This 2003 release by Tim Gibbons (guitar, harmonica, vocals) follows up his 2000 Streets of Dallas recording with Deadman, a high-profile Texan band. Things Get Bad was recorded at Hangar 13 in Hamilton and released by Bent Knees Records. Loyal to his past and current bandmates, Tim has invited his Little Red Blues Gang and Shakers drummer and bassist, Claude DesRoches and Bucky Buchanan, respectively, to widen the groove, with �Dave Rave� providing back-up vocals. While support for their regular Mermaid's Lounge gigs has dropped off a bit lately, their true fans remain loyal in return.
This offering is a lot less intense than either the incredible Streets of Dallas or the memorable preceding Shylingo CD, although Tim reprises this latter classic theme song as well as the brand-new �Medicine Sam� in an engaging solo acoustic country-blues format not unlike Lightnin� Hopkins or his Seattle successor, Tim �Too Slim� Langford.
Being somewhat of a poet-laureate of �road stories�, Tim assures that truckers and rambling gypsies in general will relate to both �Deal� (as in �the best deal in town when you�re feeling down�) and Ontario�s �Drivin� Snow�, although Nova Scotia has recently cornered that market.
Most of the full-band tracks are still fairly laid-back and easygoing, though, following more along the lines of early J.J. Cale, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones, typified by the �Sticky Fingers� and �Black and Blue� periods of that band�s long-running career. The sad-but-true nouveau classic �rocker� is the title track, but let�s hope, finally, that "things change for the better"!
Enticing bass and lead guitar strokes, lulling drum-taps and harmonicas that cover the range between sweetly nostalgic and plaintively feral complement the too-often subdued keyboard fillers. On �Tophat Full of Tears�, there is a delightful snippet of harmonica containing a Nelly Furtado-like stuttering in its technique.
�Used to be a Pretty Boy�, a gallop-paced Dylanesque ballad made that much more thrilling with an enveloping violin (played by Clint Rice) weaving throughout, makes for a dynamic closing track.
I believe there�s yet another brand-new offering by Tim Gibbons making the rounds in Hamilton. Whether his limited runs of distribution are a matter of economics or a clever marketing strategy, if you know what�s good for your music collection, you will snap up your own copy of any of the above-mentioned CDs quickly or you will be out of luck! |
