Glow is former
Bongos frontman
Richard Barone's first album of new material since 1993's
Clouds Over Eden, but he didn't spend the 17 years in between simply lolling about.
Barone kept busy producing other artists, supervising large-scale, multi-artist events, including a high-profile all-star tribute to
Peggy Lee, and writing for the theater, among other things. But when
Barone began collaborating with longtime friend
Tony Visconti, the seeds for
Glow were sown.
Visconti, of course, is best known as the producer of ‘70s glam rock classics by the likes of
David Bowie and
T. Rex (though his work extends way beyond that), and those records were hugely influential to glam addict
Barone. In fact, there are glam signifiers all over
Glow, from a cover of Marc Bolan's "Girl" to the presence of a stylophone (famous for providing the electronic sounds on
Bowie's "Space Oddity"), and even a photo of
Barone resplendent in a
Lou Reed Transformer T-shirt and glitter jacket. It comes as something of a surprise, then, that
Glow doesn't sound particularly glammy at all. Despite the aforementioned overt nods to that sequined ‘70s world,
Glow is no retro affair; rather, it's a distinctly contemporary-sounding outing that seems to incorporate the sensibilities that have informed each phase of
Barone's artistic development over the years, from his
Bongos power pop days through his chamber pop period and beyond. For his part,
Visconti is much more than a co-producer here (
Steve Addabbo,
Steve Rosenthal, and
Barone himself also produced a few tracks) -- he wrote many of the songs with
Barone and contributes a multitude of instruments. Together,
Visconti and
Barone craft everything from sparkling orchestral pop ("Glow") to swaying, Latin-tinged sensuality (it's not impossible to imagine
Marc Anthony covering "1-2-3…Infinity") and throbbing rock & roll ("Sanctified"), serving a reminder that
Barone remains a popmeister of the highest order. ~ J. Allen