Friday, February 25, 2000

NSYNC “Bye Bye Bye” hit #1…but not on the Billboard Hot 100

Bye Bye Bye

NYSNC

Writer(s): Kristian Lundin, Jake Schulze, Andreas Carlsson (see lyrics here)


Released: January 11, 2000


First Charted: January 21, 2000


Peak: 4 US, 15 BA, 110 GR, 110 RR, 25 AC, 19 A40, 3 UK, 11 CN, 15 AU, 30 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 342.96 video, 473.31 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

“Bye Bye Bye” was a chart-topping song for ten weeks, according to the Gavin Report and Radio & Records. The song also spent five weeks atop the Billboard radio airplay chart. However, it only reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, which integrates radio airplay as well as sales. Now, if you lived through the boy band days of the early millennium, you may be thinking, “what do you mean, NSYNC wasn’t #1 in sales also? That album was a monster!”

The album No Strings Attached was absolutely a major seller and its lead single, “Bye Bye Bye,” did much to build that demand. The group premiered the song on October 28, 1999 at the Radio Music Awards, but it was never released as a commercial single. WK This became a common practice in the ‘90s to get people to plop down for the entire album instead of just one song. That meant the song’s chart performance might take a hit but the album sales benefited – and boy, did they benefit in the case of NYSNC.

Strings sold 2.4 million copies in its first week – a record for one-week sales that stood for fifteen years until Adele outdid it with her 25 album in 2015. Not surprisingly, Strings would go on to be the biggest seller of 2000 and eventually sell more than 14 million copies in the United States alone.

As for the song, “Bye Bye Bye” was originally intended for English boy band 5ive, but they rejected it in an effort to move more toward rap. WK Lyrically, it was about “a guy who has reached the end of his patience in his relationship and is ready to leave.” SF Band member JC Chasez described it as being about “kissing somebody off after they burned you.” SF Billboard magazine said the song was one of “the most decisive breakup anthems in pop history.” WK Allmusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the song “a piledriving dance number with the catchiest chorus they’ve ever sang.” AMG Complex’s Kathy Iandoli ranked it the best song ever by a boy band. WK


Resources:


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First posted 8/11/2023.

Thursday, February 17, 2000

Pete Townshend released Lifehouse

Lifehouse

Pete Townshend


Released: February 27, 2000


Recorded: 1970-1999


Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU


Sales (in millions): --


Genre: classic rock


Tracks (Disc 1 of Lifehouse Chronicles):

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

  1. Teenage Wasteland [6:47] *
  2. Going Mobile [4:13] (11/6/71, 5 CL) WN *
  3. Baba O’Riley [7:38] (10/23/71, 1 CL, 80 AU) WN *
  4. Time Is Passing [3:26] WF, OS *
  5. Love Ain’t for Keeping [1:31] (1971, 23 CL) WN *
  6. Bargain [4:30] (2 CL) WN *
  7. Too Much of Anything [5:35] OS *
  8. Music Must Change [4:41] WY
  9. Greyhound Girl [3:05] (1971) *
  10. Mary [4:17] (1971) *
  11. Behind Blue Eyes [3:26] (11/6/71, 34 US, 24 CB, 27 HR) WN *
  12. Baby O’Riley (instrumental) [9:50]
  13. Sister Disco [6:50] WY

Tracks (Disc 2 of Lifehouse Chronicles):

  1. I Don’t Even Know Myself [5:27] (6/25/71, B-side of “Won’t Get Fooled Again”) WM *
  2. Put the Money Down [5:50] (1974) OS *
  3. Pure and Easy [8:35] (1972, 47 CL) WF, OS *
  4. Getting in Tune [4:04] (1971, 14 CL) WN *
  5. Let’s See Action [6:20] (10/15/71, 41 CL, 16 UK, 59 AU) HG *
  6. Slip Kid [6:20] (1975, 14 CL) BN
  7. Relay [4:15] (12/9/72, 39 US, 33 CB, 35 HR, 14 CL, 21 UK, 70 CN) HG *
  8. Who Are You [7:37] (7/14/78, 14 US, 9 CB, 9 HR, 7 RR, 1 CL, 18 UK, 7 CN, 23 AU) WY
  9. Join Together [6:23] (6/16/72, 17 US, 28 CB, 20 HR, 7 CL, 9 UK, 18 CN, 58 AU) HG *
  10. Won’t Get Fooled Again [8:30] (6/25/71, 15 US, 9 CB, 8 HR, 1 CL, 9 UK, 7 CN, 14 AU) WN *
  11. The Song Is Over [5:41] (1971, 11 CL) WN *

All songs written by Pete Townshend. Times indicate length of the demos on Lifehouse Chronicles, but the dates and chart data refer to the original recordings by the Who. Those songs marked with an asterisk (*) were listed in Lifehouse Chronicles as being part of the intended 1971 version of the album. The raised, two-letter codes indicate the first appearances of the songs on releases by the Who.

