Case File o46

Few album covers capture the essence of the recording inside like the artwork on Jim Boggia’s Fidelity Is The Enemy. A child (and on the insert, a grown-up Jim) stares wistfully at a 45 RPM single spinning on the turntable while the sounds wash into his head through his eyes as well as his ears.

The image, and the album title, come from “Bubblegum 45s,” just one of a set of richly textured tracks that fill this record. With a voice that sounds like a less raspy Don Dixon and an imagination that recalls Todd Rundgren, Boggia’s pop platter demonstrates complex thought translated into accessible music that should appeal to anyone with an appetite for melody and hooks. “Several Thousand” rivals anything Mike Viola has attempted with the Candy Butchers, while the darker “Black And Blue” would hush a crowd at the most boisterous songwriter’s circle.

Jill Sobule and ex-Derringer players Donnie Kisselbach and Benjy King make appearances, as does a Brian Wilson cover (”Don’t Talk”), but the star here is Boggia’s songs. Major, major talent awaiting your discovery.

- Bill Holmes

Cosmik Debris review: Fidelity is the Enemy