I didn’t pay particularly close attention to the producer credit on albums when I was in college. Usually, the name in that part of the liner notes didn’t even register for me unless it was a person I recognized from their primary place in the music world. If Peter Buck from R.E.M. or Bob Mould was listed as a producer, I took notice. Otherwise, considering who was filling that vital personnel role was an afterthought. It was only well after deciding the work was great that I realized, for example, that Paul Fox produced several favorite records released during my college radio tenure.

One of the few albums I first played entirely because of the producer was Ray by Frazier Chorus. Like the examples above, I had some knowledge of the producer because of his work with a band, although even that seemed more of an extension of his production chops than anything. Broudie was in the band Big in Japan in the nineteen-seventies, but he truly made his name producing albums for bands such as Echo and the Bunnymen and Icicle Works. He eventually decided he wanted a crack at making his own music again, so he went into the studio to record under the name the Lightning Seeds, emerging with the album Cloudcuckooland. Within its grooves was the irresistible pop wonderland “Pure.”

No matter how successful that single was, Broudie still held on to his day job. I still wasn’t scanning that part of the credits with great attention, so I was reliant on a trusted friend to hand me the Frazier Chorus album with the insistence that it should be played. While the band had been around for a bit, I knew very little about them. To a large degree, I still don’t. I must admit that, for me, the album was less an achievement by the band named on the front and more of one for the technician cited on the back. It was an extension of the Cloudcuckooland moment. For once, it was about the producer, especially when the glistening lead single played.

Frazier Chorus, “Cloud 8”

(Disclaimer: The album appears to out of print as tangible item that can be purchased. It can, however, be acquired digitally. However, that puts no money in the till of your preferred local, independently-owned record store. Additionally, the link to the Too Much Joy album above is probably reminder enough for some around here as to how much faith the proprietor of this internet outpost has in record companies providing due compensation to artists on the basis of online sales. Thus, the song is presented her. Making no claim on the ownership of the song, even under fair use practices which should still carry some weight, I will gladly remove it should anyone with a legitimate claims on ownership contact me with such a request.)