Stand Out Albums has been a showcase for my favorite albums across the vast performers that I love. Covering a little bit of everything from classic rock to country hits, much like Key Movies of My Life, it has been the albums that shaped me. This year, I am taking a slightly different approach by discussing the discographies of my favorite musicians, album by album, in release order.
Recently I launched my review series about one of my all time favorite bands, The Posies. This week we take a look at their third, and probably most popular, release. The album, Frosting on the Beater.
Why This Album?
Frosting On The Beater is the album that essentially brought The Posies into the realm of Power Pop. While Jon and Ken still embraced their incredible melodies and harmonies, Frosting is a much heavier sounding and even tighter produced album that defined the Posies for many of their fans. For me, Frosting was the second or third album I picked up, probably the second seeing that it and Dear 23 were the only one’s my local music shop carried at the time. So, by the time I got to this album, I was already very familiar with the sweeter and more ethereal feel of Dear 23. With that, Frosting came as a bit of a shock. I had fallin in love with the more Beatlesque feel of Dear 23, and here was an album that combined this with more of a rock sound. While I was taken aback a moment, it was not long before I became completely absorbed in this album just like D23.
Comprised of Jon Auer, Ken Stringfellow, Dave Fox and Mike Musburger, Frosting still doesn’t shy away from feelings of angst and sorrow but embraces them with a ferocity that had yet to play in to the bands music. Instead of lovely lamentations of sorrow and anxiety, the band takes these emotions and makes twists them into new and utterly amazing songs that are completely unforgettable. With songs like Flavor of the Month seeming to poke at the sudden popularity of Seattle bands to Coming Right Along encouraging listeners to not fall too deeply into despair, this album covers every base and keeps running.
Favorite Tracks
Ending the album with a sorrowful yet hopeful tune is perfect and Coming Right Along is certainly one of my favorites. It also happens to be one of their few songs to land on a film, namely The Basketball Diaries.
Burn & Shine has just always been one that I could listen to over and over. With lines like ‘Do you remember the taste of pemmican?’ reminding me of my scouting days, and the idea that everyone has a burn and shine moment but the brighter you shine, the quicker your light could go out.
Definite Door. If you have been following my blog, you know my love of scifi. This song has always felt like a deeper story combining scifi with reality indicating that leaving home is, in essence, a Definite Door to another Dimension. I love that idea, that by leaving everything you grew up with behind, you could find yourself in a whole new universe that is very different than you knew. I see this often with friends who never left my home town. I have travelled much of the US in the past 25+ years and it is certainly a very different place than you expect if you have only stuck with the familiar.
One note, I was luckily enough to see this lineup a couple years back while The Posies toured Frosting On The Beater with the original lineup. I’ve seen Ken and Jon numerous times but seeing this band in this form still tearing it up on stage really made me feel like a teen again. If you ever get a chance to see these folks in concert, I highly recommend doing so.
Ok, Where do I get it?
Thankfully, you can pick this one up from the folks at Omnivore Recordings in a tremendous deluxe edition. If you want to give it a listen first, you should spin it here on Spotify. I really think you’ll dig it.
Next week we get into album that carried my through the end of highshool, with Amazing Disgrace. Until next tim!
Late to the Game 5/25/2021
Thanks for reading, If you would like to read more reviews I have a weekly series called Key Movies Of My Life that comes out every Thursday and also check out some retro tv goodness with the ongoing series Retro TV Reviews here. You can also find a few of my other Music Reviews Here.
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