Like Gollum and his �precious� (ring), I wanted to hoard this battery-burning cache of musical pharmacopoeia and keep it all to myself! However, the urge to spill its secrets was too strong to resist. Huey Lewis, many years ago, sang of wanting a new drug that had no adverse side effects; Tim Gibbons, of Hamilton, Ontario, oozes this magical elixir with a prescription already established on his Shylingo CD.
Whether he deliberately refuses to allow his spine-tingling baritone vocals to rise barely higher than a whisper or if he is innately shy, the calming effect on the listener is very powerful - it�s an antidote to the ailing psyche, cleverly disguised as musical poetry.
The entity known as Deadman, from Texas, provides superb backing instrumentation: dominantly mellow and melodic in its casual intensity, with chiming, wavery guitars, softly-tapped drums, Leslie-like frissons, mournfully howling harmonica (especially on �Streets of Dallas�), solid bass lines and pleasing female harmonies, especially on �Reunion�, provided by organist/omnichordist Sherilyn Collins. �Carousel Interlude� features a slow, jazz-drenched trumpet and upright bass that strangely battle for supremacy over a spoken dialogue about the Kennedy assassination, or vice versa.
The one exception to these gothic country blues melding the sound of Blue Rodeo�s Five Days in July CD to Dire Straits� Brothers in Arms CD is a nevertheless trance-like funk thang called �Honey on the Run�. It is every bit as erotic as Frank Zappa�s �Dynamo Hum�, although lyrically more subtle; it would have been more effectively placed at the end of the CD, to retain the continuity of the mellowness. The present closer, �Anastasia�, however, is beautiful in its tragic pathos - I�m claiming it for my eulogy.
Deadman guitarist Steven Collins produced, recorded and mixed the CD at El Corazon (the Heart) Studio in Dallas, and bassist Britton Beisenherz mastered it at Ramble Creek Studio in Austin. Visit this excellent award-winning band at www.deadmanonline.com. |
