OPTIGANALLY YOURS
Presents: Exclusively Talentmaker! (Absolutely Kosher)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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After a wonderful album dedicated to and played on an Optigan (a dizzying contribution to organ music by Mattel in the seventies that featured LP sized discs offering sound samples of entire bands), the band that proudly bares the name, has moved on. This time the object du jour is a similar analogue device of diabolical lo-fi potential called the Chilton Talentmaker. The tribute makers at hand, one Pea Hix and Rob Crowe, prefer to retain their Optigan namesake, and heck, why not. The Talentmaker may be a distinct entity but it certainly shares much common good with the Optigan, most importantly the plaintiff, seventies style samples Hix manages to squeeze forth. An understanding of the times, and more specifically, the vibe of the times, is what makes this platter a winner. Crowe and Hix assemble a series of intricate pop ballads that pay homage to those wide-eyed, wide-tied, wide-bell-bottomed times, and still manage to fly with today's kids. F. Roy Chilton must be finally at peace in the great organ playground in the sky.

© 2001 - John Sekerka