Songs You May Have Missed #141

02 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

gilbert

Kevin Gilbert: “Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men)” (2000)

Talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Gilbert fronted such household name bands as Giraffe and Toy Matinee. He was a member of the songwriting collective known as the Tuesday Night Music Club–the very same referred to in the title of Sheryl Crow’s breakout debut album. Gilbert co-wrote much of that record, including the 1995 Grammy Record of the Year “All I Wanna Do”.

Gilbert died at age 29 and his second solo LP, The Shaming of the True, released posthumously, yielded this mind-blowing arrangement–a perhaps semi-autobiographical skewering of record execs and their treatment of up-and-coming acts.

The dizzying vocal collage can be hard to follow. If you wish to discern all the layers of lyric, here’s a mix that isolates the individual parts

p.s. Gilbert was briefly under consideration by Genesis when they were in search of a front man to replace Phil Collins.

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2022/07/03/video-of-the-week-the-story-of-toy-matinee/

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2022/07/16/songs-you-may-have-missed-734/

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2024/11/24/songs-you-may-have-missed-757/

Songs You May Have Missed #140

02 Jul 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

kiss

Kiss: “Hard Luck Woman” (1978)

This is one you may not have missed, actually, considering it was a top twenty hit. But listen again if you will and make sure you don’t miss the sound of a band “out of their element” that I described in song #138 (https://edcyphers.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/songs-you-may-have-missed-138/).

Ragged vocals, un-subtle drumming, a sort of love song that lands just this side of too much sentimentality…power ballad hallmarks all. And a bit of the “power” comes from the fact that it’s sung by a band who’s avowed intent was to rock and roll all nite and party every day. Nothing in their mission statement about “letting feelings show” or “wiping tears from…eyes”.

I deliberately sourced the rarer Double Platinum version of the song because I prefer its slower-building arrangement at the beginning (drums and bass come in only after the first verse).

Another power ballad prototype would be the Rolling Stones’ “Angie”. When it came out I’d heard nothing of the kind from the Stones. Had they put one heart-wrenching ballad on each album, “Angie” would never have carried such weight.

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