Brad Jones - Gilt Flake (13 tracks) +Album Reviews

Beatlesque Splendor

More M | Pittsburgh, PA USA | 05/03/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I stumbled upon this disc 2 years ago on a trip to Nashville, not aware of such a great pop scene in that town of country heroes. This disc has it all--intelligent boy/girl lyrics, hooks aplenty, melodies and harmonies to make your ears sticky, great uptempo as well as ballad numbers. The production is first-rate, as well it should be from Brad Jones. Kind of a homespun flavor to the disc, making you think that anyone could write some songs, record them in their basement, and make them be this good and sound this good. Yea, right..."

Mid 90's sleeper indeed

More M | 02/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Say what you will about this record, it has two of the greatest songs ever written on it: "Ophelia Float Away" and "She's looking through a window". I like all the other songs to varying degrees - "Mary's Moving Day" is a great one. Some of the rest is hit-and-miss with me. Don't expect Brad's genius production on this CD, this is mostly 4-track demos from before he was a bigshot producer. But honestly, the songs are great. Just depends on what you like."

She's Looking Out A Window

Kevin OConnor | Florida | 05/31/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If anything buy the cd for the last song, "She Looking Out A Window." I don't know how to put this into words, but this has got to be one of the best songs written in the last 15 years, and sadly enough it sits in obscurity. The rest of the album which consists of demos, is very listenable. But the prize in the ceral box is "She's Looking Out A Window." A song that encapsulates longing and regret so well it should be used as the definition in any dictionary in any language. Who hasn't looked back at old photographs when a relationship seemed invincible, only to have it crumble before their eyes? You have that moment forever, frozen in time, but you can't touch it, you can't feel it, you can only remember the smell of their hair, they way they looked when they slept next to you, the way they laughed, and how they cried. This song hits on all those emotions. Truly an amazing piece of music."

If you like power pop, look no further...

John T. O'Donnell | New York, NY United States | 04/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm still digesting this album, but it sounds good from first to last (the last, by the way is a rock version of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" not on the credits.) Two high points that you can sample here are "The Blunderbuss", a pop walk through American history with a great Beatle-esqe chorus, and the Big Star-meets-Stones-meets-Byrds rave up, "Ophelia Floats Away." The album is cleanly and crisply produced, with great electric and acoustic guitar, and very sweet harmonies."

A mid-90s sleeper

Scott10758 | San Mateo, CA United States | 07/12/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I initially pegged this album as second-tier--a worthy traditional pop effort without quite the chops or the gravity to really endure with me; but endure with me it has, and I'm now starting to think of it as one of the classics of the 90s.The aspects of greatness sneak up on you. Typically an artist this poppy fixates lyrically on teenage concerns for a lifetime, and thus any grand social statement falls flat, and the rewards lie exclusively in the little sentimental details. With Brad, it's strangely the opposite. Where the album is weak--which isn't much of it--it's due to creations of intimate moods which feel formulaic, such as in "The Staten Island Line." Where the album dares to chance something like poetic or moral pronouncement, it's surprisingly resonant and inventively deployed. The line "if a leaf should turn, it's a major box office draw/If a tree should burn, it's of no concern to the law" is a cryptic and nervy way to start a little pop tune, but the more you ponder it, the more it keeps giving.You don't really buy this album for the vocals, but he does have his sweet spot--the song "Dig Down Deep" being a prime example. That song also shows the production meatiness he can dish up when he wants to.The masterpiece, though, is the mysterious opener, "The Blunderbuss." It's hard to say exactly what I love so much about this song, but I find myself wanting to play it again and again. A seemingly amateurish politically-correct bashing of U.S. pioneers' encroachment on Native Americans, it's so lyrically out-of-control that it keeps hitting on these unearthly, oddly pithy little turns of phrase: "God's children, the exiles," "Thanksgiving passes slow on the reservation (it's a shame they don't live in town)," "beyond the 13th parallel, they start to fight among themselves, young and scared and lost and hungry." There's one high note on the word "hot" near the end that is hit so heroically that it serves as a melodic climax in itself."

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CD Details

CD Reviews

	Brad Jones Gilt Flake Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock Track Listings (13) - Disc #1 The Blunderbuss Never To Come Again Ophelia Floats Away Miss July Mary's Moving Day Goodbye The Staten Island Line Miles and Miles To Go Dig Down Deep Nicole's Been Strange My Messed Up Friend I Tried She's Looking Out A Window
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