Though the songs here are literally sweet nothings filled with images of teardrops and angels, After Dark surpasses even the Bee Gees' Spirits Having Flown for consistency of aural beauty. Coproduced by Barry Gibb (who also wrote or cowrote all ten compositions), Andy Gibb's third album avoids the stridency that's sometimes flawed the Bee Gees' LPs, perhaps because the only thing on its mind is the enchanted world of puppy love. There's no pontification, and Gibb's vocal tone seldom rises above a whisper, while his brothers' muted falsettos hover behind him like mist over a lake.

Many of the tunes are mere snippets of Italianate melodies, fleshed out by Barry Gibb's coarrangements into ethereally textured mood pieces. The most striking cuts. "After Dark" and "Desire," stretch a gossamer fabric of strings and singing over a delicate samba beat to suggest the ultimate pop refinement of Miami-based, blue-eyed soul. Whereas the elder Gibbs might have developed the equestrian melody of "Warm Ride" into an overblown gallop, baby Andy avoids sounding fulsome by confiding the lyrics in a near murmur. In "I Can't Help It" and "Rest Your Love on Me," two duets with Olivia Newton-John, the voices blend into the production so meticulously that the vibratos seem mechanically synced.

After Dark may have scant appeal to rock fans, but on its own pop terms, it's a production triumph. There's no cheap filler. As ice-cream parlor music for Romeo and Juliet, it's first-class. (RS 315)

STEPHEN HOLDEN