  • WN Who’s Next (1971)
  • WF Who Came First (Pete Townshend, 1972)
  • OS Odds & Sods (archives, 1974)
  • BN By Numbers (1975)
  • WY Who Are You (1978) <
  • HG Hooligans (compilation, released 1981)
  • WM Who’s Missing (archives, 1985)

Spotify Podcast:

Check out Dave’s Music Database podcast: The 50th Anniversary of Who’s Next. It premieres August 17, 2021 at 7pm CST. Tune in every Tuesday at 7pm for a new episode based on the lists at Dave’s Music Database.


Rating:

4.257 out of 5.00 (average of 7 ratings)


Quotable: “The most rewarding failure in rock history” – Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

About the Album:

“Undoubtedly the most rewarding failure in rock history,” AZ Lifehouse was originally the intended follow-up to the Who’s 1969 rock opera Tommy. The science fiction rock opera was inspired by Pete Townshend’s experiences while touring in support of Tommy. Townshed shared, “I’ve seen moments in Who gigs where the vibrations were becoming so pure that I thought the whole world was just going to stop, the whole thing was becoming so unified.” RO

The story is set in 21st century Britain. Pollution has become so bad that most people never go outdoors in their entire lifetimes. RO They can only experience “virtual reality…via their attachment to a system known as ‘The Grid,’ a concept which many think was predicative of the Internet.” RS These artificial experiences were supposed to be superior than what people could experience in the real world, but were “devoid…of spiritual fulfillment.” LC A guru known as “The Hacker” offers followers a chance to be liberated at a rock ‘n’ roll concert at a theater known as the Lifehouse. “There, the band’s ability to communicate with the audience replaces the role of the Grid and constitutes a powerful spiritual involvement with the world.” RS

Lifehouse was intended to “explore the idea that music is the fundamental basis of all life – that every human being on Earth has a unique musical melody that ‘describes’ them.” LC The idea was rooted in the teachings of Meher Baba, Townshend’s spiritual mentor. LC It was also linked to philosopher Inayat Khan, a Sufi musician who wrote about the connection of vibration and sound to the human spirit. RO Townshed ended up thinking he shouldn’t just write a story to simulate it, but actually gather personal profiles of every concert-goer and use that data to create a “universal chord.” RO

His “unwieldy dream of bringing together new music and controlled theatrical space with audience interaction sadly burst” AZ as Townshend became obsessed with, as he said, “trying to make a fantasy a reality” RO and it led to him having a nervous breakdown.

The rest of the Who didn’t grasp what he was trying to do and abandoned the project. However, many of the songs surfaced on future projects by the Who, most notably on the 1971 album Who’s Next. Other songs emerged on future singles and albums by the Who and Pete Townshend. Themes from the project were revisted on the 1978 album Who Are You and Townshend’s 1993 album Psychoderelict. RO

The project saw light again in 1998 when BBC Radio approached Townshend with the idea of developing a radio play based on Lifehouse. LC The play was transmitted on BBC Radio 3 on December 5, 1999. LC They were released as part of the Lifehouse Chronicles box set in 2000. That six-CD set also included his original demo recordings over two discs, a disc of alternate recordings, and another of the orchestral recordings used for in the BBC radio plays. LC

Townshend performed Lifehouse in concert with the London Chamber Orchestra at Sadler’s Wells in London on February 25 and 26, 2000. Rolling Stone reviewer Jenny Eliscu said “Townshend offered a brilliant set, full of emotion and resounding proof that the man can still play the fuck out of his guitar.” RS

It was released on the DVD Music from Lifehouse. The results are “simultaneously contemplative and hard-charging” AZ as Townshend refined “familiar warhorses…into works of refreshed beauty.” AZ He also has “a chance to shine on such lesser-known titles as Greyhound Girl. Often magical and surprisingly fun, this is a keeper for Townshend fanatics.” AZ


Notes: A single CD version, Lifehouse Elements, was released which included “One Note (Prologue),” “Baba O’Riley” (performed by the London Chamber Orchestra), “Pure and Easy,” “New Song,” “Getting in Tune,” “Behind Blue Eyes” (new version), “Let’s See Action,” “Who Are You” (Gateway remix), “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Baba M1,” and “The Song Is Over.”

