Kevin Gilbert

August 5, 2007 11:01 AM

When Kevin Gilbert died unexpectedly at the age of 29, he was eulogized in the mainstream media as Cheryl Crow's piano player, but there was more to it than that. Not only was Gilbert one of the songwriting members of the Tuesday Night Music Club, he actually introduced Crow to the group, after hiring her to play on the tour in support of Toy Matinee's album, which had also been produced by the TNMC mastermind, Bill Bottrell. He was generally considered one of the most gifted musicians of his generation by those who knew him, and while his legacy isn't volumnious, it contains a few unkown gems, like his stark and lovely solo album Thud! and two posthumous works; The Shaming of the True and the almost utterly unknown masterpiece, the dark, industrial Kaviar.
posted by Devils Rancher (19 comments total)

The good news is Paula Abdul somehow made it through the '90s.
posted by phaedon at 11:14 AM on August 5, 2007

Nit - It's Sheryl Crow.
posted by ericb at 11:14 AM on August 5, 2007

"Cheryl Crow" works for me.

Also, "Talentless hack uses, abuses and then destroys her incredibly talented underlings to become ultra-famous star" is Hollywood Standard Story #5, I believe.
posted by Avenger at 11:31 AM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks for this post.
posted by lazaruslong at 11:32 AM on August 5, 2007

Good post. Here's a sample from Shaming of the True. I believe he performed the whole thing himself -- vocal canon, tuba and toy piano. RIP.
posted by futility closet at 11:34 AM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

Kevin Gilbert was a genius. If you've never heard of him you owe it to yourself to check him out.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:37 AM on August 5, 2007

Not to be confused with me.
posted by Milkman Dan at 11:44 AM on August 5, 2007

Thanks for this post, DR. I've played the hell out of that eponymous Toy Matinee album ever since the days when Last Plane Out (I think it sounds like Sheryl Crow is on the high harmonies in that clip) and Ballad of Jenny Ledge were on the radio.
posted by emelenjr at 11:50 AM on August 5, 2007

Also, "Talentless hack uses, abuses and then destroys her incredibly talented underlings to become ultra-famous star" is Hollywood Standard Story #5, I believe.

Absolutely, and sometimes, as in this case, it even appears to have elements of truth to it... but it is almost *always* told from the point of view of the putative Geniuses Who Didn't Make It, and there's often more than one side to that story.
posted by enrevanche at 11:57 AM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

That may be true, enrevanche, but Sheryl Crow is most certainly a hack with a weak and uninspiring voice, so it really wouldn't be difficult to be a more talented musician than she is--putative genius or not.
posted by nonmerci at 12:02 PM on August 5, 2007 [1 favorite]

A couple of Gilbert rarities to keep an eye out for are his covers of Siberian Khatru and Back in NYC, for Yes and Genesis tribute albums, respectively. The bonus CD that ships with new copies of Thud! also has an outstanding re-interpretation of Zep's Kashmir on it.
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:35 PM on August 5, 2007

David & David ("Welcome to the Boomtown") were also in the Tuesday Night Music Club.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:44 PM on August 5, 2007

I'm a little embarrassed that I almost didn't click on this link because Sheryl Crow was mentioned. I'm glad I did, because I liked suit fugue a lot, and I'll check out Kevin Gilbert's other recordings.

I'm reminded of the quote "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" whenever I see a my favorite band post on metafilter that doesn't include obvious links to the actual music. Although I suppose the 'Thud!' samples on Amazon count.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:56 PM on August 5, 2007

Actually, only one of the Davids, Baerwald that is, was involved. A related work (also produced by Bottrell, & recorded at roughly the same time, & with some similar players) was his album Triage. Gilbert plays piano on the first track, Secret Silken World.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:15 PM on August 5, 2007

Warning, self-link: Here's a review I wrote of Kaviar a while back. I scoured the web, and really couldn't turn up any real critical analysis of what they were doing, there, other than that.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:10 PM on August 5, 2007

An early essay on autoerotic asphyxia; Deadly Sex Thrills (self link)
posted by Tube at 4:25 PM on August 5, 2007

BrotherCaine: "I'm reminded of the quote 'writing about music is like dancing about architecture'..."

This is sort of a side-note, but whenever people say that, I tend to wonder: what the hell is wrong with dancing about architecture? Hrmm?
posted by koeselitz at 4:59 PM on August 5, 2007 [2 favorites]

"Also, 'Talentless hack uses, abuses and then destroys her incredibly talented underlings to become ultra-famous star" is Hollywood Standard Story #5, I believe.'"

"Absolutely, and sometimes, as in this case, it even appears to have elements of truth to it... but it is almost *always* told from the point of view of the putative Geniuses Who Didn't Make It, and there's often more than one side to that story."

For posterity, any thread discussing the Tuesday Night Music Club and whether Sheryl Crow is a talentless hack who uses, abuses, and destroys talented underlings, should definitely at least reference the story of John O'Brien, the author of the semi-autobiographical novel Leaving Las Vegas. O'Brien's good friend David Baerwald wrote the song of the same name, which Crow recorded and put on her debut album. The album hit, and she never gave O'Brien any credit for the source material, as she'd promised him. Later on the David Letterman Show, she claimed that the song was written about her own experiences. O'Brien killed himself three weeks later.

So, vis-a-vis "Geniuses Who Didn't Make It"... yeah, I guess you could say that.

(Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to hold Crow responsible for O'Brien's suicide... but there's no convincing me she's not an opportunistic, soulless user.)
posted by pineapple at 8:33 PM on August 5, 2007

One of my favorite 2nd-hand record store finds was a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" by Kevin Gilbert and Thud. When I first found it, I didn't know about Gilbert's tragic story, and having learned about it makes the CD that much more valuable to me.
posted by scblackman at 7:40 AM on August 6, 2007