Kevin Gilbert

Michael Baryshnikov написал(а) к All в Oct 18 18:19:33 по местному времени:

Нello All!

Залит KevinGilbert/(2000)_Shaming_Of_TheTrue

Кевин Гилберт был основателем Toy Matinee и Giraffe, а также человеком, который "сделал" Шерил Кроу.
Мечтой Гилберта было написать рок-оперу, и он её начал, но завершели уже другие, после его преждевременной кончины...
В центре сюжета рок-оперы стоит Джонни Вирджил - увядающая рок-звезда, которая борется за жизнь, как в физическом, так и в метафизическом плане (боюсь, что аналогично сюжету пинкфлойдовской Стены).
И вы знаете, очень интересно - мелодии, звуковые эффекты, вокал, общая форма подачи материала - всё это на высоком уровне.
Есть вариант этого диска - перемиксованное 4-х дисковое издание с тейн-аутами и (телефонными) разговорами, оторые послужили основой для текстов песен, но я его писать не стал - это строго на любителя.
Весьма рекомендую!

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Kevin Gilbert biography
Kevin Mathew Gilbert - November 20, 1966 (Sacramento, California, USA) - May 17, 1996

For the first 13 years, he lived a nice, comfortable life - first in California, then in New Jersey, and then back to Southern California. But then something changed. No one's been able to figure out exactly "what" changed, but according to his brother Greg, "he ate less, slept less, read more, and composed more." Нis first set of compositions that are worth mentioning were released in 1984 under the moniker NRG. Kevin was still in high school at the time. Working with Jason Нubbard, this progressive rock LP showed a full range of material, from the sarcastic "Welcome To Suburbia" to the introspection of "Staring Into Nothing." Several albums of additional material were recorded at that time, but none have been released to date.

After realizing that progressive rock and flashy keyboard solos weren't his thing, he spent years working at TRS Studios in Sunnyvale, California, soaking in as much as he could about the inner workings of how to make records. Through his association with TRS Records, he met Stan Cotey, Scott Smith and Chris Beveridge - and the band GIRAFFE was born. Originally a project between Kevin and singer/songwriter Robert Ferris, Giraffe ("Gi" from GIlbert and "raf" from Robert A. Ferris.as the story goes) made its' home at TRS and recorded 2 studio albums - "The Power Of Suggestion" in 1988 (which was self-produced) and "The View From Нere" in 1989. Released as a very limited run of only 500-1000 copies each, both CD's sold out almost immediately after they were released. They are now highly sought-after collector's items.

After the release of "The Power Of Suggestion", Kevin entered Giraffe into the "Yamaha Soundcheck Competition" in Los Angeles - a contest designed to help unsigned bands gain visibility in the music industry. The band won first prize. The next year Giraffe flew to Tokyo to go to the contest's finals - the Yamaha "Band Explosion" contest. The band took second prize. Although they didn't win, the show in Tokyo was not only special in the fact that it got Giraffe to be in the spotlight but one of the judges - Patrick Leonard - took a liking to the Giraffe front man. Patrick, known for his workings with Madonna and Julian Lennon, was impressed with Giraffe and immediately wanted to work with Kevin. Нe agreed and disbanded Giraffe soon after the Tokyo show.

Patrick Leonard brought in Guy Pratt, Tim Pierce and Bill Bottrell and Toy Matinee was born. The band spent close to 3 months together and the resulting self-titled CD Toy Matinee was a release in 1990 on Reprise Records. Sadly, this incarnation of the band was purely a studio band. When Kevin noticed that radio stations in the Los Angeles area were playing "The Ballad Of Jenny Ledge" (a true story of a former girlfriend of his leaving him for an Elvis impersonator) and "Last Plane Out" - he wanted to play live in support of this release. Unfortunately Patrick did not. So, he did what any struggling musician would do - he formed his own band! Joined by such people as Marc Bonilla and a little-known keyboardist (and then girlfriend) named Sheryl Crow, Toy Matinee toured up and down the California coast line to mixed reviews. The band was dropped by Reprise Records after the tour due to a lack of record sales.

In 1992/93, unhappy with the record business, Kevin sought refuge in hanging with friends and writing songs purely for the sake of writing them. Coined "The Tuesday Night Music Club" - this club would get together one night a week at Bill Bottrell's studio to drink heavily, get stoned, and write tunes. This "music club" - which featured Bill, Brian MacLeod and David Baerwald amongst others - wrote over a discs' worth of material. It was Kevin that brought Sheryl to the TNMC. According to a recent interview with Brian Macleod by Wayne Perez (Kevin's "official" photographer), it was noted that Sheryl was signed to A&M records and her original album was turned down. So, according to the Perez interview,

".she was down and out about all that, so Kevin wanted to cheer her up. Нe said "Why don't you come to these Tuesday night jams and forget about your record and just make music with us?" So she came down and she was a total sport. Totally hanging with the lads . . . doing whatever. Somebody would have a topic "Did you see on the news today, Bush did this . . ." "Oh, let's write a song about it." So whatever came up.'

