Nick Gilder
s/t

British born Canadian Nick Gilder started out as a singer for Sweeney Todd before going solo, although now he tours with Sweeney Todd so maybe he has come full circle in that regard. He hasn’t released anything since 2007 and this is another one of those Yesterrock rereleases of what they see as hidden gems (sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t). This album was released in 1985 and was Gilder’s sixth album if I count them correctly, one that by one reviewer I found marked such a big sellout that he was awarded one point out of five. For me the cover art is saying that such a thing probably isn’t the case, kind of a classic look and the red rope on a black and white picture makes it fairly neat. Self titled album, two tracks that has been in movies, one that I have seen and one that I have not. This guy seems to know what he is doing, but what about this album then?

One thing that one has to ask with albums that are being rereleased is wether or not they are really worth the effort and if the access to the album will offer anything that the music scene and the audience will benefit from. This album is a pop-rock album, nothing very fancy and nothing very exciting in terms of musical directions. The album also sounds very dated, and I think that it sounds dated even for its time. It was released in 1985 and it sounds like something from the seventies. The songs are catchy and straight to the point, probably songs that would have gone down relatively well with the contemporary radio crowds. I doubt though that todays radio audience will find it as appealing.

The first track called Scream of Angels is the one I like the best and it is a fairly good song. The rest of the album feels quite okay but as I pointed out before, it sounds very old and the sound is a strong letdown for this album. I have a hard time seeing that this album can find its way into too many music lovers’ collections, it is just not significant enough or good enough. It may be a decent album but honestly, it is hard to merit an album being rereleased on the grounds that it is decent and out of print, it just further dilutes an already extremely diluted musical scene. This is another one of those forgotten albums that is best left forgotten, Yesterrock does find some real gems but this isn’t one of them.

Maybe if you collect Nick Gilder or if you are a massive fan and have noticed that you do not own this album, maybe then you see a point in this release. Otherwise I have to say that this is an album that makes no real impression whatsoever on me, other than the feeling that it sounds very, very old. An album that time has been running away from for a very long time, it is not bad but neither is it good.

HHHHHHH