William F. Gibbs – My Fellow Sophisticates
I’ve been straggling with this album for sometime now. Gibbs is definitely a very talented singer-songwriter with both a beautiful melodic voice and clever compositions. His influences are kind of a history lesson of 20th century music, from the 50’s and 60’s (or sometimes even 20’s and 30’s) all the way to contemporary pop and alternative rock. Perhaps this is his biggest flaw though, since his style varies so much across this album that many songs feel out of place. While some tracks like Darling You were Beautiful Once, Come Back to Me and Operate are really beautiful and display smooth and interesting compositions, others such as Here Comes Your Steamboat Brother! Here Comes Your Freightline Sister and LA Money are quite a letdown.
At first listen, the album reminded me of the fabulous retro compositions that Get Well Soon had achieved in his debut, but as the tracks unveiled, the constant change across the decades from 20’s pianos to 50’s blues and even 70’s disco (at Streetfigher) really started to make this more of a collection of compositions than a solid album. Nevertheless, his unique music style and obvious talent manage to salvage the album and leave you with a couple of tunes that could get you hooked. Hopefully Gibbs will be more concentrated and have settled down on a particular style before his next studio attempt. We just have to wait and see..
At first listen, the album reminded me of the fabulous retro compositions that Get Well Soon had achieved in his debut, but as the tracks unveiled, the constant change across the decades from 20’s pianos to 50’s blues and even 70’s disco (at Streetfigher) really started to make this more of a collection of compositions than a solid album. Nevertheless, his unique music style and obvious talent manage to salvage the album and leave you with a couple of tunes that could get you hooked. Hopefully Gibbs will be more concentrated and have settled down on a particular style before his next studio attempt. We just have to wait and see..
Operate
Darling you were Beautiful Once
Artist.Site Buy.OldManRecords
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