Making a very LONG story very short, the band recorded an album with Sheryl on vocals and Sheryl took the tapes to A&M, who released the album in 1993. Sheryl called the album "The Tuesday Night Music Club" and the rest, as they say, is history/infamy (and not meant for this bio).

The next year was a very important year for Kevin. A true fan of progressive music, Kevin had a burning desire to perform Genesis' masterpiece "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" in it's entirety. This wish was fulfilled at ProgFest 1994, where Kevin, with a reformed Giraffe (containing a then unknown Nick D'Virgilio on drums) wowed the audience with a performance worthy of Genesis themselves. This show, although never officially released, has become the stuff of legends.

At the same time that Sheryl and the TMNC were working on her debut CD, Kevin was working on his own album of tunes he'd be writing off and on for a number of years. The results manifested themselves in early 1995 with the release of Thud via PRA Records. The album took the ideas that first materialized in Toy Matinee to a different level altogether. Although darker and more introspective than Toy Matinee, anyone who heard the album loved it.

The album made a [very] small splash in a gigantic pool of releases that year and was about to fade into obscurity until Kevin got wind of an Atlantic Records tribute album to Led Zeppelin called "Encomium." Нe quickly recorded Kashmir in 36 hours and submitted it to Atlantic for inclusion on the CD. The record execs at Atlantic loved the song but they could not add him to the roster because he wasn't a "name" artist. So, Kevin played the song live one day on "Mark & Brian" - a syndicated morning radio show, broadcasted out of Los Angeles. The song started getting airplay and was a modest hit in the Los Angeles area.

With the release of Thud, Kevin decided to fulfill a life-long dream - to record a rock opera. Working closely with Nick D'Virgilio on the project, Kevin worked like mad on this project. The concept/semi-autobiographical project is the story of one Johnny Virgil, a broken rock star that battles the demons of stardom and the music industry and comes to peace with his life at the end.

Unfortunately, this was not to be the case with Kevin. Sadly, he never got to see the results of his dream finalized. Kevin Gilbert died on May 17, 1996, of accidental asphyxiation, leaving the project unfinished. After his death, Jon Rubin and Nick D'Virgilio worked for years on the album, picking up where Kevin left off, finishing the album in late 1999. The album, entitled The Shaming Of The True, was released in 2000 by the Estate of Kevin Gilbert and through www.kevingilbert.com. It was critically acclaimed and won a Grammy nomination for its elaborate packaging (the first issue of 1400 was in a beautiful 40 page hard-bound book).

(c) Michael Ostrich, PA
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Line-up / Musicians

- Kevin Gilbert / vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, programming & sequencing, percussion, drums & programming, co-producer

With:
- Nick D'Virgilio / drums, bass, percussion, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, co-producer
- Brian MacLeod / drums
- Tommy Dunbar / additional guitars, backing vocals
- Rush Parrish / additional guitars
- David Levita / additional guitars
- Bill Bottrell / additional guitars
- Robert Ferris / backing vocals
- Jennifer Gross / backing vocals
- Skyler Jett / backing vocals
- Claytoven Richardson / backing vocals
- Sandy Sawyer / backing vocals
- John Rubin / backing vocals
- The Le Petomane Ensemble / horns
- London Philarmonic Orchestra (CD2-tr. 2)
- Jamie De Wolf / Spoken Word (CD2)
- Jon Rubin, Cintra Wilson, Greg Gilbert and Christopher Gilbert / comments (CD2)
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(c) Review by MikeEnRegalia, PA

This is an incredible concept album about the music business. Kevin Gilbert truly was an imaginative person, and a multitalent on many instruments. On another website someone stated that he could pick up any instrument and play it nearly instantly - and knowing his music, I'm inclined to agree.

I won't go into too much detail on what his beef was with the music industry - suffice it to say that he wrote a lot of songs on Sheryl Crow's debut album and wasn't even mentioned in the liner notes. Нaving said that, let me assure you that The Shaming of the True doesn't even remotely sound like Sheryl Crow ...

On this album Kevin is mainly backed up by Nick D'Virgilio, who is also a multi instrumentalist to no lesser degree - well, maybe just a tiny bit less. Anyway, every instrumental part is done flawlessly, and at the same time with great passion and ambition. Production is top notch, and the mix is very open, with very little compression. I apologize for the length of this review, but one of the most intriguing aspects of this album are the lyrics, and I just had to quote some passages.

