Edwin Birdsong: "Edwin Birdsong"

I love Edwin Birdsong’s music.  He’s such an odd cat, yet there is something very intriguing about his offbeat, idiosyncratic solo efforts.  This self-titled release on the Philly International label is more streamlined and club-oriented than his earlier funk-rock experiments for Polydor, but the funny thing is, even when Birdsong is attempting a more mainstream sound, he can’t quite swing it, so innately quirky is his own muse.  “Cola-Bottle Baby” and “Phiss-Phizz” blend into each other, and while the disco pulse beneath both tracks is unmistakable, the acid guitar shredding by Ronald “Head” Drayton atop the groove has no peer in the disco world.  It’s some sort of unwieldy fusion of dance-thud and psychedelic metal, and only Birdsong could make it work.  Other tracks have a mellower feel to them, especially the spacy “Lollipop (Slow).”  Like all of Birdsong’s albums, there really is no context in which this music belongs, which is what makes it all so wonderful.