Sea Level - Sea Level (1977)

One of things I missed most about St. Louis while away was KDHX, so I've had their programs going nonstop over the past few days. I got a chance to catch one of my absolute favorite programs tonight, Stumble in the Dark, and DJ Mullins tipped me off to this great '77 self-titled release by the group Sea Level.

I'll say that this album isn't for everyone. It hoists up a sort of cheesy production style that drenched the late 70s classic rock. However, like the majority of Donald Fagen's projects or even guilty pleasures in the likes of Boston, this group has some other secret ingredient going for them that actually makes this production style work to their advantage. In this case, it's a weird tad of Allman Brother's (think Blue Sky and Elizabeth Reed sound) that's resonated throughout the album, showing most significantly on the opener, "Rain in Spain". So clean, so tight. A sound that I've just always liked a lot, even though it stands in stark contrast to a great majority of other music I call perfect. I worked so hard to find a link to this album, as I don't think it carried much of a following into the twenty first century, so grab it in the comments.