Resources and Related Links:


Other Related DMDB Pages:


First posted 8/11/2021; updated 8/13/2021.

Sunday, February 13, 2000

Kevin Gilbert The Shaming of the True released

The Shaming of the True

Kevin Gilbert


Buy Here:


Released: February 13, 2000


Recorded: 1984-1996


Peak: --


Sales (in millions): --


Genre: neo-progressive rock


Tracks:

Click on a song title for lyrics.

  1. Parade [3:44]
  2. City of the Sun [5:55]
  3. Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men) [2:24]
  4. Imagemaker [3:38]
  5. Water Under the Bridge (Ferris/ Gilbert) [5:29]
  6. The Best Laid Plans [5:38]
  7. Certifiable #1 Smash (D’Virgilio/ Gilbert/ Parish) [7:20]
  8. Staring into Nothing [5:51]
  9. Fun (Baerwald/ Bottrell/ Gilbert/ MacLeod) [5:33]
  10. From Here to There [2:11]
  11. Ghetto of Beautiful Things (Bottrell/ Gilbert/ MacLeod) [4:53]
  12. A Long Day’s Life [7:28]
  13. The Way Back Home [4:55]
  14. Johnny’s Last Song [2:15]

Songs written by Kevin Gilbert unless noted otherwise.


Total Running Time: 67:27


The Players:

  • Kevin Gilbert (vocals/ bass/ keyboards/ piano/ percussion/drum programming)
  • Nick D’Virgilio (drums/ bass/ guitar/ keyboards/ backing vocals)
  • Brian MacLeod (drums)
  • Robert Ferris, Jennifer Gross, Skyler Jett, Claytoven, Sandy Sawyer, Jon Rubin, Tommy Dunbar (backing vocals)
  • Tommy Dunbar, Russ Parish, David Levita, Bill Bottrell (guitar)
  • The Le Petomane Ensemble (horns)

Rating:

4.551 out of 5.0 (average of 7 ratings)


Quotable: ”An epic, sweeping, complete work…from one of the brightest lights to emerge in the last 15 years” – Matthew Greenwald, All Music Guide


Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

At the time of his death, Kevin was working on “a life-long dream – to record a rock opera” MO-PA “in the style of Tommy by The Who, an album gave him so much enjoyment in his childhood.” KF Even though such animals were “resolutely out…Gilbert clearly didn’t care. He was intent on venting his rage and self-loathing in a carefully circumscribed series of closely connected first-person vignettes.” JS00

“You know the story; it’s been on VH1’s Behind the Music a million times. A star (insert name here) comes out of nowhere and becomes the biggest thing since sliced bread. Everyone lies to him from managers, to agents, to promoters. The people can’t get enough, and the record company continues to push the artist to the limit. Finally, the artist has had enough and takes a break, but with that, the fans move on to the next pre-made star and the industry chews you up and spits you out.” EP

That’s the premise for Gilbert’s “concept/semi-autobiographical project” MO-PA which details “the rise and collapse” IO of Johnny Virgil, “a boy from the sticks who goes to the big city to become a rock star.” RSI “In Johny Virgil, Kevin Gilbert created the perfect vehicle to voice his own frustrations, naiveté, hopes, and lessons learned.” UB He “travels through the music industry sausage grinder” MG and “battles the demons of stardom” MO-PA because “he desperately wants fame” EP and “the quick buck.” IO He “compromises his artistic vision to produce what the record companies and fans want.” EP He “is stripped of his integrity, his passion, his art, and his soul, and so naturally rises to unparalleled heights on the charts” UB before his “rock-star dreams crash on the shoals of A&R men, hangers-on, drugs and the whole Hollywood scene.” JS00 He “finally comes to peace with his life at the end.” MO-PA

Unfortunately, Gilbert died before finishing the album. He left a “brief handwritten note describing the current running order of the songs at the time” SM-S and a “massive collection of tapes with songs in progress, some dating back to the 80’s,” SM-S ”scattered in studio draws and bins with quality ranging from full 24 track masters to cassette tapes.” IO “The story of how this fresh sounding album was, in some cases, literally rescued from the trash can would…make a book in itself.” IO

