Warranty Included Robert Lester Folsom: Ode To… (Vinyl LP) | Freebird Records

Ode… showcases both impeccable songwriting across light folk, downer pop, front porch rock and woodshed country tropes, combined with ingenious arrangements and technical skills across primitive recording equipment. The beauty of Ode… lies in its tracking of the seasons in its cycle, how each song feels like a different time of year.

Folsom’s legitimate debut would have to wait until 1976, when he self-released the album Music And Dreams, which brings the ideas presented on Ode… into clear, polished relief, lushly appointed with synthesizers, clavinet, an army of percussion, and multiple tracks of orchestration and arrangements that’ll make you feel like you’ve heard any of these wonderful songs before. Folsom provides a homespun challenge to then-established artists as farflung as Todd Rundgren, Neil Young, and KC & The Sunshine Band, albeit with touches that credit his upbringing from the decade prior. Had the record any manner of major label backing, it could’ve been a hit; as it stands Music And Dreams has quietly amassed a cult following, with original copies trading for handsome sums.

South Georgia Sun Orange vinyl version.

1. Ode To A Rainy Day
2. Written In Your Hair
3. Love Is
4. Heaven On The Beach With You
5. See You Later, I’m Gone
6. She
7. On And On
8. Another Sunday Morning
9. Situations
10. Oblivion
11. Can’t You See
12. Blue Velvet
13. Show Me To The Window