It always amazes me what I’ll find on local comps, both with “Homegrowns” and local radio comps. Let’s start with the cover on this LP from Cincinnati’s WEBN radio in 1978, “serv(ing) up a third helping of locally written and produced music to a breathlessly expectant listening audience.”
When Justin and I first picked the record up to examine the cover art it kind of freaked us out a bit. It is an image of a big frog eating a little frog, but if you look closely at the little frog’s legs, and the pointed shapes on the sides, it appears to be some sort of an evil face as well. The back cover explains the image from the artist’s point of view:
The cover of Album Project 3 is an original oil painting by Mr. Charles Harper, a nationally noted wildlife artist and longtime Cincinnati resident. Mr. Harper’s numerous wildlife paintings are illustrated in a number of books and magazine articles and created ceramic murals for the Federal Building and Convention Center in Cincinnati. He describes himself as a “minimal realist”, adding that he never counts the feathers on the wings of the birds he paints, just the wings. He has also posed a rather provocative question, “Can a nature lover find true happiness at the top of a food chain?”
Charles Harper elaborates:
“It’s a real jungle out there - frog eat frog. Happens all the time. If you’re frogizant, you know that a bullfrog gobbles down anything smaller than himself that moves, including fellow frogs. No matter if it’s a neighbor, niece or nephew - even his own kid. Gulp! Gone. So with every predatory palate in the pond and out of it eating on the frog (everything from legs to eggs) what’s the poor polliwogs’ prospect for survival? It froggles the mind.”
It does froggle the mind. On that note, let’s check out the songs. I thought it would be fun to select two, and do a battle. Vices vs. vices, in this case being music/sex/cookies vs. marijuana.
Here’s the first song, by George Uetz, called “Music, Sex and Cookies.”
And here’s the next, “The Toke Monster”, by Venus.
I don’t know if this is neccesarily the best local comp I’ve ever come across, but it’s definitely one of the most interesting.
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