KG had “worked closely with Nick D’Virgilio on the project.” MO-KG Nick was a “long-time friend” SM-S and the drummer with prog-rock act Spock’s Beard. “At the beginning of their carreer, [Gilbert] was almost considered the sixth member of the band. [He was] a great friend, influence, and producer of their first two albums. The track ‘The Great Nothing’ on their…album V is said to have been inspired by Kevin’s story.” IO

Nick and others catalogued everything for Gilbert’s estate. Blair Lamb and John Cuniberti came in soon after to start work on the opera. D’Virgilio said that then “It was me and John C. going full bore…We re-recorded and mixed at the same time. It just depended on the song and how much it needed.’” SM-S Jon Rubin, KG’s “friend, ex-manager and executor of his estate” JS00 was also instrumental.

The “magnum opus” JS00 was completed in late 1999 and released in 2000 by KG’s estate and througwww.kevingilbert.com. MO-PA To no one’s surprise, it followed in the steps of its predecessor and paired great reviews with poor sales. However, it “won a Grammy for its elaborate packaging (the first issue of 1400 was in a beautiful 40 page hard-bound book).” MO-PA

As for the music, it “isn’t progressive rock per se,” CW but “several tracks feature plenty of meaty instrumental interplay, much that could be called progressive.” CW “There are guitar riffs and solos here that most guitarists can only dream of coming up with.” CW “The album goes a lot of places…pulsing grooves on some tracks bring Pink Floyd to mind, while multi-part harmonies on other tracks would make Freddy Mercury grin.” CW This is “anti-pop [with] grandly produced tracks and polished vocals that recall the prog-rock pop magnificence of…Genesis or Yes.” JS00 “Loaded with both pathos and humor as well as some rock-solid performances,” MG “this tortured masterpiece takes its place alongside other depictions of the cruelty of Hollywood such as Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust or Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard.”JS00

Parade

In the opening song, “Johnny Virgil’s desires are laid out.” EP “Johnny Virgil, perhaps sitting in his bedroom, [is] strumming his acoustic guitar singing a song full of hope and ambition.” IO “After a wash of orchestral keys that fade away, we just get Johnny and his acoustic guitar, a very self assured young man who knows he’s gonna be a star. The concept’s main musical theme is already present in this song.” KF

City of the Sun

“To reach his goal Johnny has to move to The City of the Sun (L.A.?). Here he moves through the regular ‘wanna be rock-star’ circles of dumps, sidewalks, bars to get acknowledgment.” KF There is “an excellent dialogue about meeting a would-be rock star gas station attendant.” EP This “is one of the proggy numbers, moving through a chain of musical ideas, some gently acoustic, others reminding one of King’s X before falling into the kind of sound that Yes might have come up with in their 80s incarnations.” CW

Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men)

The third song “is a hilarious parody on how all these record executives are so phony.” EP This “Gentle Giantish track” CW appeared earlier on a tribute album for them. It “is nothing short of a masterpiece.” CW “The execution of the vocals is amazing,” EP showcasing “enormous talent in the studio, overlapping vocal after vocal to create the (mainly) acapella conglomeration of messages left by PR men, agents, and other musical lowlifes on Johnny’s answering machine.” SM-S “Johnny gets the advice to drop the band (they are in the way) and adopt an IMAGE: ‘No we need a sharper hook – like a scandal. Maybe you can rape a nun, or better still a priest.’” KF

Imagemaker

In this song, Johnny “gets a makeover. The song is a punchy guitar driven track” KF with “Pink Floydish moments,” CW or, as Bryan Beller, the bassist of the live performance of TSOTT at Progfest ’02, says, “‘a Peter Gabriel type of tune because a) he inflected his own vocal with that kind of delivery; b) he used a gated delay effect on the vocal that emulated the production perfectly.” BB-JM It is “the first of three songs from Giraffe, Gilbert’s band from the late 80’s,” SM-S recorded here as “more rocky and less percussive (mechanical) than the original.” KF

