When I first listened to The Gentlekin's self-titled debut album, I was walking with an ice-cream cone across town during one of the first hot sunny days of the spring season. The first sound of the album was a careless stroke of a guitar with its treble cranked, and for a moment, I was no longer walking along cement and pavement, but on a sandy beech with umbrellas, and girls, oh the girls, all around me, such skimpy... then the lead vocals kicked in and I was back on the street, my ice-cream cone a little smaller, and my ears not pleased.
Along with the rest of the album, the melodies on the opening track "Fair Weather" are at times a little catchy, but lead singer Jon Feldman's voice is weak and often off key. Sometimes the voice is bearable, especially when the background harmonies from Jefferson Parker and Joe Armin kick in, but all too often, I found myself cringing as Fellman reached for a falsetto that just wasn't there (the chorus of "Can I Borrow A Dream" is especially bad) or ending a line of a song breathless and weak. Even though it was a sunny day the first time I heard this album, nine songs of the same brand of pop just grew old after a while. Had this album been condensed into three songs, it may have proved to be an enjoyable listen. However, the sparse clean vocals and catchy melodies are spread across a vast wasteland of unsatisfactory music that left me extremely board after about four tracks.
Perhaps The Gentlekin's hometown San Fran is just too far north to produce a true pop band worthy of serenading us on our careless summer days, or perhaps The Gentlekin just aren't the right people to do it. All I know is that after this album, I had to go get another ice-cream cone and throw in Good Vibrations, an album that could keep me on that imaginary beach, living large, all the way through.
1. Fair Weather
2. Borrowing A Dream
3. Another State Sky
4. Westerly
5. El Camino Real
6. Where Love Dies
7. Nothing Outside
8. Leap Of Faith
9. Something Changes Here
More about: The Gentlekin
