OFten, anytime a guitar “god” makes the attempt at proving they
\ncan do more than just shred their six-string – namely, they try to
\nsing – the results are less than pleasurable. Eric Clapton tried it
\nand succeeded in a big way; Joe Satriani tried it and didn’t do as
\nwell.<\/p>\n
Whatever possessed Paul Gilbert, present axeman for Mr. Big and
\nformer brainchild of Racer X, to take a step up to the mike is not
\nours to know, but his debut solo effort
\nKing Of Clubs<\/i> proves that he is a more than capable
\nvocalist, even if the songwriting needs to be touched up just a
\nbit.<\/p>\n
Gilbert might not be a true “guitar god,” but that doesn’t mean
\nhe’s not a talented musician. If anything, his ability on the
\nguitar might not have been as appreciated as it could have been.
\nEvidence of this is his take on Bach on “The Jig,” a pseudo
\nclassical-Irish dancing number that I can’t imagine him doing on
\nacoustic guitar. From the sounds he pulled out of his guitar, I
\nwould swear he’s tying his hands in knots to hit all those notes.
\nIt’s a brilliant piece of work that ends all too quickly.<\/p>\n
In fact, “quick” could be a key word on
\nKing Of Clubs<\/i> – many of the songs fall in the category of
\n“three-minute-or-so pop song,” with one clocking in at just under
\ntwo<\/i> minutes! Oh, don’t get me wrong, songs like “I’m Just In
\nLove,” “Champagne” and “My Naomi” show off a different side of
\nGilbert that he might not have been allowed to show in bands like
\nMr. Big, and this is a welcome addition to the world of pop\/rock
\nradio.<\/p>\n
But how are his pipes, you may ask? The answer is: not bad, not
\nbad at all. He doesn’t have the vocal strength he might have had if
\nhe had always been the lead singer of Mr. Big, but this is a most
\ndefinitely impressive outing. While he might have been best known
\nfor his guitar work, he wisely allows it to take a back seat to the<\/p>\n
songs<\/i>, all but one Gilbert wrote.<\/p>\n
\nKing Of Clubs<\/i> definitely has a bit of a retro-’70s sound to
\nit – mind you, that’s not a bad thing. You can hear the influences
\nof bands like Cheap Trick and the Rolling Stones in songs like
\n“Vinyl”… a song in which he ain’t singin’ about car seats. In
\nfact, many of the songs on this album deal with love and,
\noccasionally, its loss. Gilbert handles the genre well, with only
\nan occasional dip into the extreme side of love and lust.<\/p>\n
The weakest link on
\nKing Of Clubs<\/i>, ironically, is the one song where Gilbert is
\nallowed to turn the amps up to 11 and blast your eardrums into
\noblivion. “The Jam” reunites Gilbert with his former bandmates in
\nRacer X, as they vamp on one particular bar of music for almost 20
\nminutes. Now, as much as I appreciate the guitar work of Gilbert
\nand Bruce Bouillet, I would have appreciated a bit of variety in
\nthe jam itself – I mean, nineteen minutes on one particular chord
\nprogression gets old really quick.<\/p>\n
Gilbert does need to do a little tightening up on the
\nsongwriting – nothing major, just a little fine-tuning for his own
\nwork. While
\nKing Of Clubs<\/i> flows rather well, a little more work on the
\nsongwriting will make it flow that much better in the final
\nmix.<\/p>\n
\nKing Of Clubs<\/i> is another pleasant surprise that this year in
\nmusic has brought to my mailbox, and is an album that deserves your
\nmoney and attention. It’s one thing for a guitarist to prove he can
\nsing; it’s another to prove that he’s more interested in the song
\nthan the solo.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7393],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38963","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-paul-gilbert","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38963"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}