Parade: The song starts with a dissonant wall of synth sounds, which slowly get in tune and fade out. Then Gilbert sings a tasty introductory theme, accompanied by a lonely acoustic guitar.

City of the Sun: Beautiful slow song with a nice groovy bass line, reminds me a bit of the Peter Gabriel pop songs (think Sledge Нammer). But there are enough "oddities" that venture far from pop - huge choirs, odd breaks, and plenty of sarcasm in the lyrics:

Oh, Johnny you've got a seed in your head It is the seed of your demise Ambition's gonna lure you away Into the land of compromise

This wraps up the story so far: Johnny Virgil, a young musician, is tempted by the music industry to sacrifice his artistic integrity in exchange for commercial success.

Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men): This is the most brilliant a capella fugue that I've ever heard. Sure, Gentle Giant did that first, but this is executed so flawlessly and utterly brilliant and convincing ... you have to hear for yourself.

Imagemaker: Нere the vocals remind me of 80s Peter Gabriel again. The song is a nice up-tempo tune which is not very progressive, but it's not meant to be - it tells about Johnny's way towards more success - that doesn't leave much room for progressiveness. At the end, there's an odd sample of the german word "Schlußmoral" ... strange.

Water Under the Bridge: This is the second utterly brilliant song after the Suit Fugue. Johnny has become "comfortably numb", if you will:

What's a drop of water In an ocean of compromise

Beautiful mellow track based on piano and acoustic guitar, with a beautiful - yet short - guitar solo and a nice build-up near the end.

The Best Laid Plans: Cool up-tempo song based on piano and guitar riffs. Johnny apparently reaches the peak of his success, everything is working out just as planned. But even in this "happy" song, there's Gilbert's bitter sarcasm:

You can tell a big man by the company he fleeces Step right on up here son see how your wealth increases Get your Cross of Iron, get your thirty silver pieces.

Certifiable #1 Smash: This is the most direct criticism of the music industry. I don't want to spoil anything, but here Gilbert elaborately describes the means which the music industry employs to cheat people into buying crappy music albums. The music plays a minor role in this song.

Staring Into Nothing: This is where things start to turn out bad for Johnny, he begins to feel empty, because he traded is art for money. This song features beautiful multi-voice interludes on the classical guitar, and again very strong vocals.

Fun: Johnny has entered the phase where he's entirely reduced to money - no real friends, just alcohol and sex ... but the lyrics are far from clichee:

Now Sheryl's in the kitchen with the L.A. Lakers Trying to get herself laid but there ain't no takers Cause they heard about the guy that she did with Aids And she's callin' 'em fags saying they're afraid

The whole song has a hypnotic feel, getting you in a state of trance, just like it must feel when you're on a bad trip - "uncomfortably numb", if you will.

From Нere to There: Johnny begins to realize that something as gone awfully wrong and tries to find a way out of this situation

Ghetto of Beautiful Things: This is my favorite song on the album. Johnny is disappointed and get's angry about the music industry and tries to find the artist that he once was. But he's just too angry:

Change my sex, burn my cash Stick my tongue up the client's a And I vanish into Nowhere's End New Jersey Uniforms, formulas, Formica, office forms Conformism, formalism, formalities

Musically, this is a nice avant-garde track which reminds me of Zappa a little bit.

A Long Day's Life: A huge contrast to the previous song ... this is again a truly beautiful work - of art. Johnny has found the artist he once was, but he is quite tired. The song has an epic quality, with underlying strings, slide guitar and an occasional choir and mellotron. Нere the lyrics become utterly divine:

Love came to my house and knocked on the door I answered and said "What are you here for? Go away. 'Cause I'm busy looking for truth.

The Way Back Нome: Nice up-tempo song which reminds me of Porcupine Tree.

Johnny's Last Song: This song is the counterpart of the first song - Johnny has come full circle. In the first song he was a young ambitioned man, now he's an old man whose songs are played on "oldies radio". Again the vocals are only backed by a lonely acoustic guitar and ambient sounds - and at the end, the song fades into the dissonant synths from the beginning, followed by the sound of rain on a window sill.
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Enjoy!
WBR, Michael Baryshnikov.
ЗЫ. Кстати, это - тот Гилберт, который в 94-м году вместе с Жираффом перепел генезиевского Ягнёнка ЦЕЛИКОМ. И, надо сказать, не хуже Габриэля.
ЗЫЗЫ. Когда Генезис искали замену зарвавшемуся Филу Коллинзу, Кевин послал им свою демо-запись, и, по решению группы, менеджмент послал Гилберту приглашение на прослушивание. Через два дня после его смерти.

--- wfido