Colin Gilmore "Goodnight Lane" (Independent, 2010)

A chip off the old block

Like many a singer song-writer before him, Colin Gilmore lives with the burden of being the son of a successful artist. Although having a famous parent may help an artist get their foot in the door, it takes talent to get them over the threshold. Gilmore is now on his third album with ‘Goodnight Lane’ and it is definitely a case of third time lucky.

The first thing that jumps out when listening to this album is how comfortable Gilmore is in his own skin. From opener, 'Circles in the Yard’ onwards, Gilmore knocks out one country tinged pop gem after another, seemingly with minimal effort. It would be fair to state that Gilmore is quite a conservative song-writer, rarely venturing from song lengths of between 3 and 4 minutes in length but when the songs are as strong as this collection it doesn’t really matter.

For this listener, the best songs on the album are ‘Circles in the Yard’ and ‘Llano’ but there isn’t a single track on here that leads the listener to the skip button. With this release Gilmore has stepped out from his father’s shadows (if indeed he was ever in them) and staked a claim as one of our most talented song-writers.

Date review added:  Monday, September 20, 2010
Reviewer:  Dan Wilkinson
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  Chez Gilmore Jr