by Brian Simon
Gilbert is best known as lead vocalist for the now defunct Toy Matinee and as a charter member of the Tuesday Night Music Club, which gained its fame via the Sheryl Crow record of the same name. A multi-talented player and producer, Gilbert writes intelligent, well-crafted pop with an occasional nod to the experimental, reminiscent of his Music Club cohort David Baerwald. His strengths are his thoughtful lyrics and clever word-play which he uses to spicen pessimistic songs about the state of the world that would be mundane in the hands of lesser intellects. He can also be quite funny, as in the Utopian fantasy of “Joytown,” where not only do “people tear down parking lots so they can build more parks,” but “Lennon never has to sing a Paul McCartney song.” And in the opening ditty, “When You Give Your Love To Me,” global peace and religious tolerance are among the many fringe benefits promised by the singer in exchange for his lover’s affection. There are some missteps; the emotionally constipated protagonist in “Tea For One Again [sic]” meets too predictably [sic] an end, while “Song For A Dead Friend” is so personal as to be almost too painful to hear. However, these are only minor dents in an otherwise solid disc (which includes Gilbert’s version of Led Zep’s “Kashmir” that was rejected for that band’s tribute CD but has received huge airplay on the Mark and Brian show on KLOS).