Salamander

Doug Gillard

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 2004)
• Original Release Date: October 19, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Pink Frost
• ASIN: B00049QIV2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,646 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Cleveland's Doug Gillard has been a rock band puzzle piece since the 1980s. He co-starred as the obscure sideman in bands Death of Samantha and Cobra Verde and, for the last eight years, has served as Robert Pollard's right-hand-axe-man (and writer of the acclaimed "I Am a Tree") in Guided By Voices. As GBV calls it quits, Gillard finally takes a crack at manning the whole puzzle with his solo debut, a hook-bejeweled passage into three decades (sixties through eighties) of pop-influenced songwriting and allusions to the Zombies, the Kinks, Nick Drake, Dwight Twilley, the dB's and Urge Overkill. Promoting a variation from Pollard's spit-shined power-pop for a more pensive display, the gifted Gillard plays all instruments (guitar, bass, drums, piano and percussion) save for drummer Jon Wurster's (Superchunk) three-song accompaniment, and his unrefined self-production juxtaposes his own complex guitar solos and piano breaks with the record's melodically gorgeous tone. --Scott Holter

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very solid songwriting, November 28, 2004

By	bobaloo (new york city) - See all my reviews

If you like Guided by Voices, you will like this very solid effort. The songs take interesting twists (signaled, usually, by strange changes in terms of guitar chords), and the melodies are instantly memorable and always pleasant--yet challanging. Kinda shows you that Bob Pollard of gbv fame maybe should rethink his attitude to overproductivity cause so many of his albums have total throwaways. i don't think doug gillard listens to Genesis the way Bob does (early Genesis--a good but very tricky influence). Also: you won't get sick of this CD--it keeps surprising you. I want to plug something here too: Robyn Hitchcock's Spooked. It is very haunting!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go Doug Go!!, July 20, 2005

By	Scorby Jones "Symple Syrup" (Woodstock, Georgia) - See all my reviews

Dang, this disc is an absolute glory to listen to. I am glad that Doug has chosen to record and release this album, for it has made the world a better place. Hooray!

5.0 out of 5 stars Do another album Doug!!, November 12, 2008

By	Chris Carter (my music room) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is some damn good rock and roll - unpretentious and just plain cool. For you that don't know, Doug Gillard was the lead guitarist in Guided By Voices, only one of the greatest contemporary rock 'n roll bands ever. Sadly, they are no more, and no one will miss their triumphant live performances more than me, but anyhoo, on to the review.

There's just a lot of quality songs on here - no filler to my ears. Even GBV albums had some songs I just didn't care for or felt were uninspired, but this is like George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass", where a sideman steps out from a well-known band and produces a work that astounds.....I listen to this more than most GBV stuff, honestly - it's hard to even single out individual tracks 'cos they're all pretty great (and varied). He understands pacing, too : there are some slower, quieter numbers like "Blockout" (mildly psychedelic). I have a hard time listening to the one about his mom dying, though. "Give Me Something" might be my favorite song on the whole thing - it's just plain [...] cool.

I also like how you can hear extraneous noises on a few tracks - the slide of fingers on guitar strings, a shaker falling to the ground - stuff like that is great to me. Idiosyncratic. And his lower register voice is cool. So make another one, Doug - we'll be waiting - tour or no.