FOR THE RECORDS
The cover of Jim Boggia?s CD ?Fidelity is the Enemy? shows a young boy intently listening to a 1940s-era phonograph. On the back cover, there?s a shot of Boggia, all grown up, listening to old 45s on a Kenner Close ?N Play record player.
Yeah, Boggia is into vinyl.
?I had a great record collection by the time I was 6,? he says of the records that were passed down to him from his parents.
But there?s nothing dated about the music on Boggia?s debut album. The Philadelphia resident, who will play the Quiet Storm Coffee House in Friendship on Saturday, synthesizes influences ranging from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass to the Beatles to Todd Rundgren on ?Fidelity.?
?I just get really bored doing or listening to the same kind of things,? he says. ?I love records that have within them that diversity, and I didn?t feel the need to shy away from things. The main thing I tried to do was let the tunes be what they wanted to be on the record.?
Boggia?s sound ranges from the Beatlesque Sgt. Pepper?s pastiches of ?Peter Pan? and ?Bubblegum 45s,? to ?Nothing Wrong with Me? and its Bossa Nova rhythms. Despite such far-ranging tones, however, ?Fidelity? does have a sense of continuity.
?I think my record does have a unified feel to it,? Boggia says. ?I took a long time putting together the order of the songs so that you don?t feel like it?s all of a sudden a different CD in the changer. I think it?s identifiable in that it?s the same guy playing all the songs. It?s just diverse because I like a lot of different things.?
Although ?Fidelity? is Boggia?s first solo release, he has a long list of credits, having performed or recorded with Juliana Hatfield, Jill Sobule and Ben Arnold.
Yet his main influence remains records of all sorts, sizes and shapes.
?I have a few 78 rpm records, although I don?t have any way to play them anymore,? Boggia says. ?I even have some really great records you used to get on cereal boxes, by the Archie?s, the Monkeys, Bobby Sherman and the Jackson Five.?
Also on the bill Saturday are Lindsey Homer and Jim DiSpirito of Cloud Chamber. The show starts at 8 p.m. and costs $6. The Quiet Storm Coffee House is at 5430 Penn Ave. in Friendship.
Details: (412) 661-9355.
? Regis Behe
