|
Artist: Ray Gilman |
|
|
Well, you can't really complain with an 18 track CD whatever musical taste you have, can you! From a touch of blues, funk, right down to 80's power-pop, it's all here on 'Over Time', and with Rau Gilman's 10 years experience in Gilman's Crossing, it's done quite well. Along with his son Brian, drummer, Brian Sherry and guitarist Pat Swedzinski, they jointly prove to be a very tight unit here, which can be described as a guitar fans wet dream of an album when they hear it. 'Can't Stop Myself' is full of clever, finger popping guitar solos and a dreamy keyboard that floats all over the song, yet can't help it ending up a tad annoying towards the end due to the repetitive line ... "can't stop myself", so thankfully 'New game' ends the torture. There's similarities to Tom Petty's 'Learning To Fly' here and there amongst it, mainly the guitar work to be exact 'Another top notch solo mid way into 'Guitar Hero' breaks up its power-pop feel that it has that seems to be the feel pattern up to now, so it makes a change to the formats to have the country-styled 'Tennessee' come along. Still, the realisation of the lack of the 'oomph' factor hits home, so the pleasantness of 'Easy Come, Easy Go' and keyboard riddles 'Evening Sky' only adds to this point, with this track sounding so out of place on this album. . On the other band, the huge guitar solos that cut through 'Tales Of Modern Times' and the funky-bassed 'Funky Jazz Thang', show that this band do have an edge to it when needed, so those guitar geeks out there will drool over the guitar duels on the instrumental 'Come Away With Me', showing Ray & Co.'s true strengths. Not to be outdone, those of the four stringed variety have their three minutes of heaven on 'Waiting For The Sun', Brian Gilman slapping his bass very Mark King-like! another instrumental 'Altitude' has an 80's film soundtrack vibe about it (Beverley Hills cop anyone?), the racing drum beat and guitar to match, before the sudden end leads into the powerful sounding 'If I Could Be Myself', that along with the atmospheric 'Dark Earth' again has an 80's edge to them. Think along the lines of Icehouse and their classic 1982 album 'Love In Motion' and you've hit the nail on the head for the best two tracks on the CD. Things get rocked up, just that bit more on 'No Way Out' which again shows that this lot can do it when they want to, but on this album it doesn't seem to be as often as they could do, instead relying on what can only be said as an overuse of keyboards that tone things down too much for a supposedly classic rock album. The one thing you definitely can't knock is the musicianship for one moment and I suppose for the length of time this band have been together then you'd expect it to be something special and it is, especially the guitar work. 'Over Time' is definitely a grower though it would probably be better to see the band live first to really get what they are about and then enjoy the CD that bit more. Review by: Bob |
|
| Tracklisting:
01.
Can't Stop Myself
|
|
|
All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
|