Water Under the Bridge

Now “we see Johnny making his first compromises. He [asks] ‘What’s a drop of water in an ocean of compromise?’” KF “The song is one of the highlights, a beautiful ballad that brings out the best in Kevin’s voice” KF and “has an ear catching melody.” EP It “captures the type of pseudo progressive sound that allowed Pink Floyd to cross into the mainstream and make a killing.” CW It also “features some excellent drumming by D’Virgilio. Tommy Dunbar contributes a Beatlesque guitar solo to the song, giving it just the right touch.” SM-S

Best Laid Plans

Here “we get a glimpse in the kitchen of the corporate music business. Here careers are made and broken and you can sell your soul for thirty silver pieces.” KF This is “one of the best tracks on the record” EP – “another up-tempo rock song in Who style” KF with “a dose of note perfect Quadrophenia.” UB It could also be a “supercharged Billy Joel” CW or “early ‘70s Elton John.” SM-S Beller concurs that the song “‘sounds like it could be right off of a mid-‘70s Elton John record. Well, that’s because he got the exactly correct piano and electric guitar sounds.” BB-JM It “features a pounding groove that’ll make auto drivers press the pedal to the metal.” CW It ‘has ‘hit’ written all over it.” SM-S

Certifiable #1 Smash

It all pays off for Johnny when he lands the big hit – his certifiable #1 smash. The song is “a wicked look at the way stars will do anything to sell a record and get attention.” EP “Gilbert’s anger and discontent with the music business…is in full bloom here.” SM-S In particular, “the video idea section is quite hilarious,” KF “told from the narrative of a video director selling Johnny Virgil on his ideas.” EP With an obvious “poke at the video ‘Like a Prayer,’” EP “it appears Madonna is the target of Gilbert’s diatribe.” EP

Musically, “Smash” is “another guitar driven punchy track in the prog meets MTV era guitar rock mould.” KF In addition to the “insanely great guitar work, [there is] “a wonderfully nasty funk section the likes of which hasn’t been heard since Sly and the Family Stone’s ‘I Want to Take You Higher’ at Woodstock.” CW “It’s quite spooky with cool use of Mellotron” KF and, “once again, D’Virgilio’s drumming is spectacular.” SM-S Also of note – “since Gilbert died before he was able to lay down a vocal track for the song, his vocals…were lifted from an earlier performance at the Troubadour…You can still hear the crowd in places, but in the end, it just adds more character to the song.” SM-S

Staring into Nothing

This “brings us to the place where Virgil is now successful but is feeling totally empty.” EP “This sudden fame and continuous touring wears our hero out” KF “Success has not brought him happiness, and fame has made him miserable. He is just going through the motions, not caring about what is going on around him.” EP “It’s at this point in the story where we find that Johnny’s quitting the music business, due to exhaustion;” SM-S Virgil “is staring into the bright lights and feels lonely and empty.” KF

The song was “originally recorded with [KG’s] pre-Giraffe band, NRG. Parts…sound like your typical 80’s fare, but Kevin turns in a great, flanged bass line on the song.” SM-S It also “harkens back to the hypnotic sounds of early Genesis” UB and “there’s an obvious Yes influence permeating throughout the song, due in part to the use of the acoustic guitar and mellotron.” SM-S

Fun

At this point, “Johnny has a lot of time on his hand and a lot of dispensable cash. He dives heavily into the good life of coke, sex and other earthly pleasures. All he wants to do is have some fun. In passing, we get introduced to several celebrities Johnny meets on his partying, like Arsenio and Sheryl,” KF “all fictional, according to D’Virgilio.” SM-S It “is probably the darkest song on the album,” KF with “a groovy bass driven tune that’s very funky” KF and “an ultra cool arrangement, making it one of the best tracks on the CD.” SM-S

From Here to There

Then “Johnny has a moment of clarity, realizes what he has become.” UB He knows “that his lifestyle will lead to his destruction and he needs a way back home.” KF He is “in an emotional state where he feels like a robot” KF so he “withdraws from the machine that made him a star.” UB It is “a genuinely unsettling ballad” UB as “things get a bit eerie at the end of the song as you hear someone quietly say, ‘my mind is quiet and still.’” SM-S This “is Gilbert at his emotive best as he builds walls of lush orchestral sound that seem to come crumbling down around him, all set to a rhythm track of eerie footsteps.” UB “This is another Giraffe tune from the second album and fits in perfect with the concept.” KF The song also “is a sort of prelude to ‘The Way Back Home.’” SM-S

Ghetto of Beautiful Things

“The pure anger…gets its point across.” EP It “is an aggressive manic track that [is a] preview of…the Kaviar project,” KF which Kevin was also working on when he died.

