print and is very under the radar here it is in its entirety.
Was God an Astronaut and When She's Next Free being my 2 fave tracks but all are worth a listen, who know you may just enjoy it as much as me... If not, oh well. maybe next time.
PS... The Devils Music Blog has quietly crept past 1/2 a million hits.... Not all that impressive in the web world but not to bad for my crappy little corner of the music blog world.... cheers to those of you who continue to support this little slice of musical retardation.
Fringe Benefit - Fringe Benefit
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7 comments:
HECK YEAH! fun stuff man
I Love Your Blog. My mornings are now filled with music that I discover from your site. Thanks for introducing me to stuff I otherwise would not have listened to.
Thanks people, i really appreciate the comments!
Once I got over waiting for the album to start rocking, it caught on for me. My personal favorite is "Let a Light Shine". Thanks for posting it!
I love this album! I found it as a cutout in some department store when I was student teaching in Traverse City, MI back in 1978. I haven't heard it in a few years since my vinyl is temporarily in storage, but I just found it on Spotify and have been listening to it this morning. I see Amazon also now has it as a downloadable mp3. I wish these guys had put out some more music. Any idea what ever happened to them? Did John Jones form another band?
John Jones went on to form QED that are still performing in and around Poole in Dorset, UK.
I had the good fortune to see Fringe Benefit play live, which was a rare occurence.
They released three singles in the UK (on Polydor, Ariola and RCA,) one of which featured All In Vain from this album as the 'A' side.
Geoffrey Cox
Thanks for the info on this LP, found it sealed at the $1 sale at a local record store and took a chance
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