Every group has a different story, and Edge’s near-50 year history is a study in patient survival. Players Lee Feldman, Bob Windbiel, Paul Adamy and Mark Macksoud were earnest high school students who joined the brigade of high school basement bands in the early 1970s, dedicating themselves to learning their instruments as they continued living the normal lives of American teenagers. Except these adolescents were serious: they tuned into the growing world of modern jazz as they were also hammered with the monsoon of music blasting out of the rock & roll world. It was a heady time to be in a band, and Edge found their way to building a local following and kept progressing. Of course, like for almost all young musicians, real life intervened and the four young men went in their own directions. Some jumped into jazz, while others found careers playing folk and rock. The good news is they never quit.

Now, through the wonder of modern communication, Edge has returned with a real vinyl album and a sound that is still looking ahead. The songs are an intriguing mix of what Todd Rundgren might sound like now if he’d never discovered a synthesizer, or if Steely Dan hadn’t gone to Bard College but instead, maybe, the University of Pennsylvania. These four are completely accomplished musicians, who like to bend the rules just enough to make them their own. Still, they can stay inside the parameters of ’70s rock so the scent of sweet nostalgia is never far from the turntable.

As a Baby Boomer, I never use the "a" word, but I have to make an exception here. "Keep Me Around" by Edge is AWESOME. First, the production is so sonically inviting that it draws the listener into its aural soundscape. Each instrument has its own space and speaks with a clarity that is rarely heard these days. The album alternates between guitarist Bob Windbiel's gorgeous instrumentals,

filled with chords I don't even know the names of, and keyboardist Lee Feldman's completely original and brilliant songcraft. I can't help but think of John and Paul battling it out on "Revolver." Yet the two diverse styles complement each other to form a perfect union.

The four members of EDGE have been playing together since 1973, so it makes sense that they’d deliver attractive, sweet, touching-to-upbeat melodies with a positive retro vibe. Interspersed with the instrumentals are clever, quirky, oh-so-youthful vocals from keyboardist Lee Feldman.