Today, while idly looking through the mail at the Spec office, I came upon a gem of an album so bizarre and yet strangely entertaining that I had to make its existence public.
Titled Pizza and Ice Cream, the CD is the work of a tie-dye clad man from New Jersey named Fred Stein. On the album cover, two stock photographs, of pizza and ice cream respectively, bring the title home. “I like pizza,” I thought, “and I like ice cream, so this album must be for me.” If this was Stein’s intention—that the two most loved food items in America would draw in listeners—then he is an advertising genius.

A mix of psychedelic folk, Devo-esque electronica and a touch of something else I can only describe as stoner uncle music, Pizza and Ice Cream is an eclectic work with something for everyone, whether sweet or savory. Touching on such weighty issues as the influence of technology on human relationships, in the song “Connected” and the existence of extra-terrestrials in “Outerspace manifesto,” Stein has proven that he is not your average pop star. His skills as a song writer are also evident in the song “Roaming in Wyoming ‘Cheyenne the Cat”,” an ambiguously lascivious tribute to his cat, whose catchy refrain features the repitition of the word “meow” and an endearing moniker for his cat, “Chi Chi.”

“I am trying to bring fun and ideas into pop rock music,” Stein states in a letter attached to his CD. He has accomplished his goal as the album was fun—leaving the entire office in stitches—and full of ideas, however vague and substance-influenced they may be.

See for yourself. For more, see www.fredsteinmusic.com