I do hope some people give that Field Music album a shot at some point, but moving on for Monday…
43. Kevin Gilbert - Thud (1994)
A confession: sometimes I think this album is a little bit overrated because of the Kevin’s passing soon after and the bitterness towards Sheryl Crow having more success with her solo career around this time. But that doesn't mean it's not a great album, and as I kept coming back to it for this exercise I felt like I really did need to include it.
To really buy into Kevin's music you maybe have to get his personality. He was a cynical bugger, with a dark sense of humor that bleeds through in his lyrics. That sense of humor does rub me wrong at times, and I kind of have to take him in small doses. But other times he does really make me smile. There was an intriguing personality that comes through in his music.
Consider some of these lines:
"I'm sick of hearing about sadness/I'm sick of violent crime/I'm sick of angry militant lesbians feminists/I'm sick of imperfect rhyme" ("When You Give Your Love To Me")
"Goodness gracious, of apathy I sing/The baby boomers had it all and wasted everything/now recess is almost over and they won't get off the swing" ("Goodness Gracious")
"I'm waiting for the man-made gods to do the will of man/I'm waiting for the CIA to cover up again/I'm waiting for the militants to lighten up a bit/I'm waiting for the mafia to make this song a hit" ("Waiting")
"We were always friends/we were Captain Jim and Billy the superhuman, crime avenging twins/oh, I'm gonna miss you and I truly am alone now/'cause there's no one to congratulate my sins" ("Song for a Dead Friend")
He walks a line between overdoing it and being clever maybe, but he isn't boring, and sometimes he strikes gold. He also had the voice to sell it. You feel like you get to know the guy through his lyrics and how he sings them.
Gilbert’s talent for engineering/production is also on display here. While the final product is maybe a bit sterile in places ("Tea for One" and "Tears of Audrey" to an extent), the overall sound is very good. Things like the bass on "Goodness Gracious," the percussion on "Waiting," and the way he captured the piano on "Song for a Dead Friend" are magnificent. Then you have the 7:00 minute mini-opus, "Shadow Self" with its frequent tempo shifts and operatic chorus that reveal Kevin's prog side peeking through on an otherwise straight ahead pop/rock album.
My favorite tracks close the album. The whole album has an air of melancholy, but "All Fall Down" ratchets things up as a cynical ode to nuclear apocalypse. The mood only darkens with "Song for a Dead Friend," an aching but heartfelt goodbye to a friend lost to suicide. If you listen to only one song on the album (or one song by Kevin Gilbert), I'd probably recommend that one. Just maybe go for something happier afterwards.
Favorite tracks: Song for a Dead Friend, All Fall Down, Goodness Gracious, Shadow Self