Customer Reviews

Songs From the Gutter (Bonus CD)

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If I could rate this with 6 stars I would. Simply the best CD I've bought in at least a decade the songs are so good. From catchy hard rock (When Did You Get So Safe) to country blues (Mud on My Shoes) Alanis style techno (Down to Nowhere), heady solo acoustic (Water to Sky), to otherworldly dreamscapes (And Well Dance). This would easily be a greatest hits album for most artists.

And this is before you get to the bonus CD. Almost too good to be true. The first track ("Hydrogen") is probably the best flat out rock song I've heard in about a year, and the chord change in the acoustic "Lavender Cowgirl" is of the most unexpectedly clever ones I've ever heard. Most of the bonus CD is acoustic. The song "December in New York" is brilliant with its acoustic guitar and piano--it sounds like something straight off Joni Mitchell's Blue album. There's even a spoken word song "Don't set foot over the railway track".

Thea's voice on these discs echoes those of a number of other female artists (Natalie Merchant, Alanis Morrisette, Joni Mitchell, Chrissy Hynde, and even Margo Timmins from the Cowboy Junkies). To me, these songs sound like they're sung by several different women rather than one artist.

After just one play I was a fan. Simply a must have.

Some times along comes a voice, a character, a writer, a performer with an edge and difference to make a difference. Now I like Sarah Mclachlan but she is smooth and highly crafted. Thea is a Dylan, harsh at times, crude perhaps, punchy definitely. A unique perspective and a fresh one. I predict that she will conquer all before her and this album, in its double form shows all of that edge and vitality. I'm not going to pick out individual tracks but I will say that, you may start off listening to this album while you are doing the washing or playing with the computer....you will not finish this album that way. Prepare to be disturbed.

Thea Gilmore is arguably the most literate and provocative singer/songwriter of her generation and with six full-length CD's to her credit, she is also one of the most prolific.

On Songs from the Gutter Thea takes you on an aural roller coaster ride that leaves you breathless and begging for more. There are no two songs alike and each selection creates a musical landscape that can be favorably compared to the best work of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and all of the great wordsmiths that have come before her. The songs range from a captivating rendition of Dylan's I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine to the introspection of Tear It All Down. The imagery found in Heart String Blues ("It is rising like the evening tide around an old shipwreck, It is tightening that pretty little noose around your neck") is as brilliant as it is timeless.

Her wit, humor and phrasing combined with her God-given talent as a musician place Thea in the company of the masters. Listen to Songs From the Gutter or any of her other releases and you'll understand why Thea Gilmore is a force to be reckoned with.

This album has songs that keep me interested from beginning to end. That in and of itself is a feat. Each song is different and each song is done well. Her voice is great, her writing is even better. My favorite cuts are Earth to Sky, I dreamed I saw St. Augustine and track #1 ( I can't remember the title) This is a wonderful cd, and I recommend it to anyone reading these reviews.

Vituperative, elegant and sharp as a tack, Thea Gilmore: The most prolific and intelligent wordsmith of her generation...This album is a marvellous thing... Truth and beauty hurt; She's a sharp social observer with a Dylanesque turn of phrase and Inventively original, Some Kind of genius, whilst Quietly brilliant, Engaging and intimate... Gilmore writes like someone raised on a diet of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. She's

a one-woman war against shallow pop and political complacency... reasserts her claim to Brit Songwriting supremacy; simply

Marvellous, a mature and haunting collective of songs, a

"British mega-talent Thea Gilmore is the real deal.

Just a few words before we start. When it comes to music review, I'm always ceptical. I mean, if the stuff is good, you don't have to explain much. Just listen to the tune. Music speaks for itself and, quotin Bob Marley, "one good thing about music is that when it hits you, you feel no pain", or something like that. Whatever. My first and only contact with Thea Gilmore, so far, was through a promo cd on the current issue of MOJO magazine. The song in question was a cover version of Clash's "I'm Not Down", not included on this US release. It took just one listen to the song to make me realize that, whoever Thea Gilmore was, she was gifted. A natural artist. One of a kind. That's all it took. One single tune. Enough. As I'm writing this, I'm still unaware of any other song on the album. It's not really necessary, though. Get the album, as I will do myself, and you'll see what I meant. Sorry folks, for my poor English. PS: By the way, I love Bob Dylan, I love The Clash and I'll love Thea Gilmore.