Dresden China

For decades, the Key's Fit Me In has been a lost treasure for fans of a certain strain of '70s AM pop. Think Wings, 10cc, Emitt Rhodes, the Korgis -- basically anything involving falsetto harmonies, chorused guitar effects and an overall sense of languor and studio gloss. The Key were an Anglo-German duo of singer/songwriter Volker Langefeld (he of the breathy tenor vocals à la the Raspberries' Eric Carmen) and multi-instrumentalist Alan Warren, and their sole album was released in 1978, just a hair too late for the times. By the time this album was released, the new wave had overtaken the top of the pops, and a new band whose music sounded like the best Badfinger album ever made was, sadly, a couple years behind the time. In retrospect, however, the best songs on Fit Me In are astonishingly good examples of the form, particularly the lighter than air Hollies harmonies of "Pamela" and the gloriously twee whimsy of the 10cc-meets-Al Stewart opener "The Farmer and the Fisherman." Even slight tracks like the acoustic "Lazy Bird" sound uncannily like the similar tunes Paul McCartney larded Wings albums with in this time period. Featuring remastered sound and four bonus tracks taken from post-LP singles (all of which were even more rare than the album itself) along with comprehensive liner notes about this little known duo's history, Fit Me In is a textbook example of how to do this sort of reissue and also that rarity, a lost treasure of an album that really is nearly as good as its fans say. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide