About the Album:
This is a collection of songs covered by Gilbert throughout his career. Many of these songs were previously released on other albums of his.
“Solsbury Hill”
Gilbert recorded this Peter Gabriel song in 1985. He did all the vocals, instruments, and programming. Jay Jordan, the music director at Serra High School, said in the liner notes, “When Kevin was in the 12th grade he was looking for a cover song he could perform during the solo set at our 1984 high school jazz concert. Kevin was a major Genesis and Peter Gabriel fan so he chose a song that I would approve as not too weird and would think was a hit. I do have a vivid memory of watching Kevin teach it to Steve Begehr, the guitarist for that performance; I stayed out of the way completely.”
“Carpet Man”
This is a cover of a Johnny Rivers song which Gilbert did in 1985. He did all the vocals, instruments, and programming. In the liner notes, Gilbert says, “I kind of resurrected this song from death on an old ‘60s album (no one ever listens to it anymore) and I gave it some new music, a new chorus, and drum machine and said, ‘Someone should do this song again because it’s a good song.’ If this one doesn’t get you dancing you must be dead.” This song also appears on the Decent Exposure disc of the Call Me Kai box set.
“El Paso”
This cover of the Marty Robbins’ song was recorded on November 28, 1990 on The Mark & Brian Radio Show. It features Gilbert and Marc Bonilla on guitar and vocals. Mark Thompson said in the liner notes, “When Brian did the birthday show for me, these guys sat up all night and recorded what I consider to be one of the best versions of ‘El Paso.’” Brian said, “Toy Matinee came into the studio – blew us away! The were one of our favorite groups. They knew you [Mark] were a big fan of that song. It says here on the tape, ‘Recorded in Kev’s living room.’”
“Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding/Burn Down the Mission”
This medley of Elton John songs was recorded live at the Roxy in West Hollywood, California, on May 1, 1991. It was previously released on the Live at the Roxy album, also known as Toy Matinee Live. It features Gilbert on vocals and piano, Marc Bonilla on guitar and vocals, Spencer Campbell on bass, Sheryl Crow on keyboards and vocals, and Toss Panos on drums.
Bonilla said this of the recording in the liner notes: “Kev was a huge Elton John fan, for good reason. We were on a promotional tour in Japan in 1990 for Toy Matinee and had gotten up to perform an impromptu set at a gentleman’s club. They had a piano there and Kev launched into ‘Love Lies Bleeding.’ We both carved a decent version of it (or maybe it was the sake and plum wine that made us think so) so we decided to make it our encore song (along with ‘Burn Down the Mission’) to end the night when we finally had the entire band assembled. I remember Bob Birch, Elton John’s bassist, telling me he played the Roxy version for Elton, who was reported to have said in response, ‘They play it better than I do!’ I think Elton likes sake as well.”
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
This was another performance from The Mark & Brian Radio Show. This one was recorded on December 20, 1990 and again featured Gilbert and Marc Bonilla on vocals and guitar. It was previously released on the Toy Matinee Acoustic album.
Brian Phelps, from the radio show, said, “We asked Kevin and Marc to prepare some sort of a Christmas carol and they said, ‘Well, is it okay if we don’t do just your standard,’ and we said, ‘Of course, anything you want to do.’ We heard them rehearse this last night and it’s very, very special.”
“The Joker”
This Steve Miller Band cover was recorded in the spring of 1995, prior to the release of Thud. The players included Gilbert (vocals, bass, guitar), Corky James (guitar), David Kerzner (keyboards), and Toss Panos (drums). The liner notes say, “Kevin agreed to produce a song for Sheryl Crow that would be featured in a film called The Pompatus of Love. At the completion of these sessions, Kevin decided to try his own take.”
“Back in NYC”
This cover of a Genesis song was recorded in the summer of 1995 for the various-artists album Supper’s Ready – A Tribute to Genesis. It featured Gilbert (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, cello, recorder) with Mike Keneally (guitars, kalimba, bell piano, recorder), Nick D’Virgilio (drums, vocals), and Toby Holmes (trombone solo). Gilbert says, “Me and Nick D’Virgilio worked out the arrangement. That’s my cello debut in the middle and a real trombone solo by Toby Holmes (the guy who played on Thud at the end.”
“The Colony of Slippermen”
This song and “Back in NYC” were both performed live on November 8, 1994 at the Variety Art Theater for the 20th anniversary of Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Gilbert said, “Three of the five band members were in Thud at the time. The guitar player, Dan Hancock, was my roommate, and the bass player was Stan Cotey, from Giraffe…A one-off performance with only 8 rehearsals. Pretty good band, I think.” The other performers were keyboardist David Kerzner and drummer Nick D’Virgilio.
“Siberian Khatru”
This was another song recorded for a tribute album, this time for Tales from Yesterday – A Tribute to Yes. It was recorded in the spring of 1995 with Gilbert on vocals and keyboards with Mike Keneally (vocals, guitar), Nick D’Virgilio (vocals, drums), and Bryan Beller (bass). Gilbert said, “The band was named Stanley Snail after an indecipherable lyric in the second verse which sounds like ‘Go Stanley Snail’ which I subsequently was informed is in fact ‘Gold Stainless Nail’ – go figure. Nick, D’Virgilio, is on lead vocals. I produced, arranged, sang harmonies, and played keyboards.”
“Kashmir”
This was recorded in the spring of 1995 with the intent of being included on the Led Zeppelin Encomium tribute album. However, Gilbert wasn’t a big enough name and didn’t make the cut. It was then released as a CD single, packaged with some editions of Thud. It later saw release on the archival collection Nuts and a live version is featured on Live from the Roxy.
Gilbert said, “Corky James, who was playing guitar with me at the time, came up with the end section, and I had the beginning section laying around.” The other players included David Kerzner (orchestration) and Toss Panos (drums).
“Taxi Ride”
This cover of a Jane Siberry song first appeared on the archival collection Bolts. It was recorded live for a show in Philadelphia called After Hours. Gilbert said, “They have new upcoming talent (?!!?) record a song by an old down & going talent. I’ve always liked this song, although I think I was taking it a bit too personally on this particular day. My voices almost breaks in the third stanza.”
“Strong Enough (Pet Shop Vocal)”
The original version of “Strong Enough” is on Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club which features Gilbert as a songwriter and musician. This dance version was recorded in the spring of 1996 and released on the collection Dance Across the Universe, Volume 1. It features Gilbert with Brian MacLeod, both on vocals and instrumentation, billing themselves as Keta-Men.
MacLeod said, “We had so much fun doing that – we called Bill Bottrell in the middle of the night when we finished it! That was going to be our side band…We had Kaviar and then we did ‘Strong Enough’ and said, ‘Oh, we gotta follow that up with something.’ We never got that far, unfortunately.”
“Fall in Love with Me (Silkworm Mix)”
This Iggy Pop cover was first featured on The Kaviar Sessions. This unreleased version was recorded in the spring of 1996 by Gilbert (vocals, keyboards, guitar) with Brian MacLeod (drums, keyboards), Nick D’Virgilio (bass), Jon Rubin (guitar), and Neil & Tyler (guitars).
MacLeod said, “I brought a copy of Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life to the studio one evening to play for Kevin & Nick. I was thinking the title cut, ‘Lust for Life,’ or the song ‘The Passenger’ would make a good cover tune for Kaviar. We listened to the whole record. Kevin loved it, but ‘Fall in Love with Me’ was the track that jumped out to him so we took his lead.”
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