A Long Day’s Life

Here we get a glimpse of Johnny as “a vulnerable character” KF “in a much more reflective state of mind, detailing recent dreams he’s had.” SM-S He “takes a look back at his life so far and finds that at the end of a long day’s life he is lost and all alone.” KF It is “the longest song on the album” CW and “one of the most complex songs on the album.” SM-S It “is another proggy number that moves from great pop melodies into Pink Floydish territory.” CW and “will be a treat for any fans of Genesis’ Duke album.” UB “It starts…behind the piano and leads us through the track with tortured vocals” KF and “builds to a climax with some great guitar work.” KF It is “one of the…most beautiful” SM-S and “best-penned songs” KF “Gilbert has ever written.” SM-S

The Way Back Home

“You can tell the end is near.” SM-S “The story shows us Johnny, who sad and disillusioned, crosses the path of a man who claims to be ‘Jesus’; he finally shows Johnny ‘The way back home’: it’s love.” KF This, “the final tune…from Kevin’s back-catalogue…is quite different from the original” KF Giraffe tune. “It’s a percussive track reminding [one] of Peter Gabriel’s later work” KF or “Tears For Fears alterna-pop.” UB”According to Cuniberti, the only things they had to work with on this track were ‘drums, piano and a guide vocal’…Knowing the importance of the song in the opera, D’Virgilio took it upon himself to finish the track. David Levita was called in to lay down the guitar solo at the end of the song, and did a superb job.” SM-S

Johnny’s Last Song

This wraps up the tale. As John Cuniberti says, “Kevin wanted this last song to sound as down and out as Johnny Virgil must have felt” JC-KG so he “recorded it outside the studio…onto a portable cassette player” JC-KG “with an old, beat up guitar; effectively capturing Johnny’s desperation at this point in his career.” SM-S “Old and wise, he gives his advice to young wanna-be-musicians: Believe in what you’re doing, remember who you are. And who knows where you’ll go.” KF “The wash of orchestral keys returns before it’s drowned by” KF “the sound of falling rain and train whistles in the distance [that make] the song that much more poignant.” SM-S As Cuniberti says, “Kevin recorded the wonderful rain track himself. The faraway train whistle…was another stroke of brilliance on Kevin’s part.” JC-KG

“When you consider the brilliance of Shaming as a whole, it makes you appreciate the insight that D’Virgilio and Cuniberti had into the mind of Gilbert. But first and foremost, it shows Kevin’s potential in no uncertain terms” SM-S – it is “a flawless work of musical art.” CW “This is one of those rare albums that grabs you the first time you hear it, and then keeps getting better with each listen.” SM-S “Stellar musicianship. Passionate vocals. First class compositions. Top-notch production. This album has absolutely everything.” CW Former bandmate Chris Beveridge says, “Kevin went through some intense personal and professional struggles after he moved to LA, and it sounds like he was able to capture the essence of his experiences and lessons in music and lyric.” CB-KG “While he may be describing his personal nightmare, Gilbert never falters in his assurance, his belief in his own talent, and The Shaming of the True is his testament,”JS00 his “reigning masterpiece.” SM-S It is “a bittersweet farewell from one of the brightest lights to emerge in the last 15 years.” MG


Notes:

Some of these songs appeared in other forms on earlier Gilbert projects, including the groups NRG (“Staring into Nothing” - 1984), Giraffe (“Imagemaker” – 1987, “From Here to There” – 1988, “The Way Back Home” – 1988), Toy Matinee (“Best Laid Plans” – 1992), and Kaviar (“Ghetto of Beautiful Things” – 1996).

There are two other songs that may have been part of the rock opera but were pulled at the last minute by Kevin. They are The Best of Everything and Miss Broadway.” JC-KG The former wouldn’t officially surface until 2009, when the Nuts and Bolts collections were released. The latter showed up on the 1999 Live at the Troubadour release, recorded in 1995.

Review Sources:


Other Related DMDB Pages:


First posted 3/11/2011; updated 8/19/2021.

Kevin Gilbert “Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men)” released

Suit Fugue (Dance of the A&R Men)

Kevin Gilbert

Writer(s): Kevin Gilbert (see lyrics here)


Recorded: 1995-96


Released: 1997 (album cut on Giant Tracks)


Released: February 13, 2000 (album cut on Shaming of the True)


First Charted: --


Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)


Sales (in millions): --


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Kevin Gilbert died tragically at age 29 in 1996. He left behind great promise as a musician who’d already built an impressive resume which included touring as a keyboardist with Eddie Money, doing session work for the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson, and co-writing the bulk of the material which comprised Sheryl Crow’s debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club.

At his death, he was working on his second solo album – a rock opera called The Shaming of the True. Jon Rubin, who managed Gilbert’s estate after his death, shared the concept: “This is a story of a young man, Johnny Virgil, who is hell bent on success in the music business. The story follows him as he is chewed up and spit out by the very thing he coveted.” BM

Gilbert originally wrote “the ridiculously complicated musical track” TH “Dance of the A&R Men” for a tribute to the little-known progressive-rock group Gentle Giant, one of his favorites. Rubin explained that, in the context of the Shaming album, this “is the chorus of record execs (A&R, Promotion, etc.) as they seduce Johnny.” BM It “is a hilarious parody on how all these record executives are so phony;” EP one exec says, “You sound like Air Supply meets GWAR…in a good way.” It “is nothing short of a masterpiece.” CW

“The execution of the vocals is amazing,” EP showcasing “enormous talent in the studio, overlapping vocal after vocal,” SM-S all of which are actually Gilbert’s voice, BM “to create the (mainly) acapella conglomeration of messages left by PR men, agents, and other musical lowlifes on Johnny’s answering machine.” SM-S “Johnny gets the advice to drop the band (they are in the way) and adopt an IMAGE: ‘No we need a sharper hook – like a scandal. Maybe you can rape a nun, or better still a priest.’” KF


Resources:


Related Links:


First posted 10/8/2022.

Saturday, February 12, 2000

D’Angelo's Voodoo hit #1

Voodoo

D’Angelo


Released: January 25, 2000


Charted: February 12, 2000


Peak: 12 US, 14 RB, 21 UK, 7 CN


Sales (in millions): 1.7 US, 0.1 UK, 1.8 world (includes US and UK)


Genre: R&B


Tracks:

Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

  1. Playa Playa
  2. Devil’s Pie (10/31/98, 69a RB)
  3. Left & Right [with Method Man & Redman] (11/6/99, 70 US, 18 RB)
  4. The Line
  5. Send It On (4/29/00, 30a RB)
  6. Chicken Grease
  7. One Mo’gin
  8. The Root
  9. Spanish Joint
  10. Feel Like Makin’ Love
  11. Greatdayndaymornin’/ Booty
  12. Untitled (How Does It Feel) (1/8/00, 17a US, 1 RB)
  13. Africa


Total Running Time: 78:54

Rating:

4.119 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings)


Quotable: “The ultimate achievement of the neo-soul era” – Rolling Stone


Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

D’Angelo emerged on the scene in 1995 with Brown Sugar, and album that “helped launch contemporary R&B.” AMG However, he became “disillusioned with the genre that had just anointed him a rising star. ‘I don’t consider myself an R&B artist,’ the then-26-year-old told Jet. ‘R&B is pop, that’s the new word for R&B.’ In his quest to create something new, he looked to both the masters of soul (Marvin, Curtis, Stevie) and contemporary innovators (Lauryn, Erykah). The end result was Voodoo, a moving, inventive masterpiece that stands as the ultimate achievement of the neo-soul era.” RS500

“His soulful voice is just as sweet as it was on Brown Sugar, though D’Angelo stretches out with a varied cast of collaborators.” AMG One of those is producer and drummer Questlove, who called the album a “vicarious fantasy.” RS500 The album also included “trumpeter Roy Hargrove and guitarist Charlie Hunter, fellow neo-soul stars Lauryn Hill and Raphael Saadiq, and hip-hop heads like DJ Premier, Method Man & Redman, and Q-Tip.” AMG

“It must have been difficult to match his debut (and the frequent delays prove it was on his mind), but Voodoo is just as rewarding a soul album as D’Angelo’s first.” AMGVoodoo places Pink Floyd-style cosmic jams (Playa Playa) next to Prince-inspired erotica (Untitled [How Does It Feel]).” RS500

At the time D’Angelo said, “I’m just looking at Voodoo as just the beginning…It took a while, but I’m on my way now.” RS500 He wouldn’t release another album for fourteen years.

Resources and Related Links:


First posted 3/30/2008; last updated 4/20/2022.